IRIN Focus on women’s community projects

Sitting at a sewing machine, Aliya Karim would never have been able to work had it not been for the UN-sponsored community forum project in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. She is just one of hundreds of women reviving and learning skills at forums across the country, and earning a living from them. “I never thought I would be making money,” she said. Karim is now earns up to US $30 dollars (equivalent) a month. Strict Islamic rule imposed by the ruling Taliban, combined with the ongoing civil war, has stopped women from working, and left communities with limited access to resources powerless. But the community forums have helped Afghans, both men and women, take control of their lives again. The programme also empowers women and gives them back the right and opportunity to go out to work. Under the programme, they are able to set up small businesses and run educational courses on a franchise or profit-sharing basis. “The forums are working on a community level with regular consultation, a mobilisation of local resources, and local decision-making,” Samantha Reynolds, Programme Manager for Afghanistan for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat), told IRIN. Afghans have virtually lost their purchasing power, and to help them set up a forum, Habitat donates a primary grant of nearly US $1,000. This enables them pay for materials needed to make products such as clothes, textiles and furniture, from which they can earn between $20 to $100 dollars a month. The first-ever forum was set up in Mazar-e Sharif in 1995, and there are now more than 70 in six Afghan provinces, including the capital, Kabul, and the southern province of Kandahar. They were of mixed sex before the Taliban came into power in 1996, but were separated soon after. Even though there is a ban on women working, men in the local community went to the Taliban offices and got permission for them to work. In some cases, the women themselves defended the project. “They went to see the local governor and said: ‘Are you going to look after us, are you going to feed us, are you going to pay us? Because if you are not, there is a way for us to do it ourselves,’” Reynolds said. She added that the Taliban gradually realised that the women were meeting in a “home-based” style project, and it was within the culture. Reynolds maintains they still face problems from time to time. Each forum is set up on a district basis to cater for an entire community of some 100 people. It is run by a committee made up of local Afghans, who are always looking for ways of pooling in more resources for their forums. Afghans also meet at the forums to discuss problems affecting them, such as access to food and water, and to share ideas. “Community decision-making is something that communities should be involved in, because they are the primary users,” Reynolds said. She added it was the community which contributed to any revenue or tax system, and only they could maintain an infrastructure at the local level. In Mazar-e Sharif there are 10 forums each for men and women. Men are primarily involved in carpentry, while women produce textiles, using whatever resources they can get their hands on. At one forum in Mazar-e Sharif, women attached bicycle wheels and pedals to sewing machines so that they could be spun faster. The all-female forum is open to all ages, with girls as young as 13 learning the textile trade. “I am interested in embroidery and sewing, and I would like to make burkas,” one girl told IRIN. A burka is an Islamic gown which covers a woman from head to toe. The Taliban ensured that the projects were run according to their rules, as depicted by a recent ban on beauty salons, which was also slapped on those within forums. “Makeup is a ritual for Afghan women,” said Mashal Siddiq, manager of a forum in Mazar-e Sharif. “They love taking time over their appearance. It is a real shame,” she added. However, Habitat did manage to get round another edict banning girls from education. Some 2,500 girls aged between five and 13 are attending classes across the war-torn nation. In Mazar-e Sharif, the curriculum includes Koranic teaching, maths, history and English. Girls pay a small fee of around 15 US cents a month, which is put back into a fund to run the forum. According to aid workers, an estimated 90 percent of the female population is illiterate. Stressing the importance of education for Afghan women, Siddiq said: “Not being able to read and write is like being blind.” The community forum in the northern city is also starting a health and hygiene programme to educate local people. A group of women will make house-to-house visits teaching other women how to protect their families from disease. “Because of high illiteracy levels, people are unaware of disease prevention,” said Farida, a programme participant. There will also be a similar programme for men, under which they will be educated on environmental issues. For most Afghan women the community forum is the only form of social life they may ever have. “Women have been oppressed and depressed,” Siddiq said. “This is our only way of releasing the oppression, by talking to one another,” she added.