Generating Livelihood Opportunities for Village Women

Ensuring balanced development is among the top priorities of the Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD/CCNPP). This is why the income generation activities conducted by the MRRD/CCNPP have helped a large number of women across Afghanistan become self-reliant in an attempt to improve their economy. Taking the women’s economic empowerment into consideration, the Masjid Faiz Jan Community Development Council (CDC) in Faizabad the center of Badakhshan has decided to launch a number of small scale handicrafts production programs for the village women. These vocational programs include tailoring, embroidery, sweater knitting, mattress designing as well as the CDC established the literacy, environmental protection and hygiene courses for local women inside the community.

Having praised the efforts of the Citizens’ Charter and pointed out to the changes brought about in lifestyle of women, Miss Nafas the Masjid Faiz Jan CDC member said: “We thought the village women would not show any interest in tailoring course before our community was covered by the Citizens’ Charter. After the CDC was elected in our community, we have been able to hold several meetings and as a result found out that women had great interest in sewing course. Therefore, without the assistance of any government organization, I bought the sewing tools e.g. sewing machines, scissors, needles, irons, ironing boards, bobbins, etc. for the trainees. Currently, there are 25 women who learn tailoring skills in our course.”

“There are also 40 students in our literacy course. They are properly taught both literacy and religious affairs by a teacher. I wish the Citizens’ Charter could cover our community five or ten years ago so that I could make my mind more active. Prior to the Citizens’ Charter, our village women could hardly recognize their neighbors. Indeed, the Citizens’ Charter has helped women come together and know each other easily. To be honest, I wouldn’t have achieved this goal if the Citizens’ Charter hadn’t covered our community. When our community was covered by the Citizens’ Charter, I realized that the unemployed women ought to be provided with employment opportunities in order to provide financial support to their families. Now, the village women can come out of their houses for work to earn their living. Unfortunately, the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 has affected our activities recently. I hope we can soon improve our operations in the near future again”, Nafas added.

Furthermore, Miss Nasima another CDC member was sewing clothes inside her house in the past. She was giving training to several students over there. However, she wasn’t able to train her students considering little space and constraints. Fortunately, she could manage to train 20 students in the field of tailoring in the course designed with the help of the Citizens’ Charter inside the community. “I am extremely satisfied with the livelihood activities provided by the Citizens’ Charter to us. Now, I am feeling that my economy improves gradually from a lower to a higher level” she said.

By conducting sustainable activities at community level, the Citizens’ Charter is committed to giving certain incentives to villagers to ensure balanced development that could lead to a comfortable life.   

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