Announcement

Strengthening the Capacity of Provincial Departments of Women’s Affairs

70 DOWA staff receive training to advocate for women's needs.

Kabul, Afghanistan  | Saturday, October 31, 2009

Photo: USAID/Afghanistan

The training for Departments of Women’s Affairs was highly interactive, with lots of discussion and role playing.

The United States is committed to removing constraints on women’s potential because their participation in rebuilding Afghanistan is essential.  To build the capacity of Afghan government officials to advocate effectively for women’s rights and needs, USAID recently provided two seven-day training courses for 70 Department of Women’s Affairs (DOWA) staff from all 34 provinces.  Departments of Women’s Affairs operate at the provincial level, carrying out the crucial mandate of women’s advancement throughout the country.

Ms. Amena, director of the Nimroz Department of Women’s Affairs, stated “We have learned a lot during the training. The part that I found most interesting was on identification of women’s problems, [as well as] methods of [conveying] them to the government and other stakeholders for resource mobilization purposes.  In addition, we have learned that advocacy is a good method…for helping vulnerable women.”  Following the training, Ms. Amena and her colleagues will share what they learned with other DOWA staff members, leading to improved public resource monitoring and increased community mobilization for the betterment of women at the local level.