OVERVIEW

The USAID Promote Women’s Leadership Development (WLD) program builds the confidence of Afghanistan’s most talented young women to encourage them to participate fully in society and become future leaders in the public and private sectors. Over five years, 25,000 women with exceptional leadership potential and commitment to positive social change are being recruited and enrolled in the program, targeting specifically:

1. Jawana (“Sapling” in Dari) – Provides training to women who have a minimum high school diploma, though many may have taken college or university classes or have university degrees or technical, vocational, or educational training
2. Royesh (“Seedling” in Dari) – Provides training to Afghan girls and women who have completed primary school but who have not graduated from high school

ACTIVITIES

• Jawana: Implemented in five target provinces: Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar, Kandahar, and Herat; program target goal is 18,000 young women.
• Royesh: implemented in public schools in five target provinces: Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar, Kandahar, and Herat; curriculum targets 7,000 girls and aims to improve their life and leadership skills.
• Scholarships: provided funds for girls to complete secondary school education and provided scholarships to assist jawana participants to attend short-term technical training courses designed to improve access to employment.
• Alumnae network: continued to support graduates to network, share experiences, and access new business and work opportunities.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Jawana: As of June 2019, a total of 20,801 women graduated from the Jawana program following Promote WLD’s inception.
• Jawana Experiential Learning Projects: As part of the Jawana program, participants implemented 1,573 Women’s Empowerment and Community Development Projects affecting approximately 488,949 direct and 1,406,331 indirect beneficiaries in WLD's five target provinces. These projects include food production, agriculture, English-language courses, driving courses for women, family planning, drug, legal and health awareness activities, maintenance in girl’s schools, anti-harassment campaigns, sports activities, trauma healing & counseling, computer literacy course, peace initiatives, self-skills development; private sector engagement, and women’s and community-focused economic development projects.
• Royesh: The Royesh curriculum was implemented in 17 public schools and in close coordination with the Ministry of Education. As of June 30, 2019, a total of 10,178 students had graduated from the Royesh program.
• Scholarships: As of June 2019, a total of 6,436 applications had been received under need-based scholarships; 5,012 had been reviewed by the selection committee, and 2,735 had been selected as final candidates.
• Alumnae Network: As of June 2019, 12 alumnae information session and networking events had been conducted for the Jawana program graduates: three in Kabul, three in Herat, two in Nangarhar, two in Kandahar, and two in Balkh; 2,312 Jawana program graduates benefited from this information exchange and networking events.