300 Female Students from Eastern Afghanistan Complete Business Training

Today some 300 young women from high schools in Jalalabad, Mehtarlam and Asadabad received certificates after completing the Taraqi Saba, or “Development for Tomorrow,” business training course arranged by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East and West (IDEA-NEW) Project. The course provided these students with the skills and knowledge necessary to be able to generate ideas, develop business plans, and ultimately manage their own successful and sustainable businesses.

The graduation ceremony was attended by U.S. and Afghan Government officials. The graduates who developed the top 15 business plans were awarded prizes during the ceremony.

“Receiving Taraqi Saba training will greatly affect high school girls’ lives in terms of launching their new businesses and finding good jobs in future,” said Anisa Imran, Director of Nangarhar’s Department of Women’s Affairs.

This business training course aimed to expand awareness, knowledge, and practical skills concerning finance, marketing, and management and help students gain familiarity with the basic skills needed to start and run a business. Instruction in planning, management, purchasing, pricing, marketing, and record-keeping was also part of the skills training.

“We learned a lot about business and management during this three-month training. Now, I can also guide others on how to run successful small-scale businesses,” said Zuhra Rasooli, a 12th grade student at Alayee High School in Jalalabad city.

Business opportunities outside the homes are still limited for many Afghan women. The training enables those young women to develop both independent and home-based businesses in order to help support their families and realize their full potential.

USAID’s IDEA-NEW Project accelerates broad-based economic development and promotes economic growth by implementing long term, sustainable agribusiness and economic alternatives programs with a special focus on providing women and high school girls with practical and professional skills to assist them in strengthening the country’s economy.