Gender Policy.

This Gender Policy is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at promoting gender integration into all areas of rural development initiatives through ensuring equitable growth among men and women and an increased and meaningful participation of women in development initiatives aimed at sustainable poverty reduction. At the base is the Constitution that at Article 3 asks to guarantee equal rights for men and women and, under Article 22, enshrines the policy of non-discrimination and equality in rights and duties between women and men.
To achieve the overall goal, the Policy sets a number of objectives, as follows (i) increased participation of women in decision making and implementation processes within the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD); (ii) identifying and developing capacity requirements for women and men; (iii) equitable distribution of rural development and reconstruction benefits for women and men in all provinces of Afghanistan; and (iv) engendering all steps of project cycle management. The Policy focuses on two levels (1) at institutional level it is needed to take into account the creation and sustainability of gender equality in administrative, financial, staffing and recruitment and other organisational procedures; and (2) at programmatic level with the aim of strengthening existing initiatives within the Ministry and establishing an enabling environment promoting true empowerment among women and communities. The Policy is based on the principle that rural development requires the full and meaningful participation of a population to ensure its successful impact. It is necessary to optimize the resource base presented by women and invest in their development to produce a successful and sustainable impact of rural development initiatives together with an increased women representation since the women’s representatives are conduits between women’s communities and the development process.
Rural poverty reduction will be faced (i) taking into account women’s specific needs and challenges and encouraging their active participation in managing these initiatives as a means of building ownership; (ii) granting them equal access to resources; (iii) improving infrastructure in the rural areas to gain women easy access to resources; and (iv) informing development initiatives by the accumulated knowledge and experience women possess.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the Policy envisages (i) the incorporation of equal opportunity principles for men and women with regard access to resources, equal participation and decision making; (ii) identification and creation of leaders among women’s communities who will lead the process of facilitating participation of women in development processes; (iii) providing increased livelihoods opportunities and making the provision of small scale rural credit accessible to women; and (iv) an increased representation and active participation of women in community based forums, with particular attention to conservative provinces.