KABUL Affairs (DoWA) held a variety of events to celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday.
A statement from the German cooperation with Afghanistan said that DoWA was active in the six northern Afghan provinces Badakhshan, Balkh, Baghlan, Kunduz, Samangan and Takhar provinces to bring about progress and development to the areas.
In Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, the new women’s garden and marketplace, built with German funding, played host to a wide range of activities for about 700 women. The motto of the day was “To put Beijing into practice, let us struggle in providing women with justice, opportunities, comfort and peace.”
The women who come to the garden and market, both as sellers and consumers, act as multipliers in their own districts and villages, the statement added. In Taloqan, Takhar, around 350 participants discussed questions of political participation.
In Balkh, the program presented a series of video interviews by men and women who fight for women’s rights to an audience of international partners.
At the events in Badakhshan, Mrs. Zufnun Hesam Nateq, director of the DoWA, said: “Obtaining religious and human rights of women still remains a challenge in Afghanistan but is not impossible. We need time and patience to reach our goals.”
The German supported program for Promotion of the rule of law runs various activities to ensure that the interests of women are respected in dialogue between civil society and government institutions, it added.
The statement said that the measures are designed explicitly to encourage women to participate in political processes. So far, the program has helped teaching women about their rights through radio broadcasts, legal awareness campaigns in schools in the six provinces and through a theatre play with performances in Mazar-e Sharif and other districts in Balkh.
pr/rm
