Turkish team seeks to empower Afghan women

“Rural women's economic empowerment is a critical, yet often overlooked issue in Afghanistan,” Cüneyt Yavuzcan, head of the Turkish PRT in Wardak, told Today's Zaman. “A country that is economically sound has a much greater capacity for peace. The best way to develop economic stability is to build it through the most important segment of the population, women.”

The Wardak PRT, which -- unlike the 25 other PRTs operating throughout Afghanistan -- is led by a civilian, has been based in Wardak since 2006, operating as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission. Since its deployment, it has spent millions of dollars on projects aimed at helping the reconstruction of Wardak, southeast of the capital city of Kabul.

Reaching out to women is a major part of the Wardak PRT's mission. In addition to building schools and police stations, it also offers courses for women on carpet weaving, food processing, domestic economy, midwife training, computers and literacy all over Wardak in order to help rebuild and diversify the rural economy. Schools for girls and a health clinic for women have been constructed, and these have been furnished and equipped by the Wardak PRT. Basic health services and humanitarian assistance for poor women and education resources for girls' schools are also provided on a regular basis.

Tailoring courses began on Saturday. About 20 women each month will learn tailoring techniques and how to run a small tailoring business from their homes. Trainees will learn to calculate their budget for clothes, to sew their families' clothes, to make a variety of clothes from patterns, to start a home-based business and/or become sewing teachers. Trainees and the teacher received their kits (one sewing machine, a worktable, a pair of scissors, a measuring tape, some clothes, thread, buttons and other necessary materials) during their inauguration ceremony.

“Investing in the education and economic empowerment of women in developing countries not only improves the lives of the women themselves, but also enriches the entire community and contributes to the sustainable prosperity of those countries as a whole,” Yavuzcan said.

Drought, war, land mines and economic migration have given Afghanistan one of the highest concentrations of female-headed households in the world. Sixty percent of the population is now female.

In country where 85 percent of the population depends on agriculture, rural women are the lynchpin in the struggle for economic self-reliance.

“It is clear that Afghanistan's economy is a rural, family-based economy with women at its heart. We must ensure that women are at the forefront of Afghanistan's recovery. Afghans are a very family-oriented people; empowering women will help to improve the condition of Afghan children's lives and deliver positive effects far beyond social equality,” Yavuzcan said.

Women are going to play a key role in agricultural development of Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. In fact, as rebuilding gets under way, it is likely that more men will migrate to urban areas for better paid work, leaving the women behind, he added.

The job training courses for women are aimed at giving them skills that will prepare them for full participation in the workforce and increase their contributions to the betterment of the society, he further explained. “We are helping women to help themselves. All the women who have graduated from our different courses are busy with their skills at the moment and earn some income for their families. They are respectable people in their communities because of their incomes, which they are earning with their own skills. We will expand technical and vocational training programs for women in the future. We will initially start a basic business and marketing training program,” he told Today's Zaman.