Afghan Women and Micro-finance

While several micro-finance institutions currently operate in Afghanistan, a high demand for women's increased involvement continues to remain.

For example, of the 15 micro-finance institutions currently supported by the Micro-finance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) , only two are managed by women, and located in inaccessible rural areas. The remaining 13 institutions cater to a majority of male recipients.

Delivering Micro-finance Opportunities

The CEED programme provided small grants to national NGOs in order to support them in delivering micro-credit opportunities to women producers, particularly in the rural provinces. Through these local organizations, various activities were developed at the state and local levels to support women's access and utilization of micro-credit finances. These activities included:

• training on how to identify market outlets;
• business development services;
• vocational skills training;
• access to financial services and;
• courses in adult literacy, health and legal rights awareness.

 

 

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UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security worldwide.
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