Sunday, June 20, 2004
We're Home--Now the Real Work Begins
Masuda returned to New York Wednesday night, and now we’re all back home. We’re already circulating our emails—ok, how do we organize our next phase of activities?
Those of us who traveled to Kabul are preparing for our meeting with the broader Bpeace Afghan team on July 15 when we will present our findings and the videos of the women we interviewed. The outcome of that meeting will hopefully be personal development plans for each Afghan woman we interviewed. We also need to decide which 10 women should come to the US for the three-week Style Road Trip. An important need we identified while in Kabul—how can we provide ongoing training in Afghanistan without compromising our personal safety.
In the meantime, dear readers, there are some ways in which you can help. As we hoped you have realized reading this blog, Afghanistan may be one of the poorest countries, but they are sitting on a huge reserve of natural resources ready to boost the nation’s economy. Women are Afghanistan’s veiled reserve, and if foreign companies are seeking talented, resourceful, ingenious and persistent employees to tackle the business challenges in Afghanistan, women are their best investment.
In Kabul we met women trying to eke out a living in the traditional Afghan way: through handicrafts, embroidery, carpet weaving, and dressmaking. They demonstrated a hunger for training in everything from product design to how to write a business plan. These women did not have their hands out, looking for simple financial assistance. They crave a transfer of business knowledge that will provide them with the tools to grow sustainable businesses. They know this is the way out of poverty for themselves and their families.
Kabul women want to work, but opportunities are still limited. It is tough to run a business when security is an issue and when conservative attitudes relegate the women to sell their wares in the less trafficked women’s only markets.
Foreign corporations have a significant role to play in addressing these obstacles and building specific opportunities for women. The women already know to express a preference for hair color by L’Oreal and Clairol. Afghanistan is a big open market for these and other brands. These multinationals should create jobs in safe environments for women as easily as they create brand preference and customers.
New hotels like the Hyatt and the Serena are going up in Kabul. Rather than import their workforce, these successful hotel chains have an opportunity, perhaps an obligation, to create hospitality schools to convert the local workforce into paid hotel workers. In Kabul, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of non-governmental and aid organizations from the United States, Italy, Japan and Germany, among others, tackling microfinance and vocational training. But some of the training is done in a vacuum and there needs to be better direct collaboration among the multinationals and the NGO’s so that the skills developed can actually fill the jobs that may exist.
There are foreign companies, operating in Kabul, and it is startling to see the logos of DHL, FedEx, Bearing Point and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the midst of Kabul rubble and reconstruction. While it will be more difficult for these companies to provide women with the same job opportunities they do in other parts of the world, we hope they persevere. Providing extra training to women can be considered “a give back” to the country for the opportunity of getting in on the ground floor, but as importantly, these companies would be benefit from having a pool of motivated, ambitious employees.
In the eight days we were in Kabul, we heard three things over and over from the women: 1) Thank you for coming here and teaching us. 2) We need more training. 3) Can you help us find more customers?
Afghanistan is ground zero a world away. It is a country where there is no where to go but up. The women, 65% of the population, are poised and ready for the rise. They are not looking for a hand out, they are hoping for a hand up. Business, not governments, should shake on it. It is an investment that will yield a solid return for companies, for the women and their families, and for the stability of the country.
For further info on how you can help, email: tmaloney@bpeace.org
Those of us who traveled to Kabul are preparing for our meeting with the broader Bpeace Afghan team on July 15 when we will present our findings and the videos of the women we interviewed. The outcome of that meeting will hopefully be personal development plans for each Afghan woman we interviewed. We also need to decide which 10 women should come to the US for the three-week Style Road Trip. An important need we identified while in Kabul—how can we provide ongoing training in Afghanistan without compromising our personal safety.
In the meantime, dear readers, there are some ways in which you can help. As we hoped you have realized reading this blog, Afghanistan may be one of the poorest countries, but they are sitting on a huge reserve of natural resources ready to boost the nation’s economy. Women are Afghanistan’s veiled reserve, and if foreign companies are seeking talented, resourceful, ingenious and persistent employees to tackle the business challenges in Afghanistan, women are their best investment.
In Kabul we met women trying to eke out a living in the traditional Afghan way: through handicrafts, embroidery, carpet weaving, and dressmaking. They demonstrated a hunger for training in everything from product design to how to write a business plan. These women did not have their hands out, looking for simple financial assistance. They crave a transfer of business knowledge that will provide them with the tools to grow sustainable businesses. They know this is the way out of poverty for themselves and their families.
Kabul women want to work, but opportunities are still limited. It is tough to run a business when security is an issue and when conservative attitudes relegate the women to sell their wares in the less trafficked women’s only markets.
Foreign corporations have a significant role to play in addressing these obstacles and building specific opportunities for women. The women already know to express a preference for hair color by L’Oreal and Clairol. Afghanistan is a big open market for these and other brands. These multinationals should create jobs in safe environments for women as easily as they create brand preference and customers.
New hotels like the Hyatt and the Serena are going up in Kabul. Rather than import their workforce, these successful hotel chains have an opportunity, perhaps an obligation, to create hospitality schools to convert the local workforce into paid hotel workers. In Kabul, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of non-governmental and aid organizations from the United States, Italy, Japan and Germany, among others, tackling microfinance and vocational training. But some of the training is done in a vacuum and there needs to be better direct collaboration among the multinationals and the NGO’s so that the skills developed can actually fill the jobs that may exist.
There are foreign companies, operating in Kabul, and it is startling to see the logos of DHL, FedEx, Bearing Point and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the midst of Kabul rubble and reconstruction. While it will be more difficult for these companies to provide women with the same job opportunities they do in other parts of the world, we hope they persevere. Providing extra training to women can be considered “a give back” to the country for the opportunity of getting in on the ground floor, but as importantly, these companies would be benefit from having a pool of motivated, ambitious employees.
In the eight days we were in Kabul, we heard three things over and over from the women: 1) Thank you for coming here and teaching us. 2) We need more training. 3) Can you help us find more customers?
Afghanistan is ground zero a world away. It is a country where there is no where to go but up. The women, 65% of the population, are poised and ready for the rise. They are not looking for a hand out, they are hoping for a hand up. Business, not governments, should shake on it. It is an investment that will yield a solid return for companies, for the women and their families, and for the stability of the country.
For further info on how you can help, email: tmaloney@bpeace.org
