What's New
Rob Buchanan of the International Committee at the Council of Foundations addressing FNAW members on best practices in networked grant-making.
FNAW members on October 27th in New York listen to Rob Buchanan of the Council of Foundations.
FNAW partners in the Unsung Heroes of Afghanistan project
FNAW partners in the Unsung Heroes of Afghanistan project, to help recognize the peacebuilding contributions of Afghan activists in Afghanistan.
Supporting Women's Visibility in Public Life
FNAW's 2008 Campaign for A Strategic Funding Direction
Background:
Each year, FNAW works with Afghan activists and its members to identify areas or sectors where there is a general lack of funding support. These are sectors or themes which offer strategic opportunity to empower women, but which may not be on the radar of many donor organizations. In our role of trying to connect need with the necessary resources to address need, we spend one year mobilizing support and awareness for the identified under-served theme or issue. In 2008, Supporting Women's Visibility in Public Life is FNAW's strategic theme. To help arm donors and organizations with more information on this issue, organizations working on this issue, and what they can do to help, we are pleased to launch a special webpage dedicated to this topic.
Click here to find out about what is happening in Afghanistan to give women opportunities to participate in the cultural, recreational, heritage, and artistic life of their country, and to make space for themselves to gain visibility in public life.
FNAW member of the month
August 2008: Afghan Canadian Community Center
Overview: The Afghan Canadian Community Center (ACCC) is a post-secondary school that provides students in Kandahar, primarily young women, with employment-oriented education in business management, Information Technology, English and health care. Approximately 700 female and male students are presently enrolled at the ACCC. Female students attend at no charge, while a small group of male students pay a modest fee to offset the cost of their instruction. The ACCC also operates an Internet lab that is available to women in the community at no charge.
The school's programs help students develop the skills they need to secure employment which provides a living for themselves and their families and often allows them to assist with the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The skills taught at the ACCC are in high demand by international development agencies, local businesses and the Afghan government. Close to 100 of our students have obtained high-paying employment or promotions as a result of this training, approximately the same the number of students who initially enrolled at the ACCC when it first opened in January 2007.
For more information about the ACCC, Click Here.
Here are the links to some of their most recent press releases:
- ACCC Moves to Larger Facility
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ASIN-7G6SPS - Govt of Canada to provide more than $60,000 in funding to Kandahar school
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ASIN-7FCPQW
For more information, please contact:
Ryan Aldred, Program Director The Afghan School Project
Tel: (613) 882-4530
Email: staff@theafghanschool.org
Outside the The Afghan Canadian Community Center (ACCC) Building.
Working in the Computer Lab.
Learning in the Classroom.
Studying in the Library.
Past Members of the Month Profiles
- August 2008 - Afghan Canadian Community Center
- April 2008 - The Centre for Contemporary Arts of Afghanistan
- March 2008 - Afghanistan Libre
- February 2008 - Women to the World
- December 2007 - Meet the National Islamic Society of Afghan Youth
Why a Funder’s Network for Afghan Women?
As a conflict zone in the centre of the international war against terror, Afghanistan plays host to a large foreign presence. Yet, six years after the fall of the Taliban, change has come slow for Afghan women. Bilateral development funding has not always been effective, the promised amounts did not always materialize, and the trickle into the hands of women and girls has been minute. New grant-makers are needed in Afghanistan. FNAW is your entry point into supporting projects that help Afghan women and girls effectively. We help you make strategic grants that matter by giving you access to advice, networks and tools. Find out more.
About Us
The Funders' Network for Afghan Women (FNAW) is a coalition of dedicated foundations and granting organizations, as well as advocates, policy-makers and other agencies funding Afghan women's groups. FNAW members have committed to working together to better understand and address the needs of grassroots civil society organizations in Afghanistan that support women and children. Members share project assessments, security information, experiences, and feedback from Afghan partners to prioritize funding, expand on success stories, and build the capacity of women leaders in Afghanistan.
The Network addresses common problems faced by grantees, with an emphasis on sustainability, advocacy and capacity-building. FNAW provides grantees with technical assistance, and helps them better establish their own networks and partnerships. It is FNAW's belief that a coalition of funders can have a real, measurable policy impact on those with the power to bring meaningful change to the lives of Afghan women and girls. To this end, advocacy is key among FNAW's priorities.
Women's funds and other organizations concerned with the future of Afghanistan have long recognized the need to improve donor coordination and information-sharing to ensure that the goal of building a lasting civic democratic society in Afghanistan has a viable chance. They also recognized that the key to a democratic and progressive society is improvement for women and children in a host of areas. The difficulty donors and potential grant-seekers face in getting information from and about each other has led to a growing tendency for all donations to “settle” amongst one or two well-known grant-seekers, not necessarily best meeting the pressing needs on the ground.
To address this problem, FNAW was launched at an initiating meeting at the annual Women's Funding Network 2004 conference held in Toronto, Canada, by major donors and policy advocates who came together to create a network that could be a forum for information- sharing and collaboration to reach new grantees, seek co-funding opportunities, and build the institutional capacities of Afghan NGOs. The network includes funders, grant-makers and advocates who, among other activities, are working to improve the living standards of Afghans, and especially, to empower Afghan women and girls through direct support to women's projects and programmes.
Today FNAW is a thriving network, meeting every month. Through collaboration, coordination and information-sharing, ideas are being shared generously and frequently, thereby improving the reach, capacity and efficiency of each member organization, and ultimately, better meeting the needs of beneficiaries in Afghanistan.