TABLE D.1
Country-Level Objectives and Summary Results for Bank Support for Afghanistan
Objectives stated in 2002 and 2003 INS Enhanced human capital Education • Increase gross enrollment at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, with a focus on creating more equal opportunity for girls and women. • Improve literacy among young women • Provide technical and vocational training to vulnerable groups to enable their participation in the modern economy (Primary gross enrolment rate has been estimated most recently at 30 percent for girls)
Health • Increase the number of female health workers • Reduce maternal mortality and fertility through expanding service delivery and increasing equity (starting point: estimated mortality rate of 16 (per 1,000 live births.) Almost half of all deaths among women of reproductive age are a result of pregnancy and childbirth—¾ of which were preventable. Trained health care provider attended fewer than 8 percent of deliveries countrywide (2002).
Equal access to economic assets and opportunities Economic empowerment • Number of person-days of employment provided through public works programs (including number for women)
Results Improvement • Skills Development in Afghanistan (October 2008): Although the gender gap has narrowed in the past few years, it is still large. Nearly twice as many boys are enrolled at the primary level. At the secondary level, this gap widens to about three times as many boys, as illustrated by the gender-parity ratio, which is the ratio of numbers of girls to numbers of boys at each level. • National Emergency Employment Program for Rural Access (2008) ICR: Enrolled students in 17 primary schools, 22 secondary schools, and 5 high schools connected by the sample roads increased by 36 percent during the post project period. Proportion of girls availing education facilities increased from 29 to 36 percent. PRSP 2008: School enrollments have more than quadrupled to over six million children, one-third of whom are girls. Female literacy 18 percent. Improvement • INS 2003: Maternal mortality, at 1,700. • Strengthening Health Activities for the Poor Project Paper (2009): Maternal mortality is the second highest in the world; with a ratio of 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, women’s survival remains a top priority for the health sector. Data from a 2006 household survey of women in rural areas suggest that utilization of health services is improving but still far too low to put the country on track for reaching MDGs 4 and 5. • National Emergency Employment Program for Rural Access (2008) ICR: Rehabilitated sample rural roads provided better connectivity to 23 hospitals, and all villages located within a maximum distance of 7.5 km from these hospitals availed the improved access to health services. Outpatients availing the hospital facilities increased by 30 percent, women seeking prenatal care has gone up by 90 percent, and women seeking delivery care and services doubled during the postproject period. Ratio of women availing delivery services to prenatal services from these hospitals has gone up from 41 to 51 percent in the benefited villages. Increased access to female health care workers. The percentage of primary health care facilities with at least one female doctor, nurse or midwife has increased from 26 percent in 2004 to 81 percent in 2007.
Improvement • CGA (2006): The Bank has approached gender and economic empowerment through greater involvement of women within agricultural and livestock sector—Afghanistan’s leading production framework—as well as increased access to microcredit and lending programs. Although increases in employment for women were not at the level expected between the 2001 and 2003 strategies, by 2006 the strategy introduced a focus on strengthening women’s roles as producers in the rural economy, particularly horticulture and livestock, job creation in industrial sectors and better infrastructure for women’s employment (for example, transport, facilities and so forth) The CGA calls for programming in the form of access to training, credit facilities, and expanding marketing opportunities and greater support to businesswomen through access to credit, raw materials, training and markets. • The Empowerment Program for Rural Access Project (fiscal 2003–08) utilized innovative solutions such as the production of building materials from home or other socially acceptable locations to facilitate a cooperate and coordinative environment including women to build a respond to issues of gender, ethnicity, local poverty conditions, community dynamics and the institutional context. (Table continues on the following page.)
Appendix D: Inclusion and Women’s Empowerment in Afghanistan
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