What has happened so far?

Women’s NGOs in Afghanistan have many challenges.  In a fast changing situation and a still male-dominated environment, they need new skills, in advocacy, networking and management. Above all, they need dialogue with like-minded organisations internationally.

Between January and March 2004 the British Council and partners ran a series of videoconferences to bring together NGO and government representatives in Afghanistan and the UK for the first time. We worked with the World Bank’s Global Distance Learning Network and the UK-based NGO Womankind Worldwide. The videoconferences were funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

We talked about leadership, and the kind of role models that can inspire confidence, the mission of individual NGOs and how it can be translated into organisational goals and methods, and how NGOs could work with each other and with government.

On the UK side we had representatives of NGOs and government departments, and sessions were inspirationally introduced by Joan Ruddock, UK Member of Parliament, former Minister for Women and founder of the UK Women’s Link with Afghan Women www.womankind.org.uk

In Kabul we had representatives of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and of – among others – the Afghan Women’s Network, the Afghan Women’s Educational Centre, the Afghan Women Welfare Department and the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre.

What happens next?

CIDA have kindly agreed to fund a further series of videoconferences later in 2004. In these we plan to identify further critical areas where cooperation would be useful, both using videoconference technology and working through direct training and discussion in Kabul.