Afghan Women s Network Annual Report- 2010

Transcription

1 Who are we? Afghan Women s Network Annual Report The Afghan Women representatives gathering at ACBAR office in Peshawar Pakistan brought the idea of establishing a platform where Afghan Women could share their observations and concerns as well as find ways for solving them. With all this reasons the idea of establishment a Network where women s issues could be discussed in details was born. After the United Nations fourth World Conference on women in Beijing-china, which was attended by a group of Afghan women from various organizations and UN agencies, the idea of establishing a network to promote unity and cooperation among Afghan women, was formed. Inspired by women s movement in different parts of the world, in 1995 the participants along with other Afghan women decided to establish the Afghan Women s Network (AWN). The Afghan Women s Network (AWN) is a corn stone of Afghanistan s fledging women s movement, serving as a well-established network for the growing number of women s organizations operating in the country. AWN has had a strong presence in Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad, while also working through local partners in several Afghan provinces. AWN

2 fulfills the function of a network of organizations, as well as undertaking its own projects addressing issues such as gender-based violence, youth empowerment and girl s education. Our Vision: The Afghan Women s Network envisions an Afghanistan in which all members women, children, and men participate equally. Furthermore, the members aspire to create an Afghan community which values, respects, and encourages the tremendous capacities of women and their contributions to Afghan culture and society. Our Mission: The Afghan Women s Network is a non-partisan, non-profit network of women and women s NGOs working to empower Afghan women and ensure their equal participation in Afghan society. The members of the Network also recognize the value and role of children as the future of Afghanistan and, as such, regard the empowerment and protection of children as fundamental to their work. The Network seeks to enhance the effectiveness of its members by fostering partnerships and collaboration between members, undertaking advocacy and lobbying, and building their individual capacities. Areas of Focus: Afghan Women s Network focuses on three strategic goals through Networking, Advocacy and Capacity Building. The Strategic Goals are: 1. Women s Political Participation and Leadership 2. Women s Participation in Peace Process 3. Women s Legal and Social Rights In order to accomplish the above strategic goals followings are done : 1. Networking and Coordination: AWN s Networking Department struggles to develop and maintain contacts and nation-wide connections with a variety of key governmental, non-governmental, international and UN agencies to share experience, coordinate actions, exchange opinions, explore funding opportunities, identify sources of technical expertise, and enlarge the network of women activists and advocates. 2. Advocacy and Lobbying: AWN represents and promotes the needs of the Afghan women in political and social arenas through its Advocacy and Lobbying Department. AWN, as the voice of the Afghan women, pressurizes the leaders of Afghanistan for legislative reforms to protect and promote women s rights and concerns. 3. Capacity Building: AWN s Capacity Building Department focuses on building the capacity of Afghan women so that, in the short term, they are able to take active part in alleviating women s life and play their roles in the rehabilitation of their country and, in the long run, revive the state institutions. AWN provides capacity building opportunities to its members and to the government via the provision of technical assistance, awareness raising, exposure visits/travel, and in-country training programs.

3 AWN Board of Directors: Najla Ayubi Director Law, Human Rights & Women Empowerment Asia Foundation, Afghanistan Selay Ghaffar Executive Director HAWCA Shahla Farid University Lecturer Kabul University, Afghanistan Hasina Safi Executive Director Afghan Women s Education Center Homa Alizoy Head of Juvenile Court Ministry of Justice Wazhma Frogh Women s Right Activist and Independent Consultant Secretariat (Head Office) Based in Kabul, the Secretariat (or Head Office) is answerable to the Board of Directors and is responsible for the implementation of the programmes and campaigns endorsed by the Board of Directors. The Secretariat is led by a Director, supported by a Deputy Director, Line Managers and Regional managers. Regional & Liaison Offices AWN s regional offices operate in Jalalabad and Herat and manage projects in neighboring provinces. In addition to the Jalalabad and Herat offices, a liaison office operates in Peshawar, Pakistan, providing logistic and general support to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Members At present, AWN has over 87 member organizations and 3,200 individual members in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. These members implement each project and provide grassroots information. The 87 member organizations are working on the mandate to support and empower the Afghan women. The 3200 individual members are mostly those who work for the women s rights in Afghanistan. Achievements (2009) Working close with the human rights on Marriage certificate Imprison women and children in Afghanistan

4 Youth political awareness Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) Law Advocacy on Child Abuse Five Million Women Campaigns on the Presidential Election Education Curriculum Beijing + 15 Family Law, Election law, Shetti Law Afghan Youth Volunteer Association Gender based Violence again women Gender Based Violence within Ministry of Interior Women Regional Conference on UNSCR 1325 and establishment of a regional platform Achievements 2010 London Conference and Afghan Women participation Prior to London Conference on Afghanistan, AWN worked with UNIFEM to support the travel of four women delegates from Afghanistan to participate in the London Conference side events. AWN worked to support the women by organizing a Dubai Dialogue where 20 women from various sectors got together to share their thoughts and ideas in the form of a statement. The statement was widely shared by AWN women participants at the London conference event. AWN also prepared a reaction paper on the London conference communiqué which was presented at a press conference by the women participants to the London conference.

