The impact of usaid-funded projects on women empowerment in Kandahar

Abstract

In the last two decades, the International community, including the United States of America, has poured millions of dollars for women empowerment and capacity building in Afghanistan. United States Agency for International Aid USAID has funded many projects in Afghanistan that work for women. One of the programs involved in this area is the USAID-PROMOTE program, which has worked on women empowerment and equality in many Afghanistan provinces. This study evaluates the impact and effectiveness of USAID-PROMOTE programs on women empowerment in Kandahar province. Specifically, it investigates whether women who have participated in USIAD-PROMOTE programs have enabled and empowered women enough to involve them politically, socially, and economically in the province and more broadly on a national level. The research data is collected from the USAID-PROMOTE programs' female participants through online questionnaires and interviews. The results indicate that most USAID-PROMOTE program participants were satisfied with implementing the USAID-PROMOTE project's programs. The number of satisfied persons increases further in the data collected through the interviews and focus groups with USAID-PROMOTE projects' participants.