The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is funding the National Democratic Institute (NDI) so it can conduct a program to help Afghan women participate in politics. NDI helped female candidates to compete in the 2009 provincial council elections and, once elected, to serve their constituents. NDI’s provincial offices support the program in Bamyan, Herat, Kandahar, Khost, Kunduz, and Nangahar.

CIDA funding supports NDI to:

• Hold seven one-week orientation workshops for women elected to the Provincial Councils from each of the 34 provinces.
• Build the participants’ basic skills and knowledge for developing policy and representing constituents.
• Help participating women gain improved political skills that they can apply directly to their campaign work and council activities, in order to better reach out to constituents and secure their support.

The Supporting Women’s Political Participation at the Provincial Level results will be reported as soon as possible.

• The National Democratic Institute