Afghan women celebrate World Habitat Day

Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan
Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 2 October 2000 -- Women from all over Mazar-i-Sharif are coming together today to celebrate World Habitat Day, with a two hour programme dedicated to this year's theme "Women in Urban Governance". Elsewhere in the city, a similar programme is being conducted for men, with the Mazar youth and community education committees taking an active role in both celebrations. These events will be used to reflect on the role of women as decision-makers in society, and the need to address urban issues that are of particular concern to women.

World Habitat Day is celebrated annually on the first Monday in October. Yet, for the Afghanistan programme of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) every day is dedicated to increasing the role of women in urban governance.

Working in six principle cities inside Afghanistan, Habitat bases its community development work on the assumption that people, men and women alike, are best placed to solve their own problems. Traditionally concerned just with infrastructure (shelter, water systems, sanitation etc.), some years ago the programme realised that urban rehabilitation cannot take place without the full co-operation of the community concerned. Today, therefore, Habitat Afghanistan focuses on forming what are known as Community Forums.

The central aim of the Community Forum (CF) system is simple: to encourage urban communities to come together, identify common problems and find local solutions to these. A Community Forum engages women at every level. Not only do women plan and manage all of their own activities, but also through the Forums they can become important decision-makers within the community. In fact, the Community Forum programme as a whole began as a women's initiative, developed by women for women. Its success was such, however, that it quickly expanded to include men, although the arrival of the Taliban has since lead to a segregation of the sexes. Nonetheless, through the CF system women have negotiated with the authorities to be allowed to continue their activities, and to start up home-based schools and small community businesses. In Afghanistan, this is no mean feat.

Today, a network of 56 Community Forums exists across the six cities in which UNCHS (Habitat) works. Consequently, across urban Afghanistan women are actively participating in the governance of their affairs. Through consultation, they have become empowered to make decisions about the problems that face their community. In celebrating World Habitat Day, UNCHS pays tribute to these women, and to all they have achieved.