With no husband to support her and 5 young children to feed, Jamila really struggled to earn money and either had to borrow food or go hungry.
Jamila Jan, 35, is a widower living in Qurbaqa Ariq Village, Kwaja Du Koh District, Jawzjan Province in Northern Afghanistan.
I was always in debt to local shops near my village because I have to borrow food to feed my family, until they got tired of giving me a loan.
However, Jamila is now among many women now receiving help from ActionAid Afghanistan through its Cash for Work (CFW) programme which came to implement kitchen gardening, canal cleaning, restoration and construction projects to six districts in Northern Afghanistan covering 8,040 families. 1,200 of these family members were women.
With the support of ActionAid Jamila is now happily earning her own money to feed her five children. She has her own garden where she grows a variety of produce which she can sell and can feed her children fresh fruit and vegetables to improve their nutritional health.
ActionAid helped me establish gardening in my backyard. I was able to buy a water pump and pipes for 1,200 Afs (24 USD) from my tomato, ladyfinger, melon, pepper and eggplant produce. Much more we are no longer starving.
Food Security Networks previously set up by ActionAid, consisting of community elders, community development councils, women and farmers in the villages continue to meet and work on their food security assessment and plans. Results of these meetings lay the foundation on ActionAid’s strong working relationships in its communities and ensure that its activities remain based on people’s needs.
Ongoing implementation in Chimtal, Dawlatabad and Shortepah districts in Balkh province and Darzab, Khwaja Doh Koh and Qushtepa districts in Jawzjan Province, also looks into long-term effects of the programme by making sure that existing canals previously used for irrigation will have water and by building more canals to areas where it is non-existent.