UNDP to help improve gender awareness/equity in state institutions

The United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) has announced the launch of a new phase of a programme to expedite gender awareness training in Afghan government institutions. The programme, to be implemented by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), aims to improve gender balance and women's priorities in government policies. "This training will help government institutions to consider gender in all their programmes and policies," Fulya Vekiloglu, a UNDP manager for the Institutional Capacity Building Programme, told IRIN in the Afghan capital Kabul. According to Vekiloglu, the programme - which began last year - has already had some achievements. Last year, the MoWA, with support from UNDP, trained some 500 people in five provinces - Kandahar, Herat, Ghazni, Logar and Parwan. The project included capacity building in the Ministries of Education, Public Health, Commerce, Justice and Planning, as well as in civil society organisations. Particular focus was put on issues such as gender and development, gender awareness and gender analysis. She said the MoWA, with the support of UNDP, this year expanded the programme into six other ministries - Foreign Affairs, Interior, Rural Reconstruction and Development, Higher Education, Religious Affairs, and Information and Culture. More provinces have asked to be included in the programme. The project will also establish a team of gender experts, a legal framework for gender and a gender-training institute. This institute will work with higher education bodies such as the University of Kabul to create and sustain a pool of experts, Vekiloglu said. The government of Luxembourg has donated one million euros to the programme. "Gender equality is needed not only in Afghanistan, but everywhere in the world and the government of Afghanistan should take into account gender balance among civil servants," Shukria Dawi Barekzai, editor-in-chief of Women's Mirror weekly told IRIN, noting that men occupied the higher positions while women were often discouraged and ignored. She added that in a country such as Afghanistan, which has passed through many years of war, no one knew what women's rights were. "The problems of women in this war-torn country need to be a priority and should be highlighted," Vekiloglu stressed, saying that awareness needed to be raised about unequal practices at the practical level, at the private level and at the public level. People needed first to understand the meaning of the role of women in life, in development and in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. UNDP will provide a training programme for gender trainers in the gender-training institute, to give them an academic background. It is hoped that through this they will be able to pass on their knowledge to those who will be joining the programme in the future.