In Afghanistan, many women are vulnerable and it is difficult for the women themselves to improve their situation. This is due to the social structure that often leads to isolation for many women. It is because of this that Operation Mercy has encouraged the formation of Self Help Groups.

‏Every human being has a tremendous God given potential. This hidden potential in the poor can be unleashed if a conducive environment is provided.

‏Individually the poor are voiceless, powerless and vulnerable. However by bringing the poor together as a group a tremendous strength can be gained. This is what we are aiming for through the Self Help Group approach.
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‏Those in abject poverty are generally not heard or seen. They are therefore easily excluded from society. The Self Help Groups (SHG) seek to even out this bias by empowering the members to reach their potential, allowing them to come together with the rest of the community.

The SHG builds on a foundation of empowerment and is supported by three solid pillars, which are social, economical and political.

‏Social, economical and political empowerment is required to enable the poor to realize their rights as human beings, as citizens and as equal partners in civil society, allowing them to receive more of what they are entitled to.

Two Afghan women participated amongst others in a BLiSS (Birth Life Saving Skills) training, a health education program focused on maternal health. This course has been extremely successful in providing knowledge on safer environments for pregnant mothers and infants both during and after childbirth. In 2010 alone, over 1200 women participated and graduated in the 16-week BLiSS course in Afghanistan.

What these ladies didn’t know at the time was that they were soon to find themselves in a ‘real life’ situation when they returned to their own village ... a woman was in labour.

Initially they helped the woman by asking for clean cloth to be placed under the mother. They gave her something to eat and drink. Both women washed their hands with clean water and soap and asked for something clean to cut the umbilical cord while preparing the string for tying the baby’s cord stump. Each of these practical skills was taught by the BLiSS team from Mazar-e Sharif. When the baby was born they encouraged the mother to breastfeed, but initially the mother said that she wouldn’t feed the baby until she bathed. These two ladies explained how helpful the first milk is for the baby as they washed the mother’s breast and encouraged her again to feed the baby.

"How did you learn these things?" asked the new mother.

Our participants told them about the BLiSS course. Both women were happy to help by using the skills that they had recently learned from BLiSS and the new mother was happy too! She had a healthy baby and had gained some valuable knowledge as well.

Afghanistan has the one of the highest fertility rates in the world with 6.6 children per mother (UNICEF, 2008) while at the same time the second highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world: on average, in their first year, 153/1,000 children die (CIA Fact Book, 2010).

More than 25% of Afghan children do not reach their fifth birthday and over 85 percent of all the women in Afghanistan are delivering in their homes.  Only 16 percent of women have one or more antenatal visits from a trained health care attendant and during their lifetime, they have a one in eight chance of dying during pregnancy (UNICEF, 2008).

In conjunction with Community Development Consultants (CDC), Operation Mercy Afghanistan developed the Birth Life Saving Skills (BLiSS) program in 2005 to address this need.  BLiSS is a health education program about pregnancy, birth and newborn care. BLiSS trainers facilitate learner-centred, participatory lessons that guide illiterate women in the community through the process of recognizing maternal-child health issues, identifying health related problems and coming to a consensual decision about appropriate solutions.

Today, Operation Mercy continues to train Afghan midwives, nurses and health educators in teaching good  values, community development concepts and technical skills, with the aim of imparting increasing responsibility to Afghans.

In 2010 in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif combined, we were able to train over 1200 women and 300 men in the BLiSS approach. Now there is a growing interest among the men to understand more about pregnancy related problems in their families as well as family planning. Women are very interested in motivating their husbands to participate in the training as the husbands are the decision makers when it comes to taking actions with complications during pregnancy and birth.

This has become such a successful and valuable program. There are many examples where this training has provided relevant and practical birth life saving skills.

Nouakchott in Mauritania is a young and very poor city with a population of around 1 million. The majority of its inhabitants are first or second generation migrants who have left rural areas because of economic pressures and who now live in urban ghettos surrounding the city.

The key question arises, how to help the poor in Mauritania?

What we have learned through many years living amongst the people we serve, learning the local language and sharing our lives with shanty town dwellers, is that the BEST way to tackle the root causes of their poverty is to empower and equip the local people to build effective community structures.

By focusing on the identification and promotion of key strengths inherent within the communities, rather than on the elimination of weaknesses and problems, we build with an asset based community development and self help approach.

