Afghanistan: UK’s commitment to Afghan women welcomed

CAFOD has welcomed the commitment by the Department for International Development (DfID) to maintain current aid levels of £178 million per year for Afghanistan until 2017, and its requirement that the Afghan government increase efforts to promote women’s rights.

However, we and our Afghanistan partners have also urged the Government to increase its support for women-led civil society groups and its investment in sustainable growth in the country’s local economies, in particular by increasing support for small businesses.

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“We strongly endorse the Government’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of aid spending and increase the profile of women’s rights in Afghanistan," said Jennifer McCarthy, CAFOD’s team leader for Afghanistan. "Our women-led partner organisation in Afghanistan appreciates the recognition of the ongoing challenges Afghan women face, but they also urge DfID to deepen and expand its partnership work with women-led groups to help ensure civil society groups can increase their capacity to address the needs of the wider population.

“We also urge DfID not to rely on private sector investment and increase its support for the development of small and medium sized enterprises. Better measures to protect Afghan local markets from regional competition are needed if Afghanistan’s vulnerable economy is to be stable enough to foster growth.

“A long-term commitment to growth in the local economies of Afghanistan on the part of donors is required to ensure this growth is sustainable. From the perspective of small businesses that are currently working with CAFOD’s partners in Afghanistan, there is also a need to create the regulatory systems and mechanisms that can enable businessmen and women to access markets so their businesses can grow and operate with increased confidence.”

CAFOD has been working through our partners in Afghanistan since the late 1980s, supporting a range of relief, rehabilitation and development projects involving women and men in some of the most vulnerable and remote areas of the country.

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