Women’s Participation and Empowerment through Citizens’ Charter

By: Christopher James Wahoff and Ahmad Shaheer Shahriar[1]    

“At the beginning [of the Citizen Charter National Priority Program (CCAP)], women in our village – myself included – were not interested in taking part in CCAP activities, but later we changed our minds. Right now, all women are included in these activities. This was made possible by the female social organizer who did a lot to get us included.” – Female CDC member, Parwan

All eyes are on the current peace talks in Qatar between Afghanistan’s national Government and the Taliban to put an end to over 40 years of conflict, while another important story is taking place on the ground. Outside of the spotlight, the advancement of women’s participation in local elections, development, and peacebuilding processes has been steadily growing throughout rural and urban communities. An important factor supporting those gains is the community-driven US$1 billion Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Project (CCAP), which has meant much more than improved rural and urban development in over 15,000 communities throughout Afghanistan.[2] By putting a quota of a minimum of 50 percent inclusion of women in local Community Development Councils (CDCs)[3] to receive funding, this innovative project builds on the progress of the National Solidarity Program[4] (NSP) to further women’s engagement in local development governance. CCAP has provided essential requirements for women’s representation, leadership, and political empowerment throughout Afghanistan’s villages and its continued support is essential to build on the tangible gains in these areas.

One of the core tenets of CCAP is to increase women’s representation in local decision-making bodies and to include vulnerable groups such as returnees, internally displaced populations, and young people, among others, as agents of change in their communities. According to CCAP guidelines, the CDC executive board positions (also referred to as Office Bearers) should be evenly distributed to promote gender parity. For example, if there is a male chairperson, a woman should serve as the deputy chairperson, with the treasurer and secretary positions should be held by a man and a woman. Through its quota for women membership and leadership in CDCs, and representation requirement in sub-committees, CCAP promotes social inclusion and pro-poor development that enhances collective grassroots action and leads to improved beneficiary targeting for all government programs. This requirement also provides the necessary policy tools for the over 190,000 women leaders (roughly 180,000 rural and 11,000 urban) to push back against exclusion in local decision-making forums and spaces.

CCAP’s architects designed the CDC elections system so that women could easily vote despite existing restrictions on their mobility. This is achieved by strategically placing ballot boxes in “election units” (made up of 10-50 households, depending on the size of communities) which allows women to freely access the ballot box and vote within their respective neighborhoods without the restrictions on their movement that occur when they are required to venture outside of their neighborhood. This is especially important in more conservative villages in Afghanistan that uphold restrictions on women’s movements and require chaperones (known locally as “Maharram”).  In other words, the CDC election system is context sensitive and allows women with or without a chaperone to exercise their right to vote using a secret ballot.

As a result of these efforts, CCAP has registered above 60 percent female participation in CDC elections[5] with an average of 50 percent women office bearers in the newly created councils. Of those women, 51 percent are under 35 years old, pointing to the added benefit of investing in young leaders to build on the project’s current gains well into the future. [6]  

Program beneficiary and civil engineer Maryam of the Baboryan Awal CDC in Jalalabad City remarked that due to the meetings facilitated by CCAP, she learned about the importance of including women in various aspects and phases of the program, which persuaded her to work for women’s education and empowerment and promote their role in her community. Despite her engineering degree, Maryam previously felt limited in her career aspirations. She explained, “I felt that engineering was only for men and women would not have any opportunities in this field, but now know that [women] can do anything if we have the passion.” Maryam further noted that, “fortunately, I was also able to change some opinions of the CDC members and encouraged families to not limit the aspirations of their young women and girls but rather to allow them achieve their goals and select any field of study they want.” Maryam leads by example in her community and is a clear testament of the importance of CCAP’s focus on women’s empowerment and impact in local community leadership.       

