UNIPATH STAFF
In conjunction with the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) launched the Women in Conflict Zones (WICZ) initiative on the sideline of the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly convened in New York in September 2022.
The WICZ aims to support and empower women and girls in conflict zones around the world, an affirmation of the supportive role Qatar plays in helping women and girls affected by conflicts, wars and poverty, motivating them to make positive impacts in times of crises. It also provides solutions to address the harm stemming from prolonged crises, such as the lack of education, health care and basic vocational skills.
“We already live in a world where women continue to be subjected to a high level of violence, poverty and exclusion, particularly during conflicts and fragile situations,” said Lolwah Al-Khater, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, during the WICZ launching ceremony. She emphasized that that the initiative will serve as a platform to highlight key issues such as marginalization, poverty and the societal consequences of armed conflict.
Commending Qatar for its tremendous contributions to U.N. programs aiming at supporting the vulnerable segments of societies, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stressed the need to include women in designing programs meant to help them.
“In so many contexts, women, who are half of the population that is affected, are not even at the table when programs are designed,” Steiner said, “They are not at the table when peace negotiations take place, and they certainly are often not involved when these programs are being rolled out.”
As part of its mission to collaborate with other international humanitarian organizations, the QFFD signed an agreement with the Digital Citizen Fund (DCF) in April 2021 to finance vocational skills development training for Afghan women and girls to help them keep pace with the requirements of the labor market, including training 90 Afghan women inside Afghanistan to work in the health care sector.
DCF was founded in 2013 by Roya Mahboob, an Afghan woman who sought to sponsor female entrepreneurship in her home country, a process sidetracked by the Taliban
takeover. Sources: Al Jazeera, Digital Citizen Fund, UNDP