FOCUS
Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Creating Economic Opportunities

MDGs ADDRESSED
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
MDG 8: Create a global partnership for development

OVERVIEW
Increased fighting in Afghanistan has made it difficult to sustain development efforts and continue rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. After more than two decades of war, the country remains extremely poor and highly dependent on foreign aid, farming, and trade with neighboring countries. An estimated 40% of adults are unemployed. Fifty percent of the population lives in poverty, and only 36% is literate. Because girls and women were denied education under the Taliban, the literacy rate among the female population is as low as 4% to 14%.

Afghanistan’s health care system is still insufficient —and the results are tragic, especially for children and women. One in four Afghan children dies before reaching five years old. The country’s maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world. An Afghan mother dies every half-hour on the average.

Our PARTNER
Since 2004, Episcopal Relief and Development has partnered with Afghans4Tomorrow, a non-profit, non-political organization that improves the quality of life for people in Afghanistan through reconstruction, health care, and education. Afghans4Tomorrow work through a network of young Afghan professionals in the United States, and has both volunteer and paid staff on the ground in Afghanistan.

Our CURRENT PROGRAMS
Episcopal Relief and Development is improving the lives of families and children in Afghanistan by focusing on two areas: rebuilding the health care system and empowering young women through education and skills training.

Episcopal Relief and Development is providing life-saving health care through its support of the Wardak health post and the Shaq District Hospital. The health post opened in June 2007, and serves the village of Sheik Yassin, population 4,500. Episcopal Relief and Development’s partner, Afghans 4 Tomorrow, has signed a formal agreement with the Shaq District Hospital, which serves an estimated 155,000 people, to regularly supervise the clinic.

Episcopal Relief and Development is also giving young Afghan women an opportunity to go to school and learn a marketable skill so that they can feed and support their families. Many of the girls denied education under the Taliban regime have grown too old to attend primary schools. The A4T1 School for Girls, located in Chel-Setoun, an impoverished suburb of Kabul, allows these young women to finish their schooling while learning a trade.

Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Episcopal Relief and Development is ensuring impoverished communities have health care while supporting the rebuilding of the health system for long-term sustainability.

• Support for staff at the Wardak health post, including a doctor, nurse and security guard, provides access to medical personnel in a safe environment.
• Procurement of essential medicines as requested by the District Health Officer of the Ministry of Health ensures that commonly needed drugs are available in the community.
• Financial support ensures that the health post can continue to operate until it is integrated into the Afghan health system.
• Support for a full-time OB/GYN at the District Hospital improves reproductive health care for women in the district.

Creating Economic Opportunities
Episcopal Relief and Development is enhancing Afghan women’s ability to earn a living by providing educational and vocational opportunities for older girls (average age of 15 years old) at the A4T1 Girls School.

• Vocational training provides young women with skills and opportunities to earn income, such as tailoring, embroidery, pottery, and carpet weaving.
• An intensive study program allows girls who could not attend school to gain admission to secondary schools by completing the curriculum established by the Ministry of Education. The school was expanded to the ninth curriculum level, at the request of the Ministry of Education.

Our PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
Following the war in 2001, Episcopal Relief and Development provided families fleeing Afghanistan with emergency food, such as wheat, cooking oil, and rice, as well as shelter kits which contained a tent, a tarp, a plastic ground sheet, and blankets.

Episcopal Relief and Development also completed reconstruction projects with its partner Afghans4Tomorrow to rebuild the health care and education infrastructure of the country. These included:

• Building the Wardak Primary/Secondary School in the community of Sheik Yassin, which serves a community of 4,500 and has separate classes for boys and girls.
• Constructing the Wardak Health Post in Sheik Yasin, which provides health care to 4,500 residents who previously had no local health care facility.
• Funding the A4T1 School for Girls in Kabul, which gives young Afghan women the chance to get an education and learn a skill to support their families.