From August 3-4, USAID’s Learning for Community Empowerment Program (LCEP-2) organized a two-day stocktaking workshop in Kabul.  Sixty-five community leaders and village facilitators from ten provinces, including 20 women, participated in the workshop.  LCEP-2 addresses the issue of illiteracy and a lack of employment skills by promoting a sustainable process of lifelong learning and community economic empowerment.

During the workshop, the participants shared their views, experiences, and best practices on how vocational, literacy, and business development education are conducted in each of the areas.  In addition to developing solutions to address common challenges, the participants also discussed specific problems in insecure areas where targeted approaches have been taken.  The activities that mostly interested the participants were the productive skills training programs and community banks because of their direct positive impact on the lives of the community members.  The views and best practices identified during the workshop were very useful to the community leaders and village facilitators to further improve program implementation in each of their areas.

“We notice that every province had its own challenges exclusively and fortunately we could find the solution for each.  It was one of the huge advantages of this workshop,” said Mrs. Golsoom, a village facilitator from Hirat Province.  She said that after the workshop was over, the participants could holistically understand the status of the program in other provinces, the opportunities and challenges, and potential best approaches.