Past Projects

Members of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council have been incredibly active over the years. The following programs and initiatives are no longer in operation, but have left a profound impact on women and girls in Afghanistan and in the diaspora.

The Women’s Initiative to Strengthen and Empower (WISE) Afghanistan  (Health) has provided access to basic healthcare for thousands of women in communities with limited access to health facilities and a high level of poverty. The primary focus areas are on malnutrition, maternal and child health, and menstrual health and hygiene. The organization started off with providing prenatal vitamins and supplements for pregnant women as well as over-the-counter medicine for impoverished patients through partnerships with local health facilities. Since then, it has provided access to healthcare for over 8,000 women and children and conducted trainings for both health professionals and patients within its various areas of focus. In January 2018, WISE launched Salamat, the first maternal health application in Afghanistan aimed at improving the quality of data among health facilities and to enable health professionals to better address the needs of women and their children. Recently, the WISE team completed a successful pilot of Salamat with five health facilities in Kabul through the support of Johns Hopkins University and received approval from leadership at the Ministry of Health to expand the app throughout Afghanistan. WISE aims to continue to transform health care throughout Afghanistan through its core pillars of technology, education, and advocacy.  (Updated 2019)

The Women’s Initiative to Strengthen and Empower (WISE) Afghanistan (Education) ensures girls in Kandahar gain access to quality education in a safe and inclusive learning environment. The main focus of the center, as a facility run by women for women in the community, is to empower women and girls with the tools and knowledge they need to achieve their full potential. The majority of girls have never taken an exam in their life and all of them are illiterate. For the students’ first two years, the center focuses on basic education, including Pashto, Dari, and English Literacy, Science, Mathematics, History, and religion. The WISE team then provides mentorship and training for the students to continue their education and particularly focuses on the areas of STEM and teaching. WISE has developed strong partnerships with local and international educational institutions and enables each student to continue their educational journey through our external partners. Over the last five years, WISE has also been supporting existing schools and orphanages throughout all five regions of the country with access to school supplies, trainings, and mentorship. (Updated 2019)

The Initiative to Educate Afghan Women is a four-year undergraduate education and leadership development program working to create Afghanistan’s next generation of women leaders in Afghanistan. The Initiative partners with U.S. colleges and universities to deliver undergraduate education to Afghan women who want to help other women of Afghanistan in their struggle for gender equity. The Initiative also provides leadership training and career guidance to prepare these young women for roles at the forefront of political, economic ­and social development in their homeland. (Updated 2019)

Mothers as First Teachers, inspired by USAWC Honorary Co-Chair Hillary R. Clinton’s work in early childhood development (ECD), MAFT provides ECD and parenting instruction to Afghan mothers in northeastern Afghanistan, incorporating mobile phone technology, in partnership with Child Fund Afghanistan. (Updated 2019)

Sesame Workshop has worked since 2011 to improve educational outcomes in Afghanistan and to foster skills and values that give the next generation the best chance for success. Created in collaboration with local partners, the Afghan adaptation of Sesame Street, Baghch-e-Simsim (“Sesame Garden” in Dari and Pashto), is a multi-media educational initiative designed to meet the developmental needs of children ages 3 to 7, their parents, and caregivers. To date, seven seasons of culturally relevant, Afghan-produced Baghch-e-Simsim programming have reached millions of children through television and radio addressing girls’ empowerment and gender equity, mutual respect and understanding, diversity appreciation, and the cognitive skills that help prepare Afghan children for school and life. Complementing Baghch-e-Simsim’s mass media programming, community engagement outreach initiatives extend the reach of the initiative beyond television and radio to further deepen impact in both rural and urban areas. (Updated 2019)

The Sunshine Lady Foundation  was founded by philanthropist and change-maker Doris Buffett, who devoted her time and energy to advancing self-sustainability programs and educational opportunities for Afghan women and children. Through this foundation, Doris contributed $600,000 to help finish the construction of a school in Kabul, worked to empower internally displaced persons through community-based programs and even supported a solar paneling installation skills training project in Kabul. Doris passed in 2020, but her legacy lives on in the foundation and in the many lives she impacted (Updated 2023).

Afghanistan Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry‘s mission is to effectively represent the concerns and interests of Afghan businesswomen in the policies and programs the government and international community carries out in Afghanistan. In 2020, AWCCI compiled a database of formal and informal businesses in Afghanistan. AWCCI was also able to improve policies including National Procurement Procedure (by including 5 percent preferential clause) and the Industrial Park Policy (by including 15-25 percent land allocation to women and SMEs). They were also able to make other policies such the National Trade Policy, National Export Strategy, and the Law Regulating Chambers more gender sensitive. Additionally, they trained more than 2500 women in Kabul and the provinces; connected more than 500 businesswomen to digital international and regional platforms. They helped support female entrepreneurs by certifying 48 businesses and by supporting 16 businesses in taking loans. They also recently developed a Women’s National Business Agenda Roadmap. (Updated 2020).