Not only does CCAP focus on representation in CDC leadership, but it also requires communities to carry out innovative participatory analyses that identify and map socio-economic differences, gender-based dynamics (with considerable variation across the country), and migration status. Given the widespread restrictions on women’s mobility in more conservative communities, a key exercise for making women’s often underrepresented activities visible in each community is the “Women’s Mobility Map.” Women from households identified as “poor” or “very poor”[7] come together to create a map that identifies their movements in their respective neighborhoods, villages, districts, provinces, and beyond. The Women’s Mobility Map exercise also captures the frequency of movement, the presence and type of accompaniment related to given routes (e.g., if women travel alone, with other women, or with a male relative and to which places). In rural areas, Mobility Maps capture where women go, including if they sell labor in agriculture on lands owned by others or on their own and their respective wages. The mapping exercises track differentiated patterns among age groups, contrasting older and younger women participants and their activities. In urban areas, the Mobility Map also captures the violence faced by women in their daily lives as they share their experiences during the exercise. This also helps locate patterns and the frequency of violence against women in the local community.   

The map in each community not only highlights existing patterns of women’s movements, but points to women’s potential contribution to household well-being. Further, as these maps visualize women’s movements, they help male leaders and elders understand the implications of existing restrictions and freedoms that women face in their daily activities. This analysis is essential because there are considerable variations (from area to area, but also from community to community) in terms of women’s freedom of movement and their ability to participate in labor markets and earn wages. The map, which represents the ‘insider’ perspective can be used by all development actors (particularly those working on women’s empowerment) to build on existing freedoms and respect existing boundaries, thereby avoiding possible backlash from male elders. Finally, in some areas, the maps are used to advance women’s participation in the CDCs by demonstrating that women already go beyond their household, neighborhood, villages.

According to a third-party monitoring survey in May 2020, 84 percent of participants cited that the Mobility Map exercise provided benefits for their community, including the fact the exercise promoted greater awareness among women regarding community decisions and opportunities, and women were inspired to learn life skills to become more self-sufficient. For example, social organizers from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) in rural areas and the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) in urban communities use the Women’s Mobility Map to work with village elders to encourage greater participation in community decisions. These social organizers use the Map to explain that if women already move freely in the community to collect water, meet with other women, tie up livestock, and carry out other important tasks, they should also be allowed to participate in CDC meetings as well. The visual representation of women’s movements in the Mobility Maps, coupled with the argument for increased participation in community decisions, has enabled increased women’s participation in CDC elections, meetings, and other activities.

CDC sub-committees have proven to be an important area for women’s participation as each sub-committee (health, education, agriculture/environment, vulnerable groups development, Community Participatory Monitoring/Grievance Redress Committees) includes a male and female leader to ensure that women have a platform to discuss and express their views and influence local decisions in these areas. Furthermore, over 50 percent of urban CDCs include a “Women’s Empowerment Sub-Committee” that is dedicated to bridging gaps and leading initiatives that target persistent educational, labor, and social inequalities in their respective community. This is essential as the poorest households tend to be led by women with little or no formal education. One such committee in the eighth district of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province launched a nine-month adult literacy program for women who had not finished primary school. As a result of this initiative, 52 women graduated the program and 17 went on to continue their education, a clear indication of the impact of women’s empowerment sub-committees in their communities. Through these and other leadership positions in local and cluster CDCs (rural areas) and Gozar Assemblies (urban areas)[8], women have increasingly contributed to strengthening local institutions. While the project has recorded important progress in enhancing more representative local governance, these efforts require continued support to ensure women not only have a seat at the table, but that their voices are consistently incorporated in all political and development decision-making processes. Despite the registered improvements in women’s participation and representation, reports indicate persistent barriers to participation in elections and decision-making processes in highly conservative and Taliban-controlled communities. In these difficult contexts, women continue to face barriers and systematic discrimination that CCAP looks to dismantle.    

As chief negotiators work through the possible peace process, the abovementioned gains in leadership, representation, political participation, and development efforts on the ground must continue through CCAP and beyond. As Mary Akrami and other women’s rights advocates have emphasized that “peace must come without compromise to the hard-earned gains and progress on women’s freedom of speech, political participation, and women’s rights in general.”[9] In fact, a recent Asia Foundation flash household survey identified that participants would be more likely to support a peace deal if women are guaranteed an increased public role.[10] CCAP recognizes and serves as an indispensable catalyst to empower this new generation of Afghan women leaders who will continue to guide current development efforts and will be essential to peacebuilding and spearheading eventual post-conflict reconstruction efforts for generations to come.

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