Canada: Please don’t stop empowering Afghan girls

Well-argued piece by Maryam Naquibullah:

But a woman with an education has a voice, and a woman with a job has influence. She supports her family – her uncles, her brothers, maybe even her father. And slowly, things start to change. The neighbours who think that educating a woman is about as valuable as educating a dog start to change their minds when they see a house with a car and a garden. All because a woman is working.

Since 2006, the ACCC and its sister organization, the Kandahar Institute of Modern Studies, have offered professional education to more than 4,000 women in Kandahar, and enabled more than 2,500 employed graduates to support more than 12,500 family members. All for a total investment of less than $600,000 from the Canadian government. These schools have been a beacon for the women in Kandahar for almost a decade, educating most of the women now working in professional jobs. But that beacon is about to go out.

I urge you, as Minister of International Development, and your fellow members of Parliament to please support our recent proposal – the Women’s Skills for Rights and Empowerment Program – submitted to Global Affairs Canada. This multiyear program would reach more than 4,500 women in Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul provinces, and create lasting partnerships between Afghan civil-society organizations and international non-profit organizations.

I understand that there are many important priorities for the Canadian government at the moment, and that there is a huge need to help the refugees who are fleeing conflict and extremism. And I also hope you will spare a thought for those organizations that are standing up against the roots of extremism, and that are preventing people from fleeing their homes in the first place.

Source: Canada: Please don’t stop empowering Afghan girls – The Globe and Mail