In order to improve gender-sensitive policy-making in Afghanistan, EPD conducted a 4-day training on GRB in Kabul for 24 representatives of six pilot ministries (MoE, MoPH, MoHE, MAIL, MRRD and MoWA) between 29 December and 01 January. The previous training on GRB was a Training of Trainers (ToT) conducted in New Delhi in November.

Gender-sensitive policy-making has improved in Afghanistan as more girls and women have access to educational opportunities, women continue to represent at least 20% of the Parliament as per quota, and laws such as the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law have been introduced. However, a well-established gender-sensitive approach in the budget process remains elusive despite gender-mainstreaming attempts. In this light, EPD aims to foster the institutionalization of GRB at the central level as a means to improve gender awareness and gender-sensitive public policy in Afghanistan.

The 4-day training in Kabul was organized with the aim of developing the understanding of GRB among the participants in order to incorporate GRB into their ministry’s policies and programs. The training sessions were based on EPD’s developed GRB curriculum and covered a variety of issues with separate training sessions on basic concepts of gender, gender-based violence, government budget processes and budget reforms, GRB tools, applying GRB in the budget process, GRB at different levels, the design of gender-sensitive indicators, and international experiences. The training sessions were conducted by Edrees Omarzad (EPD’s Deputy Director), Sameera Hamidi (women’s rights activist and freelance consultant) and Najeebullah Azzizi (Director AIMS and economics professor at Kabul University).

This EPD project is supported by the UNDP Gender Equality Program.