NEW UPDATES - Please read the exciting news on how the project is progressing
Project: Women of Kabul Agency: Tear Target $30 375 (Tax Deductible)
Total Raised: $33 558
This project is to help Afghan women develop their skills and obtain resources to sustainably improve their and their family’s income and standard of living. This will be achieved through social support, savings, livelihood and entrepreneurial activities based in new and existing Self Help Groups and higher-level Women’s Associations.
In 2008 the project will set up 80 new Self Help Groups and facilitate the further development of 120 existing groups. Each will have a committed membership of approximately 15 women. The groups will provide women with opportunities to come together, build up their savings and establish small credit cooperatives.
Progress Updates:
There are now 119 groups operating, involving 1886 women.
Visit to the Cluster Level Association meeting
Phil Lindsay, TEAR Projects Officer
ORA Afghanistan 2008
The Cluster Group Meeting that I attended was a special one for International Women’s Day. Two Cluster Level Associations (CLAs) were involved. A cluster is a collection of Self Help Groups from one area. Most of the participants were older women. This is not unusual as it is the older women who have fewer duties at home and are able to spend time in CLA meetings. Most of the women were Hazaras, one of the most marginalised ethnic groups in Afghanistan.
The meeting was held in a field office rented by ORA but used by the CLAs in the area. The compound where the office is situated is being made into a women’s bazaar after a donation from a Dutch church. The process of managing the construction and design is the responsibility of the local CLAs and it seems that they have thought this through really well. The bazaar will be comprised of about a dozen stalls housed in pre-constructed shelters.
“This garden is a place for women to be safe and to stand on their own two feet. We want to work and for our lives to be better. We can do this all by ourselves!”
Despite my presence the discussion in the group was lively and honest and it was clear that the women enjoy being with other and have developed strong relationships. This was clearly expressed by the women themselves who claimed that getting to know one another and other women in their area was one of the main benefits in being part of the groups.
The women expressed appreciation for the changes that the groups have brought in their lives:
“Most of our problems we can now solve in our own groups,” they said. These problems seemed to be economic and social in nature. “When we got ill there was no help. Now we can go together to our SHG for a loan to pay for medicines or medical care.”
“The BLiSS (Birth Life Saving Skills) training was very helpful. Now we can help with people in the community.” The BLiSS training was given to all the SHGs and was organised by the CLAs – a good example of how the CLAs themselves are growing in maturity and initiative.
When one of the women claimed that “Now we need literacy training!”, ORA staff responded “You can organise that yourselves!”. Everyone laughed.
The women were excited that a little while before this meeting, representatives of the CLAs had met with the Ministry for Justice to become registered as an organisation or federation so that they would have legal status and be able to access other resources, services and facilities that are available. They had also been discussing a business that the CLAs could start to provide for themselves. The registration only requires 10 women to join together and costs USD100 (Afs5000) but to complete the registration normally requires another USD900 “additional” payment. The women and ORA staff were saying that they need wisdom in knowing how to deal with this challenge.
Each group currently gives 10Afs each week to their CLA to help with larger activities and initiatives. They are considering raising this to 50Afs as the groups mature. I asked the women to tell me how they understood the roles of the CLAs and why they meet together in this group. “We meet together to answer the questions like why are there slums? Why are there beggars? Why are people sick? We want to meet together to solve these problems in the community.”
The Women are gaining in confidence as they discuss the problems and see results. One CLA has arranged for the extension of a bus line into their community to reduce the time and distance needed for walking to get the bus. Another has lobbied the electricity supplier for power to their area, another has secured water supply for their area and another has received a library. They are willing to meet with community leaders (Wakhils) and district officials which is very encouraging and shows a huge changes from their previous status in the community and lack of confidence.
Other group problems were discussed in the meeting. One woman said that it was difficult to repay loans while her husband was not working. Another woman replied, “My husband is also not working, so I took a loan and bought a hand cart to sell vegetables. Now he goes to Pakistan to buy produce and brings it to Kabul to sell.”
When I asked if there were any social changes that were occurring as a result of the groups the women agreed that there were, but that they found it hard to express exactly what they were: “Now we are recognised. Now we aren’t that scared when women become pregnant. We know what to do now.”
“We all live next to each other and can now greet each other.”
I also heard stories of groups that were struggling but persevered with meetings and are now much stronger.
There was evidence that some women are now at a higher economic level than others. Even within the CLA there are different savings amounts collected each week in different groups. ORA has limited the amount that groups can collect from members each week to prevent the savings schemes becoming inaccessible to some poorer members. This is wise, and the fact that it is a problem is clear evidence of the efficacy of the approach and how much difference the groups are making in people’s lives.
Stories of Women involved: (names have been omitted for privacy)
Story 1
Z is 28 years old, from Loghar province. She has 4 children: one daughter and three sons, confident.
