Secure Safety and Rights for Afghan Families

Overall Objective – To improve prospects for women, girls and children by using the period they spend in the shelter (from a few weeks to 2 years) productively. This entails offering educational opportunities, life skills training, instruction on their human rights, vocational training and other services that provide physical, intellectual and mental stimulation and advancement. 

 Progress towards achieving the overall objective  .

 Overview of Case Figures:

 From June 1, 2011 through November 30, 2011, the Kabul FGC and shelter registered 229 new cases, of which 165 were adult females, 63 were underage females, and 1 was an adult male. 

 WAW’s caseworkers solved 255 cases, of which 65 were solved through legal means in three courts.  Sixty-nine cases are currently in follow up;  53 cases remain open. 

 Objective 1:  Enhanced access for women/girls-at-risk to safe living quarters, protective services such as professional legal assistance and social inclusion (re-integration into family and/or society) when feasible. 

 Progress towards achieving our Objective

• WAW’s FGC and shelter in Kabul continue to be among the few places where women and  girls can receive comprehensive services and support.  
• Of the 229 new cases registered during the period, 65 were legal cases and 190 were counseling and mediation cases.
• During the reporting period, 211 women and 33 children stayed in our shelter.
• Cases required 1185 sessions with clients and their families, of which 548 were legal sessions that WAW lawyers facilitated with clients, prosecutors, judges, and shuras, and 637 were sessions WAW counselors facilitated with the client and family members.
• FGC staff perform follow-ups of cases for one year after a resolution has been reached to protect the client (and family) against a return of the human rights violation that brought her to the FGC in the first place.  During the reporting period, counselors performed unannounced follow-ups on 65 cases. These visits comply with the contractual agreement each families signs before the client returns home. Follow-ups remain a challenge for WAW staff (See challenge section of this report).

Objective 2:  Life enhancement of shelter residents—adults and children—through special services such as literacy classes,  life skills classes,  vocational training,  and kindergarten for young children. 

Progress towards achieving Objective 2 .

Women for Afghan Women provides educational opportunities to shelter residents. The majority of our clients have never been to school and are illiterate.  During the reporting period, 39% of the clients were illiterate;  12 % could write only their names.

  Life Skills Classes: Life skills classes focus on health and hygiene, family relationships, civic education, conflict resolution, and childcare.  While living at the shelter, the women also participate in group therapy, role-playing, and therapeudic picture methods. These strategies give women knowledge and skills to assist their reintegration into family and community.

• Clients in the shelter take life skills classes 5 days a week  for 1.5 hours per day.  During the reporting period, 194 clients attended  the classes. The pre and post assessment test all residents must take registered an improvement of 60% in their understanding of  issues related to health and hygiene

• Literacy classes: Literacy classes run five days a week. During the reporting period, 194 attended. In addition to reading and writing Dari, literacy classes include math and Islamic studies. 
• The Dari class runs for 2 hours.  During the reporting period, 142 clients attended. They learned  to write their own names, names of and their family and friends, and simple words. They were also able to read a simple text.
• Islamic Studies  include the 5 pillars of Islam, methods of praying (which women are not taught in Afghanistan—another violation of their rights), and the rights of the  wife in Islam.  
• The Math class runs 1 hour three days a week. During the reporting period about 194 students attended that class. 
• The Computer class runs 3 days a week for 2 hours.  About 78 clients attended. They learned the name and function of computer parts, Notepad, and  basic Word functions.
•  FGC kindergarten : All children living with their mothers in the shelter can attend the FGC kindergarten, where they learn the alphabet, to read and write letters and count, colors,  shapes, and other subjects appropriate to their age.  Our experienced teacher, who received training in Early Childhood Development,and an assistant (who is also a client in the shelter) work on the children’s social and communication skills. Children who are at the shelter for long periods are, of course, more advanced than those who stay briefly.
• Vocational Training:  Shelter clients receive vocational training 5 days per week in tailoring, crocheting, cooking and basic jewelry making.  During the reporting period, 168 clients participated in these classes. Since our original trainer in jewelry resigned, we have been unable to find to find a competent replacement.  We are in the process of discussing a partnership with the founder and president of a U.S. NGO, Global Goods Partners. She will help us develop this program, which could enable women earn a living once they develop professional  skills. 

Objective 3:  Strengthening the capacity of public, private and civil society bodies  to exercise social protection for Afghan women/girls at risk by advocating for shelters before international donors, the GoA,  local communities, schools/universities.

As a women’s NGO in a deeply patriarchal culture, we have had, and still have, many attitudinal barriers to overcome. From the outset, we have taken steps to change those attitudes.

• We offer our services to men as well as women. Rather than chastising the perpetrators of violence, we try to enlighten men about peaceful family relations as required by Islam.
• We incorporate religious leaders into our reconciliation efforts whenever possible.
• We seek opportunities to implement awareness-raising projects in all provinces where WAW operates FGCs and shelters.

WAW has worked to strengthen public, private, and civil society bodies through awareness- raising programs, media coverage, meetings with mullahs and perpetrators as part of the resolution process, and collaborative endeavors with other NGOs, ministries, and international donors.

        These endeavors have taught us that awareness-raising accompanied by solutions works to inform and empower women to refuse further abuse. We discovered that both men and women are eager to learn about human rights and take action to protect them. We also concluded that advising women in a community about our services has a major impact on the number of women and girls who come to our facilities for help.

       As a result we are committed to expanding our awareness-raising activities,. Reaching out to ordinary citizens and leaders helps establish respect for our work. We anticipate that many of them will become solid partners and will refer women to our facilities.  Some may get involved in our counseling services. These projects provide much needed information on women’s rights and may even motivate communities to take steps toward protecting women’s rights by supporting our shelters in the face of government opposition.

         We also endeavor to improve our already cooperative relations and partnerships with local police, ministries, law enforcement officials including local Attorney General’s staff, prosecutors, religious leaders, shura leaders and members, and other NGOs with related mandates and activities.

Objective 4:  Support Afghanistan’s reporting to national and international bodies as to progress on related MDG targets and the situation of women/girls at risk.

Upon request, WAW’s database will provide the GoA, media, human rights organizations, schools, etc. documented and costed strategies for family/social reintegration for women and children. Data for all cases are compiled according to province, specific services,  case numbers and types, client age, geographical distribution, issues, and outcomes, etc.

Challenges and suggested solutions

• Following up cases remains a challenge. Two problems prevent our staff from fulfilling this commitment
  • Security: some clients move to districts or provinces which are not safe for our staff to enter.
  • Conservative families do not allow case workers to follow-up their case although they signed an agreement that they would comply .

Although we have not completely solved this problem, we have we hired a male case worker who can accompany female caseworkers during some follow up visits.

• Local media, specifically Noorin TV,  have attacked the shelters, claiming they are  actually brothels. Along with other shelter directors, we are working on a strategy to overcome this challenge

Monitoring during reporting period.

• Women for Afghan Women believes in quality control.  The activities of the shelter were consistently monitored by the Kabul FGC supervisor, by WAW program officers, and by the organization’s Education Coordinator.
• We have developed our own M&E tools, which have been applied to the Kabul office.  As a result of responses to these forms, an action plan was developed to improve specific areas of our program.

The tools consist of 4 questionnaires that cover performance of caseworkers, lawyers, database operators and the facility itself.

• Caseworker evaluation checks on 25 areas in three categories: caseworker handling of client files;  observation of caseworker communication skills, physical appearance, etc.;

             caseworker’s treatment of client.

•  Evaluation sheet for WAW lawyers covers lawyer’s files,  lawyer’s relations with clients, lawyer’s performance at trial.
• Evaluation of  WAW Administration and Human Resource departments:  physical condition of offices,  treatment of visitors to office, extent to which all organization and staff files are up to date.  
• Checklist of  information in database to ascertain whether database information concurs with caseworker files. 

Coordination and cooperation with other organizations; is there any other organization that works in the same sector/areas you are implementing the project in?

• Women for Afghan Women is a member of the Afghan Women’s Network. We  coordinate all  our advocacy efforts with this women’s umbrella agency.
• Women for Afghan Women works in partnership with Medica Afghanistan, with whom we developed our advocacy strategy.
• Women for Afghan women is a member of the coordination committee in MoWA. We attend all monthly meetings to discuss  shelter issues .

What steps have you taken this quarter to consult community members (community shuras, elders, religious leaders etc.) for getting support for the project and how were their reactions?

• WAW now has a community trainer. Although she is not directly included in the shelter project,  she meets with community members, school students, etc. 
• We  trained 500 individuals during a two-day workshop on Women Rights Are Human        Rights. 
• These 500 trainees trained 9500 people in the five districts of Kabul.

Special issues to be tackled in the future and why are they important?  It is important that we develop a strategy for dealing with media attacks. We are working on this problem with other equally vulnerable women’s rights NGOs.  It is necessary to  convey to the public what a shelter is, what it can contribute to a community,  and why it is important.

Share a success story with evidence (photo, letter, etc)  (e.g. a beneficiary sharing with you how the project has changed her life, or a community development council/committee presenting you appreciation letter, or how you were able to attract a community contribution in the implementation of the project, etc) 

Nahida: 15 years old.

When Nadia was 12 years old, her father developed mental problems, and he and her mother began fighting. Finally, during one battle her father murdered her mother. He then sent Nadia and her sister to their uncle’s house. After a few days she learned that her father had taken her two brothers and run away.

Nahida and her sister lived with her uncle, who forced her into a marriage when she was 13 despite her strong objections.  But she obeyed him when he told her that if she did not obey, she would have to leave his house.  After the marriage her husband and mother-in-law beat her constantly.  Unable to endure the oppression, she went to Family Court, which sent her to the WAW FGC. 

Noria: 26 yrs old.

Noria is uneducated. Six years ago, with her agreement, her uncle engaged her to Ayatulah, whom she married three months later.  Six months after her marriage, she found out that her husband was already married and had two children with his first wife. She did not take any action over this but continued her happy married life. She has two children, a son and a daughter. After four years, her husband married another woman with the agreement of both Noria and his first wife. He treated both wives equally,  giving them the same financial support. But the third wife ruined her life. She didn’t let her husband talk to Noria or love her. Her husband made excuses, even attacked Nadia physically. Finally his violence drove to the police, who brought her to WAW. After a few counseling sessions, the client insisted that she would reconcile with her husband only if he gave her independence from his other wives.  Her husband  agreed, and his third wife regretted her behavior. They are now happy and grateful to WAW. The case is in follow-up.       

Maryam: 17 years old 

When Maryam was 7 years old, her father married her off.  After a while, her in-laws and husband physically and mentally tortured her. Over time their violence increased.  Her husband beat her, starved her, wouldn’t give her clothes to wear, and didn’t let her visit  her relatives,