Quarterly Report: Women in the Economy Q1 FY 2016

The program is a task order under the Promote initiative, which focuses on private sector and workforce development. WIE's primary objective is to provide thousands of women with the skills, voice, and resources to contribute to Afghanistan's economic development and poverty reduction goals. The program is based in five regional economic zones across Afghanistan, with offices in Kabul, Hirat, Mazari Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kandahar. WIE's projected achievements include increasing the income growth and sustainability of women-owned businesses, providing new or better employment opportunities for 25,000 women, and developing 5 gender-sensitive policies, regulations, or reforms to assist women in the economy. During the reporting period, WIE finalized the scope of work for its Technical Working Group and prepared a draft Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (AMEP), both of which were approved. The program's senior staff were engaged in developing WIE's Grants Manual, designing a scholarship program for females preparing to enter the workforce, finalizing WIE's communications and outreach strategy, and preparing solicitations for expressions of interest. The Private Sector Development (PSD) and Workforce Development (WfD) components of WIE continued their informational and introductory meetings with stakeholders to find paths of collaboration or partnership. Senior Regional Managers (SRMs) held information-sharing meetings with NGOs, donor agencies, associations, educational institutes, and government entities to present WIE program objectives. These meetings helped SRMs and the WfD and PSD teams map out future activities. WIE also continued to work on subcontract agreements with institutional subcontractors and made significant progress on monitoring and evaluation (M&E), communications and outreach, and developing tools and guidelines for Regional Managers (RMs). A review of requirements and opportunities for the use of information and communications technology (ICT) was completed by a short-term ICT development advisor, Anand Varghese. Opportunities were also identified with Code Weekend, an initiative to create and sustain a software developer community in Afghanistan. The quarter concluded with more than 100 internships and job placements confirmed for the start of the next reporting period. SRMs have been successful in growing networks, and large gains are anticipated. Key activities and achievements of Component 1 – Private Sector Development include developing activities to support business revenue growth, such as evaluating business needs and making referrals to a prescreened group of professional service providers.