Final evaluation of the project fostering education, training and food security for Afghan women

Title Istruzione, formazione e sicurezza alimentare per le donne afghane in povertà

Location Kabul, Afghanistan

Duration 12 mesi

Lead Nove Caring Humans

Partner  Kabul English Language Center, Setayesh Center, Rabia Balkhi, Watan Development and Initiative Organization

Funding Fondo Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo

 

Context

In Afghanistan, numerous restrictions have been imposed on women since the Taliban regained power in 2023, including a ban on working in many commercial sectors and for international NGOs, holding public office, demonstrating in public, travelling without a male escort, playing sport, walking in parks, etc.; In addition to this, there is a ban on women attending secondary schools, sixth-form colleges and universities, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where female education is not permitted beyond primary school, severely compromising women’s autonomy and empowerment, starting with their education and opportunities to work.

Nove Onlus’s project ‘Education, Training and Food Security for Afghan Women Living in Poverty’ is designed as an emergency response to women’s basic needs, from subsistence to education, with an approach that can be described more strictly as humanitarian aid rather than development cooperation. The aim is, in fact, to promote the protection and dignity of vulnerable Afghan women and their families in order to improve their living conditions through education and training programmes and emergency food support.

The project activities and implementation methods were structured around three programme strands, corresponding to the three specific objectives:

  1. Distribution of emergency financial assistance to 100 female heads of household, based on their socio-economic vulnerability.
  2. Nine-month alternative school courses for 90 female students across three year groups, corresponding to the first, second and third years of lower secondary school (middle school) in the Italian education system.
  3. English language training courses benefiting 140 female students. All students on the programme took a TOEFL assessment at the end of the course; the top performers were selected to sit the official TOEFL exam.

 

General Objective

The M&E and Impact Assessment Unit has been tasked with conducting the final project evaluation. The aim of the evaluation is to understand and measure the changes brought about by the project for the beneficiaries and their communities

 

Our contribution

For the evaluation, the research team combined several methodological approaches: analysis of project documents; the use of qualitative and participatory methods for data collection and analysis, integrating these with the EHD (Evaluating Human Development) methodology. Furthermore, the Most Significant Change methodology informed the analysis of the beneficiaries’ stories gathered through Life Course Interviews, which enabled the women — who are often denied this space — to speak for themselves and brought to light the change generated by the project, through an approach sensitive to the beneficiaries’ vulnerability

The entire project evaluation process had certain specific features. Given the objective complexity of the Afghan context, the evaluation was conducted entirely remotely. To safeguard the safety of local staff, data collection activities were carried out with flexible timelines.

Finally, part of the activities involved cash transfers, which gave the project a strong humanitarian rather than development focus; consequently, the evaluation relied on monitoring systems and data relating to the implementation of activities, supplemented by a predominantly qualitative impact analysis. This choice was dictated both by the logistical constraints of conducting extensive data collection and by the desire to give a voice to the women beneficiaries, who live in conditions of severe segregation. In this sense, the evaluation also represented an opportunity for listening, recognition and empowerment, offering a safe space to express perceptions, needs and the changes they have experienced.

Read more on the M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit