A crowd of more than 80 gathered in Qalat Ruy Deh Village in Panjsher Province on June 9 to witness the grand opening of the Isteqlal Community Bank, the first community bank in Panjsher. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and luncheon celebration, provided by the local villagers, demonstrated support and enthusiasm for the new bank, which was funded through the USAID Learning for Community Empowerment Program-2 (LCEP-2).

To increase Afghans’ access to capital, LCEP-2 integrates literacy and numeracy education with vocational and business development skills and helps establish savings and investment groups who invest in microenterprises and livelihood activities. With USAID support, these groups are federated to form community banks, which foster community economic empowerment and promote self-employment for Afghans.

In compliance with Sharia law, the Isteqlal Community Bank does not collect interest. The bank’s system of administration includes representatives chosen from among 19 separate male and female self-help groups that are currently depositing money into the bank. Their hope is to use the bank as an opportunity to create community wealth and to support a variety of individual and group local economic opportunities. Concurrent with the event, 14 women gathered in a nearby school for an LCEP-2 train-the-trainer session to enhance their knowledge of financial literacy to provide instruction for local self-help groups.