Young Afghan Women Overcome Barriers to Workforce

November 2016—Kandahar is one of the more culturally restrictive provinces in Afghanistan. The Taliban controlled Kandahar from 1994 to 2002, banning young women from going to work and denying girls access to education. Today, this societal barrier is still in effect, and most Kandahari women seeking employment are unable to enter the workforce.

To overcome these barriers, USAID’s Promote: Women in the Economy program is working with young women and girls to help them gain work experience through internships and find full-time jobs.

Nabeeha* heard about the USAID program in Kandahar and decided it was time to invest in her future. She registered for an internship and was offered the opportunity to work in a private school.

“After I graduated from high school, I was looking for a job but was unsuccessful. I had no previous work experience or network that could help me,” Nabeeha said.

“The internship helped me to improve my skills, enhance my work experience and gave me confidence,” she added.

Internships and job placement services provide women the opportunity to gain work experience, prove their capabilities to employers, and secure new or better positions. Nabeeha was initially offered an internship position for a period of six months. Using her new professional network and the skills she learned in her internship, she was hired as a full-time teacher with a private school before her internship ended.

“The work experience I received through this program is very important to me. It has helped me to get a job and to develop professionally.”

Promote: Women in the Economy, which runs from 2015 to 2019, seeks to place 21,000 young women between the ages of 18-30 in new or better jobs. The program also works to improve the growth of women-owned businesses and businesses with a female workforce of at least 10 percent. To date, more than 6,600 women have enrolled in job placement services, and more than 200 employers have recruited 1,074 interns, apprentices and employees. This year, program activities expanded beyond regional centers into 30 provinces through a partnership with the Afghan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled.

*Many Afghans use only one name.

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