At the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee’s office in Faryab, a province in Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighbouring Turkmenistan, Wahida Ghorob leads twenty employees as the Provincial Coordinator for the organisation.
– After joining the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee in 2016, I have worked in several crucial areas, such as gender, human rights and monitoring and evaluation – before becoming Provincial Coordinator in 2018. Before joining NAC, I worked with several international organisations here in Afghanistan, mainly in the areas of human rights, Ghorob explains.
Ghorob was born in Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan and has lived there her entire life. She is 32 years old, is married and has three children. Her varied educational background includes political science, midwifery, law, leadership, and management, as well as a course in dialogue- and conflict transformation from the Nansen Centre in Norway.
– I wanted to work for NAC after hearing about their experiences and work in rural Afghanistan. Their focus on gender equality – in a society where women are more vulnerable and often discriminated against – made me even more motivated to apply and work with this organisation. So, here at the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee I can work very freely as an Afghan woman, which is a big motivating factor for me. This is the best job I’ve ever had.
A usual workday
NAC’s office in Faryab Province works mainly in education. However, the office also works in several other key areas such as health, dialogue- and conflict transformation, agriculture, infrastructure, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and good governance.
– On a usual workday I have meetings to coordinate the management of the areas and responsibilities of the office, for example with stakeholders and the provincial educational department. I also train teachers, students, governmental employees, and other community members in dialogue- and conflict transformation. After decades of war, there is a real need for this in the local communities, and throughout Afghanistan.
NAC’s efforts in Faryab
So far in 2022, NAC’s Faryab office has had many different types of activities and programmes. The office has three main projects now. One of these is a project in agriculture – a fertilizer distribution to farmers, which is in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
– Through this joint NAC-FAO project, we have distributed fertilizer to several thousand farmers here in Faryab! The two other main projects focus on education. Together with the NGO Danish Assistance to Afghan Rehabilitation and Technical Training (DAARTT), we are implementing the Equitable Access to Quality Education project, which we started this January here in Faryab. We are also implementing the educational component of the ERA project (Empowering Rural Afghanistan), which aims to provide solid long-term development solutions, Ghorob explains.
Education in Faryab
Other activities the Faryab office is currently working on include: COVID-19 information programmes; diploma upgrading programmes for 12th grade schoolteacher graduates; core-competency training for 300 schoolteachers from all over the province; Kankor-exam preparation courses for 12th grade students from NAC partner schools; and playgroup centres for 3–6-year-olds, where the children learn though playing. The office also has winter camps for 120 NAC partner school students – a type of capacity-building training for students to get ready for the next year of studies.
– These projects will continue throughout the spring semester here in Faryab. After that, we will continue with our activities and programmes from 2021 that we couldn’t finish due to the pandemic and because of the changes in the political system in August.
Developmental challenges
There are always challenges with development in Afghanistan. Wahida explains how the biggest challenge her office faces these days is the separation of males and females in school and university classes, which is both an administrative problem as well as a financial issue for their ongoing work.
– In spite of the rules that the new government set, we are still able to go to the office and continue our work. We have many assignments out in the field that our female staff can still participate in, freely going to the communities to conduct our activities. This is a very good thing! The past government’s organisations are almost all closed, and their staff doesn’t receive their salaries. NAC is still operating in Afghanistan, which the local communities that we are present in are very thankful for in these critical times! Therefore, I am very proud to a part of the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee.
The future for education in Afghanistan
– I worry about my children’s futures and especially for the education of girls and women. Before, us women were relatively free. Now, the new restrictions on women are simply not acceptable. Many girls and women do not feel comfortable going out alone in the cities. We must try to continue to work with creating a good educational and social environment for the girls and women of Afghanistan, so that also they may have a future in this country.
