OVERVIEW

The USAID Promote: Women in Government project advances and empowers Afghan women by fostering professional development opportunities for female high school and university graduates interested in working for government institutions at the national and sub-national levels.

The Women in Government activity provides internship programs to build the capacity of women aged 18-30 to ensure that they have the necessary skills, experience, and knowledge to successfully become a new generation of Afghan political, business, and civil society leaders alongside their male counterparts.

The project covers Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, and Kandahar provinces with outreach to other provinces and coordinates closely with the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC) to increase the number of women in the Afghan Civil Service.  The activity will also work in partnership with the Government of Afghanistan to remove barriers to women in the workplace and improve their working environment.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

• Establish an internship training program with IARCSC for young women who are university or secondary school graduates to facilitate women’s entry into the Afghan government.
• Coordinate with Afghanistan government ministries and agencies to identify internship opportunities and facilitate long-term employment at the end of the training programs.
• Identify policies that need to be reformed to improve Afghan government workplaces and make them more women-friendly.
• Build community support for a greater presence of young women in decision-making positions in the government through a comprehensive outreach and communication strategy that targets influential local stakeholders.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• At least 3,000 female university graduates and secondary school graduates complete one-year government internships and transition to full-time employment.
• 70 percent of USAID Promote: Women in Government participants employed by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) within 24 months of finishing their internship.
• 75 percent of GIRoA workplace policy reforms benefit and protect female employees; and
• 50 percent increase in local stakeholder buy-in for support of women working outside the home.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Completed pilot internship program for 16 interns of which 5 have already secured employment
• Partnered with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) to launch the first cohort internship program for 117 interns (out of 1017 applicants) who are in the process of completing their six month civil service classroom portion of the program
• Recruited for the second cohort of recent female university graduates in Kabul, Parwan and Kapisa. Out of 1785 applications, 902 applicants were qualified and 572 in Kabul have tested and interviewed and will jon the program throught the recuritment process
• Conducted Partnership Assesment, Gender Analsysis and Workplace Obstacle assesements in Kabul, prepared analysis and recommendations report