Member Profile

Armine Safe, Supervisor, of Kacha Gari center

Afghan Women's Resource Center,
Director, Ms. Partawmina Hashmi,
H# 122, Arbab Road
University Town
Peshawar, Pakistan
Phone: 0092-91-811755
Fax: 0092-91-840311
Email: awrc@brain.net.pk

The Afghan Women's Resource Center began in 1989 with the goal of serving as a focal point for Afghan women by promoting their interests towards self-sufficiency and empowerment. The center offers courses in basic literacy, health education, computers and sewing classes. Since 1989, over 7500 Afghan women have been helped by the AWRC.

The AWRC's main center serves the Afghan women community. A tour of the facility shows visitors women working in a variety of fields.

Health Information Clearinghouse

When you first enter, you are immediately drawn to the Health Information Clearing House library. Here you will find many female health professionals and students sitting at tables studying or looking through the stacks. Currently, there are many volumes in the library, however more are needed as many students who cannot afford to purchase costly medical books depend on the library.

Moving down the hallway on your left you will find the sewing center. Here women learn the basics of sewing via hands-on learning. The sewing room currently provides work to at least nine women and over 200 non-literate and semi-literate embroiders who work on traditional hand-embroidery items. Many of the items made by the women are sold in a showroom at the center and are exported to Canada. These products have been so successful that the sewing program is self-supporting and does not rely on donor support to operate. For many women, the income generated by this project is the first money they have made.

student in computer center

Across the hall from the sewing center is the computer room. Here women are able to take regular courses in DOS, Windows, Word, Excel, FoxPro, Power Point, and Access. There are also three computers dedicated for internet access and training on using the internet is also available. Over 500 women have utilized these courses to gain jobs in Peshawar. Such training will be critical to the rebuilding of Afghanistan as the need for computer literate workers grows.

The AWRC also works to serve the refugee populati living in camps around Peshawar. With the help of Women4Women Afghanistan, AWRC opened two women's resource centers in Akora Khatak and Kacha Gari refugee camps. Kacha Gari is the oldest refugee camp in the Peshawar area being founded in 1979. There are approximately 150,000 people who live in the camp with the majority of women coming from Jalalabad and Laghman. AWRC opened the resource center here on January 1, 2002.

The center consists of an open courtyard surrounded by four small rooms. Amine Safe, the supervisor, is quick to point out that they are already in need of a larger space as word spread quickly about the center in the camp. They are currently looking for a new location that will allow them to grow and offer childcare on site.

In one room, a visitor will find literacy teachers studying basic health information on vaccinations, maternal health and diseases by a doctor who volunteers at the center. The teachers come to center five days a week for the classes. The teachers use this knowledge in the Afghani schools where they teach and also educate mothers and children who are home-bound.

literacy teachers studying basic health care at Kacha Gari camp

The next room houses a sewing and literacy class. Here 40 widows and orphaned girls are learning basic literacy and how to sew children's clothes. The program lasts for six months and was started in January with a grant from the Global Fund for Women. Each woman will be given a sewing machine and supplies at the end of the program and encouraged to sell what they make. Even before the program is finished, the women and girls are already asking about continuing. They want to learn different styles of sewing and continue their literacy training.

The center also offers a six-month literacy class with three levels. The women receive a certificate at the end and are asked to recruit other women to join the classes. There are 150 women currently in the program. However, many women would like to continue their education beyond the three levels and a few come to the center to receive additional instruction from teachers who volunteer their time.

The AWRC has many plans for the future. They will address the lack of trained women to work with the aid community and for the government by starting a new administrative training program. They plan to offer courses in management, report writing, proposal writing and finance. The AWRC also plans to begin activities inside Afghanistan and is currently exploring opportunities there.