Women's Rights

Badakhshan training centre empowers young women through tailoring courses

By Muhammad Qasem

Zindagi, a foundation in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan, is providing free training in tailoring, marketing and sales to 70 girls and women. The foundation has been training women and girls for free in various areas of the province since 2019, according to local officials. [Courtesy of Asghar Qarizada]

KUNDUZ -- The Zindagi (Life) Foundation is providing free training in tailoring, marketing and sales to 70 girls and women in Badakhshan province.

Zindagi has been training women and girls for free in various areas of the province since 2019, said Masihullah Mohammadi, director of the foundation.

The current five-month training course started in March with 70 participants in Faizabad, the capital city of Badakhshan.

The participants, most of whom are orphaned or left with no male guardian, face economic difficulties and will benefit from the course, Mohammadi said.

Young women are seen July 13 at Zindagi Foundation in Faizabad, Badakhshan province, as they learn sewing for free. [Courtesy of Asghar Qarizada]

Young women are seen July 13 at Zindagi Foundation in Faizabad, Badakhshan province, as they learn sewing for free. [Courtesy of Asghar Qarizada]

"We are giving a monthly stipend to the participants," he said. "We also try to help them find jobs and sell their handicrafts in local markets."

International donors such as UN Women, Oxfam, GIZ and others help fund Zindagi.

"Most of these girls have lost their fathers to two decades of war, and they face serious economic problems," he said. "This program helps them economically by enabling them to sew and sell their products."

In addition to learning the theory and practice of tailoring, they gain skills in sales and marketing.

Hope for the future

A number of the young women participating in the tailoring course in Badakhshan said they are feeling more hopeful and less uncertain about their future.

Rahima, 18, a high school sophomore in Faizabad city, said she and other girls study tailoring for half a day in the classes and have learned to sew all types of women's clothing.

"I lost my father in 2019 in an explosion in Faizabad city, and I look after my family now," she said.

"My mother is sick and cannot work, and my brothers are young," she explained. "I have to learn tailoring professionally to support my family in the future."

Manizha Ahmadi, another participant in the tailoring course, said she lives with her uncle's family along with her two sisters and her brother.

"I had lost hope in life after the death of my parents and was worried about our future," she said.

"I could not even hold a needle properly in the beginning, but in the last three months, I have learned cutting and sewing clothes."

"I am very happy to be part of this training because it has made me somewhat hopeful in my future," she said.

Class participants are divided into four teams and learn skills such as cutting, sewing and marketing, step by step, said Sharifa Akbari, who leads the training of a 15-person team.

"After completing the training, we can sew women's clothing with the tools that will be given to us, sell them in the city's shops and use the money to meet our families' daily needs," she said.

'Urgent need for education'

Under these circumstances, there is an urgent need for the education of girls, and more efforts should be made in this regard, Sayed Ahmad Bezhanpoor, a sociologist in Badakhshan, said.

The majority of Afghan women and girls are staying home right now, he said.

"In order for them to become self-reliant, training programmes in tailoring, embroidery, beadwork and carpet weaving should be held for them so that they can find work in the future."

Afghan women have been significantly active and achieved much in the past two decades, he said. Today, however, "they are the most deprived group."

Afghan women need education and empowerment, Bezhanpoor added. "NGOs and organisations should take action to help them stand on their own feet again."

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6 Comment

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That is very good.

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The execution of such projects and activities won’t be beneficial until the current rulers of Afghanistan permit the work and participation of women within the government and society. The Taliban want to make Afghan women busy with the issue of the death and life of their children so that they don't have time for the upbringing of their children.

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This is good news, but such projects and activities cannot prove useful until the current rulers of Afghanistan recognize the work and activity of women in the government and society. The Taliban do not want women to work. They have a problem with women's education and are trying to deprive women of education with the orders they receive from their Punjabi bosses. Because if women are educated, future generations will not be trapped in the religious trade of the Taliban and international intelligence. The Taliban also want to keep Afghan women busy with their children's death, so they don't have time to raise their children. The international community should pressure Pakistan to force the Taliban to give up their cruel policies against women. To put pressure on the Taliban, the pressure should be increased on Pakistan because it was Pakistan that created the Taliban thirty years ago, helped them come to power, and then sold them to the Americans. When the United States and the international community turned their back on the legitimate government of Afghanistan, Pakistan helped the Taliban and other terrorist groups to come to power because the Taliban would not change as long as there was a change in Pakistan's politics.

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Women’s status Under the Taliban, women cannot: Go to school, have a job, get into the taxi, travel alone, dress up as per their wish, do makeup, go to the barbershop, go to parks, sing songs, play music, go to therm, play volleyball, play basketball, swim, go to the cinema, work in the film industry. In short, they are deprived of any right to participate in society. Noor Ahmad Khalidi

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Unfortunately, Afghanistan lost everything. Whatever Mr. Khaledi has written is not possible in a society like Afghanistan, but at least women should be given their basic rights, including the right to education, work, and business.

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Unfortunately due to the inimical policies of the Taliban towards Afghan women, the women are now happy with very small and banal works instead of working in top governmental positions. The Taliban are against women’s work, education, and any other role in the society and they hamper their progress in any possible way. Afghan women are on the front line of the victims of the Taliban's terror and ignorance, and they are being oppressed every day. As per their promises, the international community should never recognize this barbaric government until the Taliban grant women their Islamic and human rights. The international community was once deceived by the Taliban, and I think that experience is far enough for them to know that the Taliban can’ maintain their trust and they are subjected to be always under pressure. I thank the aid organizations for their continuous work for Afghan women despite having minimal facilities and accepting the intense pressure from the Taliban. Also, thanks to Salaam Times for making us happy with broadcasting such news.

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