Empowering Women across Afghanistan 

Advocacy:

A major part of YWC’s work is advocacy at the ground’s level in Afghanistan. Using public and social media and pressure on legal systems in Afghanistan YWC has been able to advocate for women who have faced murder, violence, harassment, and other types of discrimination. YWC has partnered with major Afghan media outlets, including radios, newspapers and televisions to advocate for equality and justice and continues to do so.

In YWC, men and women have joined to raise voices for equality. In November 2011, men joined to create our Male Advocacy Group for women’s rights and equal opportunities.

In addition to that, in brave steps YWC has organized and led protests to advocate for the rights of women in Afghanistan and to keep the women’s plight in Afghanistan a hot topic in media, among people and in the governmental level. Though YWC is completely non-political, it has been able to arrange protests to pressure political powers to pay more attention to women’s legal cases or to the injustice women face in the society.

Awareness Programs:

Among many other awareness programs, YWC has held exhibitions, public campaigns, discussions, sister sessions, film screenings, lectures, etc to raise awareness in our communities about women’s rights. In December of 2011, 2e posted 700+ posters about violence against women and equal access to education on the walls of Kabul in six different areas.

In two different exhibitions, we exhibited 30 posters and photos urging to end violence and discrimination against women at the Galleria by YWC members. The posters were sold to raise money to create a women’s internet café.

We screened This is My City Too, YWC’s documentary on street harassment to youth in Kabul. The film was produced by Anita Haidary to raise awareness about street harassment.

We created discussion sessions on violence against women and street harassment at learning centers. More than 500 youth partook in these discussions.

We also have an awareness program that is directly linked to universities, learning centers and schools in Afghanistan. We have been able to visit over 30 educational centers in a year to discuss issues such as street harassment and violence against women.

Services:

YWC has a services portion to help our people in more tangible ways. In this effort, we have been able to collect over 3000 books to create a library in Helmand in partnership with Intellectual Youth. We have also been able to create the first-ever women’s net cafe in Kabul, which is a safe haven for women to discuss issues, learn to use internet, achieve training, do research and create networks.

In addition to that, in the winter of 2011, described as the most brutal winter of Afghanistan in 20 years, YWC was able to raise more than 7000 USD to help children and families and distributed food, clothing, and hygienic material to over 700 families.

After receiving a huge donation of 400 books, YWC has also been traveling outside Kabul to distribute children’s book at rural area schools.