News

In conflict-ridden Afghanistan, education is fundamental for the road to peace and recovery. Yet ongoing violence, poverty and displacement prevent many children from going to school. The recent attacks on education facilities have highlighted the risks children have to face on a daily basis and the importance to protect and promote education for generations to come.

The Empower School of Health organised a workshop on Universal Health Coverage focusing on access to medicines and vaccines from 20th to 24th August in Geneva, Switzerland. Our volunteers Mammek Brobbey and Namrita Singh represented Action for Development at this platform.

Mohammed and Sabera, two of the Rahyab School’s 10th grade students who were born deaf, highlight some of the difficulties facing disabled youth in Afghanistan, and how being a part of the school has given them hope for the future.

Action for Development presents its Annual Report 2017. The report highlights key results achieved in 2017 by AfD and partners, and looks to the strategic challenges ahead.
2017 was the first year of AfD’s strategic vision 2017-2020, set around its mission “Healthy families, empowered communities” in Afghanistan. Despite the many challenges, particularly resource mobilisation and a backdrop of ongoing violence in the country, significant results were achieved over the course of the year.

The global scenario of maternal health has seen an unprecedented growth, however, conflict zones like Afghanistan still bear the brunt of challenges. There is no doubt that some significant progress has been made but there is a long way to go. Within the context of improving yet still insufficient maternal healthcare provision, Action for Development in collaboration with Haute école de santé de Genève designed and developed a short-term capacity building training course for qualified midwives in Afghanistan.

Action for Development held its Annual Organizational Workshop on 28 May 2018, which brought together Geneva and Kabul staff to exchange updates, discuss progress and future challenges. Following project updates, discussions were held on ways of improvement and the organization’s future.

Since April the children at Action for Development’s school for street children are enjoying football classes once a week, which has been added to their curriculum.

A newly recruited football coach teaches fitness and football to the boys and girls, who now make up two separate teams. The classes take place in a local indoor sports center, which ensures that children are safe.

Action for Development is set to develop new training materials for its Midwifery Capacity Building Program. Knowledge gaps still persist among rural midwives, and regular updates based on newest methods and medical research is vital to ensure quality care for mothers and babies. Five new modules are to be added, which was determined based on an evaluation of previous trainings.

The development of the five new modules is expected to be completed in summer 2019 and were identified as follows:

Action for Development conducted a survey at its School for Street Children to better understand the daily lives of the 48 street children and the challenges they faced.

The children’s eating habits revealed that they were not receiving important nutrients at home. For breakfast, most children merely had bread with plain or sweetened tea. 27% of the children skipped breakfast all together, which meant the lunch provided at the school was their first meal of the day.

Action for Development launched its new logo and website on 17 May 2018, giving the organization a fresh and friendly look. This was made possible thanks to the collaboration with Gloriamundi, an organization specialized in assisting other NGOs with communication work.

AfD’s revamped website showcases beautiful pictures highlighting our work on the ground, which were captured by Afghan female photographer Rada Akbar. Starting out as a painter, Ms Akbar soon switched from a paintbrush to a camera lens to highlight the situation of women and children in Afghanistan.