The Community Empowerment & Economic Development (CEED) programme supports Afghan women’s economic development and security.
In six provinces of Afghanistan, UNIFEM provides small grants to national NGOs that implement integrated projects for women's economic liveilhood.
This programme has also supported local and international micro-finance institutions to provide savings and loan services to vulnerable women. A total of 12,660 women and girls have benefited from various projects since 2003.
Strategies
In order to achieve its goals, the CEED programme supports the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) 
in delivering services and constituency building among women, women's groups and NGOs throughout the country. In addition, research and policy development is carried out in order to inform and improve on existing women's programmes and to enable gender mainstreaming throughout government strategies, policies and laws.
Current Activities
Since 2003, approximately 40,000 Afghan women have benefited from UNIFEM's programme partners, whether through locally-informed policies from MOWA, or more accessible literacy and vocational training courses for women in rural provinces.
Despite these successes, the CEED unit is currently reviewing its strategies based on the past four years of experience. Research and strategy development is focused on the programme's aim to build Afghan women's capacity to participate in their communities locally and nationally. more »
Past Activities
Over the last four years, programme activities have focused on:
- establishing Women's Resource Centres (WRCs);
- establishing the Afghan Women's Business Council, and ;
- supporting women's access to micro-finance credit.
Learn more about past activities »
UNIFEM