Insights into a Women’s Vocational Training Project in Afghanistan

In this chapter, we discuss a vocational training project for women in the field of post-literacy and tailoring in the north of Afghanistan. The goal of the project is to educate and empower women to earn their own living and therefore gain a more independent and autonomous status within their families and communities. The lack of access to education, to paid work, and the lack of integration of Afghan women into the political system can be seen as structural violence that makes women powerless. Thus, empowering women in Afghanistan first means providing them with access to education and paid work. The education offered must be based on the living environments and resources of Afghan women and be geared to their living environments. With the help of low-threshold educational opportunities, such as the project presented here, women can build up resources and social networks. These, in turn, can have an empowering effect at the social group level, because networking creates additional usable resources, which are essential for achieving their goals.