EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING CENTER FOR POOR WOMEN AND GIRLS OF AFGHANISTAN
(ECW)

DIRECTOR:

ADDRESS:

Main Office:

Apt.#20, Block # 14, Airport Blocks Kabul Afghanistan

CONTACT PERSON:

PHONE/FAX
NUMBER:

Mission, goals and objectives:

ECW Mission: is to support women , men and children economically, socially educationally an culturally
ECW Goal: to provide Afghan women with different trainings and programs to help them become self-sufficient to be able to support their families .

Objectives:

1. To establish literacy classes for widows, poor women and girls, over school age to continue education.
2. To provide handicraft trainings for those women and girls who want to learn making handicrafts, keep producing historical handicrafts of Afghanistan and support their family economically through selling their productions.
3. To create Civic Education - Awareness Programs for women and girls and also for men to enhance their understanding and make them ready to participate in cultural activities and use it in their cultural and social lives.

Background and history

During the Taliban era in 1997 in Afghanistan, almost all Afghan women were prisoners inside their houses and had no chances to go out to work , study or even sometimes shop for themselves. That situation had brought an extremely hopelessness to Afghan women’s lives and they were thinking that the Afghan women would never get the chance to continue education and work outside their houses. That hopeless thought had effected many Afghan women to be mentally sick, besides they were facing a sever economical and social problem that had effected them badly in their social , cultural , economical fields of lives.

Understanding and analyzing such a big problem , a few active Afghan women took the humanitarian responsibilities to help those women economically and socially through establishment of women's enters inside their houses hidden and secrete form Taliban officials and Taliban government. Educational training Center for poor Women and girls of Afghanistan ( ECW) , was one of the centers established at Taliban era to provide job facilities for women and provide vocational trainings for them in order to support them financially.

ECW was established onOctober,1997 to analyze the needs of Afghan women and girls living in Kabul city at Taliban era and help them economically, educationally and socially.
ECW is a non-political , non- profitable, non-governmental and local humanitarian aid organization, has been working with poor women and girls since its establishment (1997) in Kabul city.

 

 

Organizational Structure

 

 

Activities

 

January, February, March 2005
During the three months , ECW has implemented different projects activities.
Support the Street working Children :

Since November 2003, ECW has implemented the project of support the Street Working children. This project benefits 400 children ( female and male) aged 7-18 . the children are working on the streets and gain money to support their families. So ECW has educational and vocational trainings for them . they are also divided in to groups as children committees to meet each others , discuss their problems and solve their problems by the help of their teachers and social workers involved in the project.

1. In January , February and March 2005 , the activities of the project continued as it held in the past . ECW directed 110 street working children ( girls and boys ) to join governmental schools .
2. 20 children were trained in tailoring and were given 20 sewing machines to work with them and support their families economically.
3. 20 girls and boys were trained to play roles and sing songs during the March 8 celebration (IWD) and were invited by different organizations to play roles .

1-Vocational Training for Women:
ECW has implemented this project for hundreds of women since 1997. this project is still active and in the last three months it benefited more than 220 women and girls. ECW provided them tailoring and handicraft trainings for 200 women and now they know how to cut cloths, sew cloths as well as producing handicrafts. ECW handicraft shop which was located in Shahri Now was shifted to Bagh-e- Zanana.

2- Literacy Project :
ECW has implemented this project for more than 400 women and girls who didn’t have the chances to continue their education in the past due to poor economy, lack of security or they were in Iran and Pakistan as refugees. In the last three months, the 400 women promoted from lower levels to higher levels . More than 60 women and girls accomplished the 4th level of literacy and now they are ready to join governmental literacy schools. ECW has signed a protocol with the Ministry of Education to help ECW literacy students who finish the 4th level of literacy to promote them through the governmental literacy schools . the Government fortunately has planned to coordinate and cooperate ECW in this regard.

3-Drug Abuse Prevention Awareness Trainings:
This project is financially supported by ECW since January 2005. in January February and March 2005 ECW conducted 4 four-day awareness trainings for 100 women and men who are secondary school teachers around Kabul city.

4-Peacebuilding Training Courses :

This project is financially supported by Peace Direct and coordination and cooperation of CAPU. In January, February and March 2005, ECW implemented 5 three-day training courses for 125 women and men in Kunduz province.

ECW also established its Peacebuilding Department in Kunduz so that increase and develop Peacebuilding programs, make Peacebuilding committees. To run the programs of Peacebuilding well, DED has promised ECW to send a Peacebuilding consultant to help ECW develop the Peacebuilding programs in kunduz, Afghanistan.

Civic Education –Awareness on Parliamentary Election Process:
ECW has worked in partnership with ASCF-Swiss Peace to implement the Civic Education programs in Kunduz and other North Eastern zone of Afghanistan . in January, February and March 2005 , ECW with ACSF prepared their project implementation plans to start working awareness on Parliamentary Election programs in Northeastern zone of Afghanistan. The project activity will be started in May 2005. this time ECW is given the civic education projects to implement them not only in Kunduz but also in Baghlan and Takhar ,villages to villages.

Support faculty and high school Students:
ECW in financial support of Ariana foundation based in Holland was supporting 15 girls financially ( donation 40 Euro to each girl monthly) to continue their higher education. In January , February and March 2005 , ECW could seek more fund to help more vulnerable students. Fortunately 20 more girls in high schools and faculty were involved in this project and benefit from the project.

March 8(International Women’s Day ) Celebration Project:
In March 2005 , ECW in collaboration and coordination of ANCB Women’s Committee celebrated the (IWD) in Kabul city for 220 women through a joint project supported by Asia Foundation . 7 women’s NGOs (ECW AWSCO, HDCAW, AWSE, FRDO , WSRO, WADP) celebrated the( IWD) in seven provinces ( Kabul, Ghazni, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, Heart , Kandahar, Jalalabad)
all the activities of this joint project was done by ECW such as preparing the project proposal , preparing the financial and narrative reports of all the seven project and organizing the project and distributing the project to 7 women’s NGOs .

Projects:

1. Literacy Classes for 400 women
2. Vocational Training for 250 women
3. Support Street Working Children
4. Support poor Girls (high school and faculty students)
5. Drug Abuse Prevention Awareness Trainings
6. Peacebuilding Training Courses

Achievements, results and outputs:

1. 110 street working children were directed and introduced to governmental schools and are supported to continue their education
2. 20 street working children trained in tailoring and were distributed sewing machines to work with.
3. 60 women finished the 4th literacy levels and introduced to governmental literacy schools .
4. 320 girls and women were trained in how to make handicrafts and how to sew clothes.
5. 35 girls ( faculty and high school students ) received financial aid (40 Euro each girl monthly ) and they could not only continue their education but also took some English and Computer classes to improve their skills.
6. 100 secondary school got training on Drug Abuse Prevention to pass the awareness to their hundreds students at schools .
7. 125 women and men residents of Kunduz province got training regarding Peacebuilding .
8. Peacebuilding Department of ECW was established in Kunduz. Three staff ( two female and one male) were hired to run the department. One women was nominated to lead the department.
9. ECW was selected by ASCF to run the Civic Education programs in Kunduz Province

Publications:

Publications of the organization