This year we will be promoting our self help groups and establishing these in new areas of the city, training community health volunteers, developing the current kindergarten programs, continuing with literacy programs, micro-business training and training in worldview. Our aim is to build on the strong foundations which have been laid, help families identify new opportunities and encourage a deeper and broader ownership of the program by the communities themselves.

Previous and ongoing surveys undertaken at the centres clearly show a marked improvement in the welfare of the participants themselves and their families over time. Beneficiaries show increases in income-generating activity, increased ownership of poultry, sheep and goats, better school attendance among children and greatly increased functional literacy, whilst a decrease in severe malnutrition among preschool children. We were greatly encouraged!

We are confident and optimistic that our eight community development centres and self help groups will have a positive impact amongst the poor we serve in Nouakchott.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, some of the SHG (Self Help Group) women live in an area called Faqir Abad. In Faqir Abad, SHGs were established by OpMercy for returned refugees from Iran. Here the people have very hard living conditions. The area is dry with no trees and very few shops. Most of the members’ husbands are addicted to heroin and are unemployed. The SHG women have developed small businesses, with most of them working as bakers.

The Self Help Groups (SHGs) help the poorest of women to identify their needs and to build their capacity by providing a chance to share their needs and problems with each other. When 8-10 strong Self Help Groups come together they make a Cluster Level Association.  Two women from each SHG are represented in the Cluster Level meetings. The women in Faqir Abad discussed the lack of water in the community but they didn’t know how to solve the problem. After long discussions they decided to visit some companies or NGOs to try and get help to provide water. The representatives visited the CARE organisation. This organisation welcomed the women and brought two water pumps to the community. The women of the SHGs in this community are proud that they brought facilities to their community.     

Operation Mercy has been working with 3 national and international partner organisations to run 518 Self Help Groups and 50 childrens' groups meeting in Afghanistan.

'The women are discovering that they have good ideas, that they can contribute to the household income and produce beautiful, quality products '.

Currently, 25 Bedouin women are participating in the Operation Mercy cross stitch project. They sew and cross stitch items such as purses and bags in different sizes and traditional designs, bookmarks and wall hangings. Items are sold to both locals and foreigners.

Take a look at their 'facebook' page with more contact details.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nabadia-Craft-Jordan/129168973817011?sk=info

Haneen was very happy when she was given cross-stitch work for the first time. She learned to do cross-stitch when she was young, maybe in 7th grade. She once said, "nobody trusted me to do something well. But you gave me work and you like my work. That has given me self confidence."

Natalie's family has to live on very little money. When her mother has no work picking olives or harvesting vegetables, there is hardly any income. So Natalie gives the money she earns from the project to her mother to buy food and clothes for her siblings. Once in a while she can save up to buy something for herself.

Shori started her last year of school after the summer. With the money she earns from the project she can buy the school books she needs and is able to finish school studies and work. She is determined to make a better life for herself.

A part of Operation Mercy National BLiSS Program manager's responsibility is the routine monitoring and evaluation of the partner organizations that we have previously trained. In November 2011 an evaluation took place in the City of Herat, Afghanistan. Our National BLiSS manager was interviewing BLiSS participants to better understand the impact of the BLiSS lessons in communities.

She relates the following interview:

In one of the BLiSS groups that I monitored in Herat, I saw a woman who seemed very happy. I asked her name and she replied: "I am Shirin Gul." Again I asked her, "Why do you like BLiSS?" Then she smiled and the others started to talk about her and the changes in her life that BLiSS had brought. The people said, "Shirin Gul has four daughters; one of them was born after taking the BLiSS course." Another lady laughed and said, "The last one born was the luckiest one!"

Before BLiSS, Shirin Gul had a very difficult time because her husband did not treat her well. He did not help her when she was pregnant. Even when she was sick during her pregnancies, he did not try to take her to the hospital. He was saying, "These problems are natural for women. I never take her to a male doctor because it is a sin in our culture."

One of the facilitators said, "One day when we were sharing BLiSS concepts with them, someone came and said Shirin Gul's husband is beating her and she and her husband really need to hear about this course." So they invited them to participate.

The community people continued: "When BLiSS came to our village and Shirin Gul and her husband attended this course, their lives were changed. Everyone in the village acknowledges the changes in their lives. Her husband changed a lot and this time when she was pregnant he helped with the housework, he brought water for her and took her to the doctor for a checkup for the first time. He was very careful this time and if she had any problems during the pregnancy he took her to the doctor."

