Embassy Supports Slovak NGO’s Efforts to Strengthen Afghan Women’s Rights, Civil Society

June 9, 2008

The People in Peril Association (PIPA), a Slovak non-profit, non-governmental humanitarian and development organization, recently completed a one-year project in rural Afghanistan in conjunction with its local partner organization, the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC), and with help from an Embassy grant. The project increased the effectiveness of the existing Advocacy Unit at the AWRC by assisting with the education of local Afghan men, boys, and community and religious leaders on a number of pressing issues, including women and children’s rights, community development and civic participation, and health and environmental issues. PIPA regularly engaged with the AWRC staff and facilitated knowledge exchange among AWRC and Slovak organizations with expertise on women’s rights, community participation and citizenship issues. In total, over 1000 local men directly took part in the monthly training sessions at various sites throughout five rural Afghan provinces, including at mosques, boys’ schools, and an AWRC training center. “We were suspicious at the beginning when training started in the community. We thought that the AWRC male trainers were teaching us non-Islamic subjects, but after some time, we became keen on attending the training and gaining new knowledge,” one participant said. With 95% of the PIPA project’s participants reporting that they further disseminated knowledge gained at the workshops to other Afghan locals, the project’s actual impact reached a much wider audience, and a website for the AWRC (http://www.awrc.org.af) was also designed and created to further share information on the project’s goals and achievements.