Many around the world have expressed concern for the state of Afghan women. Some have initiated programs to address their problems and to alleviate their suffering. But very few have been able to tackle the situation with the understanding and dedication, the wisdom and the patience of Women for Afghan Women.
Her Excellency Rula Ghani
Featured Videos
WAW’s New York Community Center: MOIA’s Immigrant Heritage Week 2019
The NYC Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs’ made this poignant video about Immigrant WAW’s New York Community Center (NYCC) in celebration of Immigrant Heritage Week in New York City! Naheed Samadi Bahram, the Director of WAW’s NYCC, stars in this video–as she does in our community–and tells viewers how critical WAW’s life-changing work is. For […]
WAW and Women’s Protection Centers in Afghanistan
This powerful documentary featuring Women for Afghan Women (WAW) and our work offering support, protection, and shelter to women through our Women’s Protection Centers (WPCs) in Afghanistan, was produced with the financial support of Danner Afghanistan for Women’s Empowerment Organization (DAWEO) with technical support from WAW and the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA). The […]
First Lady of Afghanistan: 2019 Message to WAW
On the occasion of WAW’s EXPO 2019: #CelebrateCourage, The First Lady of Afghanistan, Her Excellency Rula Ghani celebrates courage with Women for Afghan Women (WAW) and, once again, extends her support, congratulations, and blessings to WAW’s life-saving and life-changing work in Afghanistan.
WAW’s Najia Nasim Features on Al Jazeera | The Stream: Will Peace with the Taliban Threaten Afghan Women
Women for Afghan Women’s Executive Director, Najia Nasim interviewed on Al Jazeera’ The Stream about why more women need to be involved in the peace process.
People’s Peace Movement Message to WAW: Celebrating Courage at EXPO 2019
This video is a small glimpse into the amazing grassroots People’s Peace Movement in Afghanistan (PPM)–a movement being honored at WAW’s EXPO 2019 for its incredible effort to help make the dream of peace in Afghanistan come true. In this video, the PPM thanks Women for Afghan Women (WAW) for the award and for the […]
WAW Executive Director, Najia Nasim’s EXPO 2019 Video Message
In this video-taped message, WAW E.D. Najia Nasim gives a heartfelt welcome to our EXPO 2019 guests, board, staff, volunteers and EXPO honorees. In her message, Najia talks about her love of the organization, her respect for WAW staff, and her unwavering belief that WAW is an organization that is a peacemaker in its day […]
WAW Featured on ATV: Women’s Rights and Islam
WAW Staff are interviewed on Afghan TV (ATV) discussing the importance of WAW’s work on human rights, WAW’s Women’s Rights ARE Human Rights, and how women’s rights and equality are enshrined in Islam and in Islamic law.
WAW is #ByHerSide in Afghanistan
WAW’s #ByHerSide program in Afghanistan provides access to critically-needed health services including: treatment for survivors of rape or incest (including emergency reconstructive surgeries as needed); treatment for survivors of physical abuse or violence by family or community members; obstetrics and gynecological services for pregnant women (including nutritional supplements to reduce incidences of malnutrition and providing […]
#CelebrateCourage with WAW Kunduz Province Manager: Shamila’s Inspiration
When the position of Kunduz Province Manager was re-instituted by Women for Afghan Women, Shamila—then living in Kabul with her family—decided to apply for the post. Upon her hiring, her parents were understandably apprehensive, but one of her sisters encouraged her. Shamila decided that her love and commitment to Kunduz, her home province, was much […]
Featured News
Don’t Sacrifice Afghan Women’s Freedoms for a Flawed Peace Deal
Published by The Hill on February 16, 2019 By WAW’s Executive Director, Najia Nasim, and WAW Advocacy Director, Megan Corrado For the first time in years, a peace process in Afghanistan is underway in earnest. A framework emerged from recent talks between the United States and the Taliban for further negotiation, including: a phased U.S. […]
Announced Withdrawal from Afghanistan Repeats Mistakes of the Past
Retreat from Afghanistan would restore the abhorrent conditions that led the U.S. to intervene in the first place and represent a devastating foreign policy blunder. Since 2001, the U.S. has endured massive losses in blood and treasure — over 2,400 soldiers died, 20,400-plus wounded and nearly a trillion dollars spent. Afghans have suffered enormously — at least 38,000 civilians and nearly […]
Celebrating Courageous Legacies and New Beginnings
Letter from Manizha Naderi bidding us farewell and welcoming in her successor, Najia Nasim, as WAW’s new Executive Director Dear WAW Board, Staff, Donors, Colleagues, Volunteers, Stakeholders, and Friends: Words cannot adequately express what it has meant to me to have served as the Executive Director of Women for Afghan Women (WAW) for the […]
WAW Endorses The International Sanctuary Principles Statement
International Sanctuary Principles Statement Call for Endorsers The following statement sets forth five principles of sanctuary that can be used to guide grassroots and governmental response to the global escalation of displacement. It is in conformity and solidarity with the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, a multilateral treaty that […]
Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds: A Proposed Rule by the Homeland Security Department
Today, December 10, 2018, is the last day to submit a comment to the Federal Register on the U.S. Administration’s proposed “public charge” rule, which would bar certain individuals from obtaining entry into the U.S. This proposed rule has the potential to adversely affect some of Women for Afghan Women’s (WAW) New York Community Center clients. WAW calls on all […]
Women for Afghan Women Announces New Executive Director
WAW’s Afghanistan Country Director, Najia Nasim, to succeed Manizha Naderi as WAW’s New Executive Director starting January 1, 2019 The Board of Directors of Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is proud to announce that WAW’s Afghanistan Country Director, Najia Nasim, will transition to the role of Executive Director commencing January 1, 2019. Ms. Nasim will […]
Want gender equality? Let’s start with ending child marriages
Each Oct. 11th the global community pauses to recognize and celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child. However, girls continue to face unique challenges simply for being young and female. The mere fact that they are born female often results in a devastating series of consequences, which inhibit girls from attaining gender parity, equal […]
Afghan Women Key to Sustainable Peace in Afghanistan
Published in The Hill, 08/16/2018 By Manizha Naderi and Megan E. Corrado For years, the United States has engaged in backchannel talks with the Taliban to little avail. However, news that principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells, met with the militant group in Doha last month […]
Brought Together by Pain, 3 Girls Forced Into Marriage Have New Dreams
Published in The New York Times, 10/6/2017 By Rod Nordland Kabul, Afghanistan — Afghanistan is a place where all too often a young girl’s dreams die. But not always. So it has been with three Afghan friends, whose unrelated cases were all so awful that they are painful to talk about even now that the […]
Some Afghan Children Find an Alternative to Jail — for Now
Published in The New York Times, 12/30/2017 By Rod Nordland Kabul, Afghanistan — On visiting days in the women’s wing of Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul, Najia Nasim would regularly see a little girl named Dahlia waiting outside her mother’s cell, standing up straight, wearing a small backpack. Inside the backpack were all of the girl’s […]
