BRAC Afghanistan Creates an Opportunity to Poor women

Women Training and Production Centre ( WTPC)
As a group, women suffered economic, social and personal hardships during the past 23 years of internal conflict in Afghanistan . Women's access to income generation activities was seriously limited, and as a result, women headed households have struggled to make ends meet. BRAC Afghanistan has launched the Women Training & Production Center project since May 2003 with a centre in Koshal khan areas of Kabul city. The program aims to increase Afghan women's involvement in livelihood projects through provision of capacity building and direct access to income generating activities. The women who joined the training programme came from the poorer households in the neighbourhood. A total of 220 such vulnerable women have received the vocational training and thereafter the follow up results suggest that they have engaged themselves in various income generating activities such as tailoring shop. A number of 20 women (selected from larger group) have acquired basic management, quality control and production supervisory skills. Approximately 1,00,000 multi purposes bags have been produced. UNICEF purchased the large number of bags from the centre and used them to promote their education program initiatives. BRAC education program also provided these bags to the students as an education material. From July 2007 to October 2008, WTPC produced 15,577 bags, 4,503 wall calendars and 15,050 wall magazines and delivered it to BRAC education program. Number of women now engaged in tailoring and hand waived and earn an income per month Afs.6,000~8,000 that give financial support and look after their families in a sustainable way.

BRAC Afghanistan has been using its experience that gathered from WTPC, to set up tailoring center in the community under the govt. affiliated human development program for the capacity building of rural women since 2003 and moreover setting the goals in terms of making progress would still have the role of placing emphasis on the very poor and on raising living standards in 6 provinces i.e Nangarhar, Samangan, Badghis, Helmand, Takhor and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan. A huge number of women benefited through this initiatives.

BRAC Afghanistan deeply believes that such kind of activities play a crucial role in development and poverty alleviation, especially for women. Simply providing a source of training for income generating activities have increased self esteem and a sense of accomplishment from their participation in economic projects. Further, the plan is underway to expand similar type of training centres for women in other provinces of Afghanistan where BRAC Afghanistan has been implementing other programmes.