Afghan women leaders seek technical assistance from Pakistan

Islamabad:Recent developments such as the appointment of former Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq as Pakistan’s special envoy to Kabul and close alignment of both countries on the peace process shows that Pak-Afghan relationships are moving in the direction.

This was stated by Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, Member of the Parliament, Pakistan, while speaking to distinguished Pak-Afghan delegates, in a virtual cross-border women’s dialogue on ‘Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Pakistan and Afghanistan’.

The dialogue was organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), as part of its Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II diplomacy – Beyond Boundaries. Shinkai Karokhail, senior Afghan politician and rights activist, stated that COVID-19’s impact has doubled or tripled women’s responsibilities in Afghanistan and it will slow down the access of girls to education even more. It is feared that because of the economic impact of COVID-19, families will further prioritize educating boys rather than girls, while the number of out of school children is feared to increase – especially the number of girls.

Earlier, Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director CRSS, stated that adding the women component in Beyond Boundaries is good way of building on what CRSS has been doing since 2015.

Muzammil Shinwari, who heads the organization for Economic Studies and Peace (OESP) - counterpart of CRSS in Afghanistan, enunciated that Pakistan has a good experience in distant learning such as Virtual University and Allama Iqbal Open University of Pakistan.

Later on, after a comprehensive discussion on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on women in both countries, Ammara Durrani, who was moderating the session, along with CRSS team, penned the following joint policy recommendations, which were proposed by the delegates on both sides.

Formulation of a Pak-Afghan Bilateral Women Commission in which women leaders from all sectors come together to address and resolve current challenges faced by women in both countries through collaborative measures via this platform. Considering the current COVID-19 situation, personal and household hygiene awareness needs to be raised by government agencies, media, civil society platforms and donor organizations. In addition, personal hygiene kits can be provided to those in need.

Furthermore, participants recommended that, as during the pandemic domestic abuse has been on the rise in both countries, females in Afghanistan can also avail the e-medical and psychotherapy services provided by Pakistan to get help and awareness on how to deal in this difficult time. Also, Afghanistan can also adopt the same model on their online platforms.

Representatives of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IWCCI) extended their offer to Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AWCCI) to provide e-commerce training services, particularly on how to digitalize businesses using online platforms to Afghan businesswomen in order to enhance their skill development and help expand their businesses.

Inclusion of women leaders/activists in the peace process for their first-hand representation as they constitute 46% of the Afghan population and can best voice their issues on their behalf. Currently, there is limited women representation in the peace process but the participants urged to increase the numbers as well as engage women activists from all sectors of the Afghan society. Furthermore, participants urged there should be women representation from the Taliban side as well in the intra-Afghan talks to include their voices.