New charity to improve life in Afghanistan
-31/01/06
As the British Government co-host
New charity to improve life in Afghanistan
-31/01/06
As the British Government co-hosts a London Conference on Afghanistan to agree a five-year plan to speed up the reconstruction of Afghanistan, a new charity ‘Afghan Action’ is being launched.
The London Conference, taking place from today (31st January) till 1st February, is to be chaired jointly by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, and Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General. The Afghan government will present its own blueprint for the future known as the Interim National Development Strategy which focuses on a range of key issues including sustainable economic and social development.
The new charity, also being launched, will provide education and training to young people in Kabul, equipping them with skills to generate income for their families and help revitalise one of the countryís traditional industries.
Afghan Actionís three-year project is being flagged as an example of an activity falling squarely within the London Conferenceís development objectives. The project which has received a quarter of a million pounds worth of funding from DFID (the Government Department for International Development) plans to train 350 young men and women. Trainees receive up to 9 monthsí training in carpet weaving, literacy and numeracy skills and are then employed in the factory or elsewhere.
Afghan Action provides fair wages and good working conditions in the training school and factory, along with daily lunches and medical care for staff and trainees.
The carpets that they make will be made out of mainly natural products ñ wools and vegetable dyes ñ and based on traditional Afghan tribal designs.
From a small office in East London, Afghan Action is raising funds to help develop this vital lifeline to young people in Kabul. The carpets will be on sale in the UK, starting at £200. Charitable donations can be made to help expand the training school and factory so that it can help even more young people.
In particular, the charity needs sponsors for its 350 trainees to enable them to complete their training and move into employment. Through their ësponsor a traineeí scheme, they will be able to support themselves and their families. Each sponsor will receive a carpet handmade by a trainee. Sponsorship is £30 per month or £360 per year.
Chris Beales, founder and Chairman of Afghan Action said: “Afghan Action helps to convert British Government funding into effective help for young Afghan women and men.
“Due to the situation out there a lot of people were not able to sell the carpets that they were making and in many cases they were receiving very little money because there were so many middle men.
“Our goal is to help people help themselves, through training and jobs. When we start selling the carpets, we will be able to reinvest the proceeds in the project, but in the meantime we are raising money through gifts and sponsorship which are proving vital to the success of the scheme.”
Simon Nicholson, Programme Director (Afghanistan) Children in Crisis said: “This is a dynamic project. Grinding poverty forces families to rely on the meagre income their children can earn on the streets. Afghan Action is helping to provide these children with not only a better future, but a safe and friendly environment in which to learn a trade”.
The charityís Afghan colleague Abdullah Haiwad is helping to set up the project, and he recently visited families of trainees who come from Kabul and the countryside, to explain the project. These families are living in desperate poverty. Abdullah said: “I hope that the London Conference will support projects like Afghan Action as part of its commitment to economic and social development.”