OPAWC director Latifa Ahmady visited Farah Province in the west of Afghanistan in late September 2012 and came back with fresh and new information about the province.

She found that around 25 thousand people (men and women) of that province are addicted to drugs.

Most of them are those who returned from Iran. Because of unemployment in the country, many people try to find a job in Iran and stay there for years.

Women remain at home with lots of problems and are responsible to look after the children.

They weave carpets to support their families financially, and they don't have opportunities to attend the educational and skills programs.

Another huge problem is the bad security situation, caused by bombing of NATO on one hand and the threats of Taliban on the other hand. This puts pressure on the women, and they become sick as the result.

OPAWC staff and Students Participated in a one day Training work on the critique of Liberal Peace Building and on Theory and Methodology of Decolonization.

The training was arranged by a German supporter Mechthild, a German supporter, and  held in the Vocational Training Center on  8th October2012.

Different aspect of liberal peace building were  explained:

• Liberal Peace Building
• Critique of arguments
• Decolonization Knowledge
• Visibility of Afghan grass rood peace knowledge

The above points were explained through different ways and through examples.

The instructors and students found it very useful and worked with the trainer with motivation and interest.

Teacher's day was celebrated on 06/10/2012 in the Vocational Training Center (VTC).

This day was supposed to be held on 23rd of June2012, but the government of Afghanistan change the date to coincide with  the International Teacher day, which is celebrated all over the world.

OPAWC staff and students also celebrated this day and they were  happy and enjoyed themselves in the center.

While Teacher's day is an occasion to  celebrate, official statistics shows that around eight million of children have the opportunity to go to school but around three millions are deprived of going to school because of lack of security.

Some 40 attacks on girl's school have been recorded during the last year, which mostly happened in the north of Afghanistan. More than two thousand girls have been poisoned. Throwing acids on the faces of girl students is another painful issue which is very common in the country.

Opawc staff participated in a Training on GBV and CCR Model.

This training was implemented by HAWCA (Humanitarian Assistant for the Women and Children of Afghanistan), with the support of UNFPA held on June/23/2012-27/June/2012.

The Training was useful and helpful for all participants.

Lectures on different issues like history of violence in Afghanistan, Elimination of all violence against women, different fields of violence, Gender and other issues related to violence against women in Afghanistan presented by Trainers.

These Trainings hold on while Afghanistan has the biggest range of violence against women in the world which is 87.2%. And this range increase day by day.

OPAWC is proud to graduated 184 women for the fifth time from its Vocational Training Center in Kabul.

For this reason, we held a function on Tuesday, 10th April 2012 in VTC yard in Kabul.

In addition to students and their families, high rank members of Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Eduction, Deputy of Literacy, Head of NGOs in Afghanistan, Head of security of the area and some other members from NGOs participated.

English course is the latest project initiated on October 2011. This course will be for one year where more than 50 students learning ther basic skills of English Language for free. The aim for establishing this course was to support women to become familiar with skills of language in order to helpe them find job in other agencies on one hand and on other hand it is a positive respond to the request of poor women attending literacy and handicraft of vocational training center.

This project is an other important project started on October 2011, this project is also for one year, but  program has been divided in two, it means one group of women will learn the basic skills and become familiar with computer and learn the office program, after finishing the six months of the programs, these women will be graduated and will received Merit Certifiicates, other students will join the new  programs for six months more.

On September 19, 2011, some of OPAWC staff participated in a one day seminar in Kabul. The seminar was arranged by Deputy of Literacy of Ministry of Education for enhancement and capacity development of staffs working in district 5th of Khoshal Khan mena, Kabul - Afghanistan.

On June 27, 2011, a function of graduation was held where 63 women received formal Merit Certificates. These women are the most vulnerable and deprived of basic needs. They attended the classes by hiding themselves, putting burga and facing several other risks.

OPAWC is proud to support and graduated such deprived women. Now these women are able to produce different items and earn a living. In this function high rank members of literacy deputy participated and in its speech encouraged OPAWC for the great work they are doing.

The function was ended by distribution of certificate, following the refreshment.

Friendship Week between Afghan and Iran Women was held by UNDP, in the yard of Ministry of Women Affairs for 6 days from 11th-16th of june 2011. During this week business women from Iran Afghanistan had stalls and put their products where it attracted the audience firmly.

Hosan Bani Gazanfar the Ministary of Women had speech and encouraged Afghan and Iran women to establish good relation and cooperate more in the future . OPAWC also participated, displayed its products and received some order too .