5 Commission on Status of Women and Beijing +15 Following up on the AWN s members participating on various events outside Afghanistan in the year 2009, AWN worked with UN agencies to support the travel of four women to the conference on Commission of Status of Women as well as Beijing +15 to share the Afghanistan prospective. Beside this the women participants also worked on a report that focused on the status of Afghan women from Health, Education, Security and Economy point of view. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Afghanistan is a signatory of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Afghanistan government reported to the UN Committee reviewing the progress report of the state countries implementing this covenant. To provide a gender prospective AWN prepared a brief report on the Afghanistan government s report. This report was presented to the committee reviewing the government report to provide an update on the status of women in Afghanistan from the economical, cultural and social prospective.

6 National Peace Consultative Jirga: A much-anticipated meeting scheduled for June 2010, the National Consultative Peace Jirga brought together tribal, local and national leaders to discuss peace. The role of Afghan Women Network (AWN) was to lobby and advocate for women s active, quantitative, and qualitative participation in the Peace Jirga. By establishing a steering committee, AWN managed to facilitate several meetings with national and international stakeholders who were directly or indirectly involved with the national consultative Peace Jirga. Also in preparation, AWN organized series of awareness raising gatherings for women from Kabul and provinces prior to peace jirga. AWN also had series of posters and media spots on role of women in the peace process. Kabul Conference: After successful involvement on the National Peace Consultative Jirga, AWN steering committee planned for a wider advocacy and lobbying for the Kabul International Conference.

7 AWN organized series of advocacy meetings with government of Afghanistan as well as International community stakeholders. The purpose of all these meetings were updating on the efforts made and seeking support for inclusion of a women to represent the recommendations of civil society and women s efforts in Kabul Conference. On the other hand AWN worked very close with other civil society networks and actors such as ACBAR, ACSF etc for a joint agreement on a women s participation in the Kabul Conference. As result of all efforts made one woman could participate in Kabul conference and presented a civil society statement with focus on women s point of view. AWN also organized a two days national conference focusing on afghan women s movement from the first women council to the Kabul conference. AWN also broadcasted number of media spots focusing on role of women in the development of the country. Civic Education and Parliamentarian Elections: For the purpose of civic education and parliamentarian elections as well as role of women in the parliamentarian elections, AWN worked in 29 provinces to provide civic education and voter awareness campaigns to the grass root level community on their rights to use the votes properly as well as support the women candidates. AWN also published public awareness posters and had six radio and TV spots focusing on women and their votes on the parliamentarian elections. AWN is also providing legal literacy sessions to the provincial council members to raise their capacity.

8 Democratic Policing (Community mobilization): AWN has been implementing a community citizen, police, and leaders interface where participants from each of these community sectors can come together to discuss a variety of topics that are pertinent and relevant to them. This project has been implemented in eight districts of Kabul Province through bi-monthly meetings, legal literacy awareness trainings, paralegal training, and legal literacy work with women s shouras. AWN has seen a positive impact of this project in most of the districts, where in the beginning citizens and police did not feel connected nor conciliatory toward one another. The project, through bimonthly meetings, and other activities, has worked on the issue of trust and cooperation between the sectors of communities. As the project nears its end, participants ranging from police to citizen have shown that they want to continue working cooperatively with one another for a more secure community. Child Sexual Abuse

9 Following up on the advocating for the child sexual abuse, AWN worked with schools at the district 8 of Kabul to provide awareness raising trainings to the teachers, parents and students of three schools. The purpose of this activity was to work at the committee level to raise the awareness of both teachers and parents on the rights of children as well as how to prevent various sort of harassment on them. AWN has also worked on a mapping exercise to find out what is the situation of children over all in the country. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325: Afghanistan is a one of the countries that has said yes to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which focuses on women, peace and security. Year 2010 has been the 10 th Anniversary of this resolution. For this purpose AWN worked to prepare a brief in country report through a survey to find out the situation of Afghan women linked to AWN representatives in New York 1325 conference presented the report and seek more support for implementation of it in Afghanistan. AWN is currently focusing on development of monitoring indicators to focus on this in 8 regional zones in Afghanistan. AWN will also work to raise the capacity of its members on understanding of this resolution on a sustainable manner. AWN and Media work AWN in partnership with BBC Education is working in four provinces in Afghanistan to raise the participation of Afghan women voices in the media. Round tables through four national radios by women participants focuses on the role of Afghan women in the peace, reconciliation, reintegration as well as development process in Afghanistan. High Peace Council Prior to establishment of High Peace Council as a result of National Peace Consultative Jirga, AWN lobbied with Afghanistan government s council focusing on Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program to ensure women are included in the whole process as well as

10 in the High Peace Council. Series of lists of women from Kabul and provinces were provided to this council. After announcement of High Peace Council members, AWN advocated directly with the President to ensure women from civil society is also included as member to the High Peace Council. As a result of this advocacy, AWN s Advocacy Manager is currently a member of High Peace Council.