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Oxfam in Afghanistan

Zohal and Nazanin collect water in Baranchi village. Oxfam helps ensure families living in rural areas are able to access clean water supplies. Photo: Jason P Howe

What we're doing

War and disorder have made life in Afghanistan extremely difficult.

Oxfam has supported projects here for decades, making a real difference to Afghan communities even during Taliban rule. We work with local partners to tackle a wide range of issues, from helping women gain more independence to providing clean water and sanitation facilities for people in Kabul and Kandahar.

We also work with vulnerable communities caught up in emergency situations. And we continue to campaign for change in Afghanistan, whether this means providing greater protection for citizens or helping to create more stability. And when it comes to change, our experience here already shows it is possible.


Full details of what Oxfam is doing in Afghanistan (PDF, 311KB)


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Related reports and papers

In 2010-12 Oxfam helped:

300,000
people in
Afghanistan

You can help

Oxfam's projects in countries like Afghanistan rely on your generosity.

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Snapshot of Oxfam in Afghanistan

Photo 1/10 photo by: Elissa Bogos

Afghan society is characterised by strict rules regarding the role of women. Oxfam works to ensure that women’s needs are taken into account in all our work in Afghanistan. In Badakhshan this has included setting up a bakery to help women supplement the family income. Khujehbigom (pictured) is one of the co-op’s 20 members who bake cookies to sell at the local market.

  • Afghan society is characterised by strict rules regarding the role of women. Oxfam works to ensure that women’s needs are taken into account in all our work in Afghanistan. In Badakhshan this has included setting up a bakery to help women supplement the family income. Khujehbigom (pictured) is one of the co-op’s 20 members who bake cookies to sell at the local market.
  • We also support the Afghan women’s box team through our local partner, the Co-operation for Peace and Unity. Sadaf Haruzel (pictured) is a member of team which has fought hard to be accepted by Afghan society. “Afghan women are brave,” explains coach Sabar Sharifi. “Some people say it is very dangerous for girls to do boxing. These girls are proving those people wrong.”
  • Around 30% of households in Afghanistan struggle to grow enough food to survive. Our livelihoods support includes working with farmers to help them maximise their productivity and grow crops and vegetables for their families and to sell at the local bazaar. Here, a farmer pours grain into a collection area in Sala Khan Khel.
  • Collecting water for use in the home is a daily chore for many women and children. In some rural areas they may have to make up to 15 trips a day, lugging large, heavy buckets of water long distances. Here in the mountainous region of Shar-i-Buzurg, Oxfam has been helping improve families’ access to water by installing tapstands and water piping.
  • Community healthcare projects are also especially important in Afghanistan where maternal healthcare dropped to an all time low under the Taliban. Here, Shama Sardat, a midwife at the Oxfam supported BRAC clinic in Parwan, gives pregnant Shakara a check-up. BRAC has 33 clinics in Kabul province alone.
  • Educating Afghanistan’s children is crucial in improving their lives and in the rebuilding and development of the country. But despite recent rises in attendance rates, poverty, high fees and long distances are still a barrier for children, and especially girls, living in rural areas. Here, children read their books in class at a village school built with Oxfam’s support in Razak village.

The impact of our work

 Our family has always grown vegetables on this plot - but recently Oxfam distributed seeds to families in this village so the amount and variety of vegetables that I grow has increased. It used to be just potatoes, onions and aubergines, but now I have tomatoes, beans, squash, lettuce cucumber - everything!


Shirin Gul on her plot of land