WAW's Family Guidance Center

As the first stage in a broad plan to provide relief for the untold numbers of women in Afghanistan who are victims of domestic violence, forced and underage marriages, rape, and other violations of their human rights, in 2007, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) embarked on groundbreaking project: the creation of a Family Guidance Center (FGC) in Kabul. Prior to the start of the project, in Kabul alone hundreds of women a year besieged government agencies such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), hospitals, NGOs, and local police stations seeking refuge from domestic persecution only to be turned away, defeated and discouraged, because no meaningful services were available. Now, these cases are referred to the WAW center. The FGC provides mediation and ongoing counseling for the woman and affected family members for a minimum of one year. When a woman cannot safely return home, the FGC provides shelter for her in and her accompanying children as well as legal help. Our philosophy is based on two fundamental premises: women do not have to jettison their culture or their religious beliefs in order to take charge of their lives; men as well as women, perpetrators of DV as well as victims, must receive counseling if headway against this social scourge is to be made.

FGC Statistics: In the 17 months that have transpired since the FGC and its shelter opened, some 450 women and girls have received counseling and mediation services to resolve family conflicts. Currently the FGC in Kabul receives around 40 to 50 new cases every month, often from distant provinces where such services do not exist. Staff numbers have now increased to 32, and include 3 lawyers to provide legal counsel. During its first year, the FGC shelter, which is hidden in another part of Kabul, has housed 147 women and 45 children, with around 35 women and 22 children ‘in residence’ at any one time. This facility and the services it can offer have also been used on request by human rights agencies for emergency protective care of cases of serious abuse, including rape, of girls as young as 5 years of age.

Demand for the services of the FGC are high and growing. While this is a measure of un-ease endured by Afghan women, the FGC has gained widespread support from government institutions (MoWA, MoLSAMD, MoJ, MoI), from rule of law agencies (many of whom make direct referrals, especially the AIHRC), aid agencies dealing with women’s issues, and from communities and families who appear increasingly to be seeking external support to family conflict resolution. Additional reasons for apparent acceptance may be that mediation for family and marital conflict is endorsed by Islam, and the WAW process targets men as well as women, thereby reducing traditional male resistance.

Expansion: On September 8th, 2008, WAW opened another FGC in Mazar. A third FGC opened in Kapisa on February 19th, 2009. A fourth is planned in Jalalabad. We are also hoping to open a residence for the children who are living with their mothers in the Kabul prison.



Manizha Naderi, WAW Executive Director, cutting the ribbon at the February 19th, 2009 Inauguration Ceremony celebrating the opening of WAW's third Family Guidance Center in Kapisa.

Click here to read WAW Board Member, Esther Hyneman's, blog entry about her experience attending the inauguration ceremony of the Kapisa FGC during her visit to Afghanistan.