Afghanistan, Kabul. 2014-2021. Direct beneficiaries: 2,854 women. Indirect beneficiaries: over 17,000 people (family members of the women involved in the project).
In agreement with the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), NOVE opened the 'I'm a Woman and I Want to Work' Project in 2013 in Kabul. This is a Women's Vocational Training Centre where free English, computer and professional cooking courses were offered and coupled with a job advisory service.
The project included a driving school for women, which had a great impact and was very useful to many women who, due to high costs and the ban from families to attend lessons with males, could not get a driving licence. In four years, a total of 245 women graduated from the driving school. This was a significant number compared to the total 3,732 licences issued to women over the previous 19-year period in the entire area of Kabul Province.
Another component of the project, entitled 'I want to learn to read and write', offered annual literacy courses to 20 civil servants and 134 adult women who had had no education whatsoever.
To further promote the socio-economic independence of Afghan women, NOVE started to transform the centre into a 'Women in Business Hub' (WiBH) in 2020. This was a one-stop centre where women could get free access to a wide range of services, from literacy and vocational training, to job placement and support or to starting or developing small businesses.
2,854 socially or physically disadvantaged women between the ages of 18 and 35 had benefited from the courses and services offered by NOVE by 2021. When the Taliban regained power, they abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs, occupied the building where NOVE was carrying out its activities and seized all the equipment, forcing the project to shut down. NOVE managed to resume education and training activities for women within a few months by negotiating with the authorities and complying with the new regulations.
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