Today, Shirin Gul and their 6 month old daughter are doing well and the relationship between Shirin Gul and her husband continues to improve.

Traditional handcraft skills are often developed over many years and passed down through the generations with those who have the time to sit, explain, demonstrate and encourage. Learning new skills takes time.

One of the focuses of the RWD work is to discover and encourage the use of resources and knowledge available in the community.

One of the most valuable resources is skills that people have acquired over years of practice. Many older ladies in the communities have knowledge young people don't have or did not have a chance to learn.

I have been friends with a family where an older lady has made tassels unique to the Palestinians. These tassels are often adorned in Palestinian houses as a decoration on pillows or as wall decoration.

I encouraged the younger ladies to learn from the older ladies. I asked them, 'who will carry on with this craft once the older ladies are gone from us?' With this in mind I organized an opportunity for 2 experienced ladies to teach the younger women, a group of about 10 students.

The ladies, 65 years and 85 years old wearing soft smiles, explained the techniques involved in making the tassels, winding the threads with their experienced fingers and showing the younger ladies how to produce the best effects. The lessons were well received and the two 'teachers' felt appreciated and happy to instruct these young women in their traditional handcraft skills. Previously the experienced ladies were a little hesitant, as they thought, 'nobody wants to learn this'.

One month after the course the 65 year old lady died quite suddenly. But the course, her teaching and handcrafted tassels will still be remembered especially by the young ladies who attended the course.

In 2010, 800 Afghan refugees were supported by our Women’s Empowerment Project in Tehran, Iran. These mothers and young women were given opportunities to participate in literacy classes, English lessons and vocational training, such as hairdressing and tailoring. This continues today.

Our staff often listen to stories of despair and hardship the women describe as they attend the project. Providing a simple picnic trip for these women and their children is an opportunity to leave behind difficult circumstances for a day and enjoy the company of others in a relaxing environment.

"A burden shared is a burden halved" may well be true as the women build relationships. A bus trip, a shared meal time and simple fun games provide the relaxing environment that these women all appreciate.

This project continues to grow with many more women looking for assistance. Many of these women are grateful for the provision of social workers, medical services, warm clothes and house wares that Operation Mercy is making available.

For our viewers in Iran, please click this link to view the video

http://animoto.com/play/ogDShitjAzVU0yaFvD1GTA

My name is Sadia. I have 7 children: 3 sons and 4 daughters.

I was raised in Laghman province and experienced very difficult living conditions because we were poor. There was war in the area. The war even drove us to spending a few nights in the mountain caves to avoid danger. Women were under pressure, wives were often beaten. I have experienced many events full of grief, especially when we were living under war conditions. I lived in Laghman for 18 years and was very sad.

Now I live in Pulcherkhi. I came to the SHG group for the first time in my area and was very keen to become a member of the group. I hoped my life would improve. Each meeting I contributed a small amount of money. My husband used to tell me, “Nothing will be earned with your 20 Afs.” I told him, “Drop by drop a river is formed.” “Qatra Qatra Darya Mesha” - a Dari proverb.

Before joining the group I used to be afraid of walking outside but now I’m not afraid when I walk outside my home. I am courageous and can talk to people without being embarrassed. I was able to take a plot of land for a house using my own power. It was common for everyone to use power and force to occupy land. My husband was not present at that time and I was carrying my baby in my womb. I went and argued with some people until I successfully occupied a plot. I built a house on that plot that I had spoken up for. Now my family is happy and my husband says these groups are very good. We didn’t know about the benefit of these groups before.

The Self Help Group enabled me to borrow money for the first time. I borrowed 900Afs. The second time I borrowed 1800 Afs, and the third time I borrowed 3500 Afs. With the initial money I prepared a shop in my home. Later I bought a handcart for my son. My son sells things from the handcart around the streets and I sell things at home. Each loan was paid back before the next loan was taken.

I have learnt many lessons from the Self Help Groups. I have learnt how my small investment over time allowed me to borrow money to begin a small profitable business. I also learnt that we should not have our daughters married when they are very young, that we should not discriminate among our children and our neighbours and husbands have rights. Stories read to us in the groups help us understand that we should not make people upset by using bad words. We should be very patient and should not beat our children. We should treat our neighbours very well. 

I will stay loyal to my group.