The Bayat Foundation  has shifted their focus from economic empowerment to humanitarian relief due to the increasing famine and drought crisis. See more information in the Health section. (Updated 2023)

Project Artemis  is a proven, successful business and leadership training program for Afghan women entrepreneurs, led by the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU, a top-ranked international business school located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Started in 2005, 86 women have completed the Project Artemis program, creating over 3,000 jobs and training and mentoring an estimated 15,000 fellow Afghan men and women in business and leadership skills. Thunderbird continues to support these women remotely, connecting them to resources and opportunities whenever possible. Thunderbird is currently raising funds for our next cohort of Project Artemis.  (Updated 2019)

Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women Initiative (new window) , through a partnership between Thunderbird and the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), provided 307 Afghan women with high-level business and leadership education from 2008 through 2013. 10,000 Women has assisted graduates in establishing an alumni network and continues to engage these alumni and support areas of need among the rising generation of Afghan businesswomen through the Women’s Center at the AUAF. (Updated 2019)

Thunderbird for Good  was contracted under Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) to lend expertise and knowledge to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Promote: Women in the Economy (WIE) and Musharikat programs. WIE is bolstering women’s inclusion in Afghanistan’s economy and working to ensure that progress made by Afghan women over the past decade endures and advances. Thunderbird for Good’s work has been instrumental in strengthening career counseling and job placement services through a customized job services guide created in concert with our partners in Afghanistan, and facilitating access to quality management tools and information through the creation of a searchable entrepreneurs’ assistant, containing answers to common business questions, step-by-step managerial methods, and tools and templates that business owners can use to increase efficiency and grow businesses in Afghanistan. This work also included success stories of business scenarios from Afghan women business owners and entrepreneurs. The Musharikat program focuses on providing training and support to the civil society sector in Afghanistan. They build coalitions around various aspects of women’s rights. Thunderbird’s role in this project was to create a Train the Trainer curriculum teaching women how to be persuasive. Thunderbird faculty delivered the training to 50 trainers over 10 days in Kabul during March of 2019. The trainers are tasked with themselves delivering training to over 5,000 other women’s rights advocates throughout the various provinces of Afghanistan. In addition, Thunderbird developed a stand-alone card game used in the training and beyond that is designed to strengthen and practice persuasion techniques and methods.  (Updated 2019)

Relief International’s Women’s Enterprise, Advocacy and Training (WEAT) Program (new window)  finished in August 2022. It tackled the pervasive discrimination that women in Afghanistan face every day at multiple levels. The Program was a five-year effort started in 2017 and worked with a broad range of stakeholders from civil society, government and the private sector in seven districts of Ghazni, Kapisa and Nangarhar. It included a combination of direct interventions in communities alongside advocacy support to promote an enabling environment for economic empowerment of women and girls. The WEAT Program fostered women-owned businesses by providing them with technical support. It also engaged religious leaders and the Afghan police to prevent gender-based violence and child marriage. For instance, in Nangarhar, one of Afghanistan’s most conservative provinces, RI’s training course for 172 mullahs helped them include lessons on preventing child marriage in their Friday sermons. (Updated 2023)

Afghan Women Leaders Connect identifies and supports effective and accountable Afghan women educators, doctors and health workers, lawyers and judges, and women in business, through: direct financial support; human rights training; voter education training; and in-depth, year-long business training to help expand and strengthen their organizations. Afghan Women Leaders CONNECT hosts an internet forum where Afghan women’s voices can be heard.  (Updated 2019)

Georgetown University , home to the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, hosts the Rising Afghan Women Leaders Initiative for Afghan women leaders from a variety of sectors, bringing them together with Georgetown University students from the Washington DC and Doha campuses.  (Updated 2019)

Prime Counsel , a legal services provider in Afghanistan, has sponsored a project to highlight
success stories of Afghan women leaders across Afghanistan. In April 2019, three female
writers were selected to conduct research and interviews of women. The series called “Leading
the Way” will be launched in September, with one article every month published each month in
collaboration with a leading think tank in Washington, DC. The objective of the initiative is to
highlight positive stories of success achieved by Afghan women leaders and share the
information through a web platform to connect individuals and organizations to these leaders and
their organizations, promoting collaboration. (Updated 2019)