Sommaire: December 4, 2001: Poul Nielson re-launches EU-funded project for vulnerable women in Kabul (Brussels)
On a visit to Kabul, Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Affairs, has formally re-launched a "Food for Work" project funded by ECHO (the Humanitarian Aid Office of the EU). The project, which is implemented by MEDAIR, one of ECHO's NGO partners in Afghanistan, involves home-based quilt production by vulnerable women.
At the re-launch, Commissioner Nielson said that this was "a concrete example of Europe's solidarity" with the victims of the Afghan crisis. "Today in Kabul, I have witnessed at first hand the enormous humanitarian challenge that we face. With so many people destitute, and winter almost upon us, it is vital that the aid is delivered as speedily as possible. This food for work project will help hundreds of women with no other source of income to feed themselves and their families."
Cloth, cotton filling and thread for making a single quilt are supplied by MEDAIR to the beneficiaries, together with needles and thimbles. When the quilt is completed, it is brought back to a central collection point and exchanged for a new set of materials. At the end of each month, the participants in the programme receive food rations supplied by the World Food Programme (WFP) in proportion to the number of quilts they have produced. The quilts are then distributed to other needy
people.
Commissioner Nielson visited the home of one of the project's participants where he met some of the women involved in quilt production.
Earlier, he toured two other ECHO-funded projects: a center run by Terre des Hommes for street children and a road and culvert rehabilitation project by UN Habitat (part of the programme: "Community-based relief for vulnerable families in Kabul city").
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