Her husband used to be a mason but is jobless since a long time. They travelled to Kabul in search of a job and are currently renting a place to livel.
Z shares her story: “I was sad and I felt lonely after arriving in Kabul. But then one of my neighbours visited me, this neighbour noticed my sadness and invited me to a group of women meeting weekly. We are gathering together weekly and discuss topics and save some money. So the week following I joined her. Z was very pleased to find that the SHG had Pashtu members, I felt like I was coming home as it felt so similar. Now I am very happy as I have started to built relationships.
I have been learning about many issues in this group, we discussed teenage marriage. And we also talked about the relationships in the family, particularly the relationship between the in-laws: mother-in-law,daughter-in-law and the sister-in-law. I have learned about many issues related to my daily life. I was especially happy that the SHG decided that teenage marriage is not good as we Pashtuns have this bad habit and it should stop.
I learned that it is dangerous for girls. I am going to attend the BLiSS training. It will be very interesting and I will learn many things.
The first loan I took was 2000 Afghani, my husband purchased second-hand-clothes and we made a profit of 1000 Afghani. The second time I took 3000 Afghani and he started to sell vegetables. As I mentioned may husband was a mason but here wasn’t any job and we were upset, when l became a member of the SHG, the members told me to take a loan for my husband. He should start with a pushcart. So he did.
Now I have the habit to attend the SHG meetings. My husband also encourages me to attend as I am learning many new things."
Story 2
A is the mother of 6 children, she studied for 14 years. When she got married her husband did not allow her to work outside, she shared that it is very difficult for an educated woman to stay at home not being able to make her own decision.
A shares: “I understood the entire social concept, I have relationships with all of my neighbours and also with relatives. I learned from our facilitators to have cooperation with each other, although my husband is very strict, he doesn’t allow me to go everywhere but I am proud of myself that I have cooperation with other SHGs near our home, and also I am the female Wakil (leader of the street).
I would be interested to become an SHG facilitator, as I have lots of interest to work outside the home but my husband doesn’t allow me. I am the SHG book writer and I am able to record all the financial transactions which have taken place on the day of meeting. I am also able to submit the statistics to the facilitator. I am capable to run the SHG meetings without the help of facilitator, the facilitator only visits the group ones a month to check and to support them.
My husband has been a for sometime, he has an on-and-off job. I took a loan for my son because he is photographer, he has a small shop. I assist my son to count the money and to calculate the profit."
Story 3
B (28 years old), she is really poor woman, she have been living in a big house, one part of the house seems completely destroyed, she is living in two rooms. She has 6 children, 3 daughters and tree sons, her husband is a government workers with USD 50 salary per month.
B shares: “When I heard from my neighbour about the SHG I decided to join the group, this because of my bad economical situation. The SHG was fairly small when I joined but more women decided to join and we now have 25 members.
We have learned many things in the group. May relationship with our neighbours has improved, I knew the SHG members before but know I have met more women, the representatives of the CLA and I have more information about other SHGs and the area. The women are usually meeting in my house, I am really happy about that.
At the first time I took loan 500 Afghani (USD 10), I bought rice and cooked it in the house and gave it to my son and he sold it in the city center. He sold a plate of rice for 15 Afghani which gave some profit. Now I changed the business, I took 5000 Afghani loan (USD 100) and purchased some goats. Again I thought about extending my business, I talked with my husband and he talked with the neighbours about electricity. We don’t have electricity in our area and we wanted to change that, especially during the evening.
We purchased a generator, the neighbours are very happy as we share the electricity with them."
Story 4
S is 38 years old. She is from Ghazni province, but lives in the Dashtebarchi area, she has 7 children: 2 sons and 5 daughters. Her husband is a daily labour workers, They are living in a private house.
S shares: "We indeed are a group of the same social and economical background. We are only with two women from the Ghazni province, so we are foreigners, but we have a good relationship and we respect each other.
She said: “I have been learning many things in our group, I learned how to have a relationship with others, about unity in the group and community issues. I also attended the BLiSS training. We finished recently and I received a certificate.
The BLiSS training is very important for the life of all women and it is also interesting. I am now upset that I only learned about BLiSS topics while being so old.
Now I am very careful even when I give advice for many relatives about pregnancies. Next month I will visit Ghazni province and I want to share those lessons with the women I know over there. They are very needy and I will show them all the material I have.
She said: “I have a good relationship with my neighbours, they turned into my relatives now we are closer, we can share everything with each other.
What did you learn from the SHG? She said: “our facilitator talked sometimes about the education of our children, I am proud that all of my children are equal and there is not any difference in my family. All my children are students and they have been attending the school and I am hoping that they will have a good personality in the future.
For the first time I took a loan of 1000 Afghani. My husband was going through a very bad time as he was jobless. He bought second hand toys, and sold those, we had very good profit, my oldest son is assisting him on Thursday and Friday."
