HERAT CITY (SW): According to the directorate of economy in Herat, up to $ 101 million have been invested to lift the skills and capacity of women in the province in the past three years.
The breakdown of these funds suggest $ 42 million worth of 280 projects were executed in the year 2014, $ 35 million worth of 261 projects in the year 2015, $ 18 million worth of 81 projects in the year 2016 and $ 6 million worth of 30 projects have been executed in the first six months of the ongoing year in this regard.
Yonus Rahnord, director for economy in the province, informed that an overwhelming majority of these projects have been implemented in various districts of the province.
Seema, leader of the women’s community council in Gazra district, informed Salam Watandar that a large chunk of funds are embezzled while only a small amount is invested to organize symbolic workshops to lift the skills and capacity of women. Jadeja, another women activist, said in this regard that up to 50 per cent of these projects are distributed among influential families and communities on one pretext or another.
Ahmad, a member of the community council in Zinda Jan district, charged that the funds earmarked for women’s skill development and capacity building are embezzled at all levels starting from the provincial administration to lower level officials at the district level while women are used as ‘tool’ for it.
Members of the provincial council agree with this. Fatema Jafari, a female member of the provincial council, stated that a number of civil society organizations are involved in exploiting women to grab funs on the pretext of building their capacity and skills. She claimed only up to 20 per cent of civil society organizations are truly providing services to women and girls.
Yonus Rahnord, director for economy in the province, lamented that the organizations executing such projects only evaluate the implementation of the projects rather than monitoring the funds utilized.
Meanwhile, Jailani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, argued that many organizations have done phenomenal jobs to lift the skills and capacity of women despite the fact that some organizations are involved in the embezzlement of funds. According to the local officials, there are up to 400 registered organizations working in this sector half of them have stopped working due to lack of funds.
ENDS
