KABUL, AFGHANISTAN- USAID announced today a $2.5 million grant to the Afghanistan Ministry of Women's Affairs. USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios said the grant would further USAID's commitment to assist the Ministry to fulfill its purpose of advocacy and policy development to improve the status and lives of women in Afghanistan. Dr. Massouda Jalal, Minister of Women's Affairs, welcomed the news of the funding at a meeting in Washington with Mr. Natsios and Undersecretary of State Paula J. Dobriansky.

 

USAID's support to the Ministry will help raise the profile and impact of the Ministry as a national, principled leader on issues of women and social justice and increase the Ministry's influence on programs that can improve the lives of women. USAID will also assist in developing and coordinating programs for the seventeen Provincial Women's Resource Centers that facilitate outreach into the provinces to improve the lives of women and girls. USAID has provided more than $50 million to support women's issues in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.