29 NOVEMBER 2010 | BAMYAN PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

 

Located in central Afghanistan, Bamyan Province is largely agrarian and its residents rely on agriculture and animal husbandry to earn a living.  However, there are few economic opportunities in the province and many households live in poverty.  A lack of employment opportunities causes residents to either go abroad to seek other alternatives in order to earn a living.

 

The USAID-funded Community Based Stabilization Grants (CBSG) project is a unique initiative that aims to reduce poverty and improve food security and overall stability of the areas in which it operates.  In Bamyan Province, CBSG recently implemented a women’s beekeeping project in coordination with the provincial Rural Rehabilitation and Development Department; the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock; and local women’s shuras (councils).

 

The beekeeping project provided local women with the opportunity to learn a sustainable agricultural skill and earn an income to support their families.  The local women’s shura selected 100 participants, who learned beekeeping skills and how to market and sell the honey they produced.

 

At the end of the training, each graduating woman received two beehives.  Now, the women are equipped with the tools and skills to provide for their families; in the past, these women   had no source of income and were dependent on male family members.

 

Shakar Dokht, one of the 100 women who participated in the training, said, “As a result of this project, I am now running my own beekeeping business and now I have a source of income to support my family.”  She added, “My family wanted to leave Afghanistan and move to Iran due to the poor economic situation and lack of employment, but now that we have a source of income, we don’t need to leave our country.”

 

With marketable skills and agricultural knowledge, women like Ms. Dokht are improving stability in Afghanistan and for their own families.