Programs in Afghanistan

All CW4WAfghan programs are focused on education, specifically to increase the access and quality of education for Afghan women and girls. Education is the best path to empowerment for women and girls, and supporting the education of men enhances the overall community and helps to reinforce support for women's right to education. There is a strong link between literacy rates in a society and the status of women. We support equitable access to education in communities who work together for education for boys and girls. Examples of activities of our programs include: paying salaries for teachers at a number of community schools, paying for teacher trainers, setting up education resources such as a virtual library, community libraries or women's resource centres; as well as running educational programmes such as English, computer and literacy classes. CW4WAfghan imports hand-crafted Afghan products for sale at our community events here in Canada (see web site link: shop and support). This initiative provides educational and economic opportunities to previously unemployed and unskilled Afghan women through fair trade wages and skills development. A small profit from product sales provides chapter members with resources for their public engagement activities in Canada.

A number of schools, classes and education-related programs are undertaken with the help of local Afghan organizations or individuals. Since 1996, CW4WAfghan has continually worked toward a mutual relationship of trust and accountability with non-profit Afghan organizations with programmes designed by or for Afghan women. This is done through establishing thorough reporting, monitoring and evaluation procedures. Please view the specific partner files on this web site for further details on our projects.

Our organization selects beneficiaries particularly Afghan women and children in under-served areas who will benefit most directly from our support. We carefully select those Afghan organizations or individuals who have the proven reputation, expertise and experience to carry out our projects.

To assist with running our programs, we have established a small office in Kabul managed by our Country Director. Our volunteer members in Canada travel to Afghanistan when possible (when security allows and funding is available) to further strengthen, evaluate and monitor our projects. Our Canadian Project Committee also oversees all management of the projects and communication via email, teleconference and mail in conjunction with our Kabul office. This committee is chaired by our Projects Director, who is under a part-time contract with CW4WAfghan as part of our overseas project management. The Committee reviews regular project reports, and meets several times throughout the year for our program planning, monitoring and evaluation. They oversee the formal written contracts with our implementing partner organizations which outline the terms of the project, the work plans and budgets, as well as specific roles and responsibilities and reporting requirements.

Our program activities meet the charitable requirements of Canada Revenue Agency in line with our approved purposes: "advancing education and educational opportunities for Afghan women and girls.

Project Management:

Samples of documentation used to support our implementing partners and in the overall management of our projects is available below.