Partners

Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA)

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) is the lead institution for women’s advancement in Afghanistan. MoWA works within the government and with international and NGO partners to ensure that government policies, budgets and services consider their impacts on both Afghan women and men.

MoWA also works to ensure that gender-related commitments made by the government are implemented. These commitments are included in the Constitution of Afghanistan, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) [ PDF  ] and the Beijing Platform for Action, among others.

Policy Frameworks

A team of technical advisors are currently working to help build MoWA’s capacity. Among other things, this team has enabled MoWA to develop the ten-year National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), which is an integral part of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) Gender Equity Cross Cutting Strategy (AGE-CCS).

These are the two main instruments utilized by MoWA in developing gender policies. MoWA is currently working to incorporate the NAPWA into the Afghanistan Compact and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).

Visit the homepage of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

The Afghan Women’s Advocacy Coalition (AWAC)

The Afghan Women’s Advocacy Coalition (AWAC) was formed with ASGP’s support, in coordination with the Ministry of Women Affairs, by a group of 20 civil society organizations in 2010 to create a joint advocacy platform of diverse civil society organizations including media, umbrella organizations, civil society networks and women’s groups with a focus on gender.  The coalition is working to advocate for implementation of the NAPWA, the Government of Afghanistan’s policy to achieve development and rights for women. AWAC leads national and local level advocacy efforts that focus on three primary themes:

• Women and Girls’ Access to Education

• Women’s Access to Justice

• Women’s Political Participation and Leadership

For more information visit the AWAC website

Afghan Women’s Educational Center (AWEC)

The Afghan Women’s Education Centre (AWEC) was established in 1991 by a group of educated Afghan women who joined together to address the lack of facilities for Afghan refugees in Islamabad, Pakistan.  It soon became evident that in addition to skills training, awareness raising and literacy courses for adults formal education was the major need of refugee children.  AWEC established a secondary school in Islamabad to provide education for Afghan refugees living in the area. It is now a well-known high school which provides secondary education to both girls and boys.

After the fall of the Taliban regime, AWEC relocated to Kabul in 2002.  AWEC has an extensive presence in Afghanistan, spanning 20 provinces. AWEC has offices in Kabul, Balkh, Paktia, Paktika, Wardak, Faryab, Herat and Nangarhar where it directly implements its activities.  In addition, AWEC works through its CSO partners in another 12 provinces of Afghanistan; namely Nooristan, Laghman, Kunar, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar, Baghlan, Ghazni, Daikundi, Bamyan, Logar, and Khost.

The mission of AWEC is to promote human rights and gender equality and to abolish discrimination and violence against women and children through:

• Awareness raising and advocacy.
• Social service delivery.
• Capacity building, self-sufficiency and sustainable development initiatives.

For more info click here www.awec.info