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Chinese Commitment Facilitates Afghan Woman's Capacity-Building
2019-09-03 09:10

Wang Daxue, Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan

In September, 2015, in his speech at the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Woman's Empowerment held at UN Headquarters, Chinese President Xi Jinping initiated a four-point proposal on promoting gender equality and woman's comprehensive development, announced some important initiatives including inviting 30,000 women from other developing countries to participate training programs in China in the coming five years. The speech demonstrated the awareness and readiness of China to promote global woman's undertakings and won extensive appreciation among participants of the summit.

The Chinese commitment has contributed to empowerment of knowledge and skills of women in developing countries, as well as the sustainable development of women around the world. In the past 4 years, China has invited more than 20,000 women from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Pacific to various types of training such as diploma education, short-term skills training and exchanges at the local level in the fields of public administration and social organizations, economy and trade, education, health, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, etc. The Chinese side has actively organized workshops on implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda by developing countries with a special focus on the development of women and children to share its experience and lessons learnt in this regard. The All-China Woman's Federation has held training courses for women cadres and trained heads of political parties and woman's organizations from 84 developing countries. Woman's federations in Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Shaanxi and other provinces have developed training programs with neighboring countries, organized trainees to Beijing, Zhejiang and other places for field visits and promoted exchanges between Chinese and foreign women at the local level. For 3 consecutive years, China Woman's University has been offering international master's degree program on woman's leadership and social development. Azga from Afghanistan was admitted by the university last year and her major is social work. She is very active, performs well and has won very positive comments from her teachers and fellow students from many other countries.

As a matter of fact, there are many Afghan participants in the woman's training program organized by China. This is because cooperation in woman's affairs is an important part of China-Afghanistan strategic partnership and a major area of support from the Chinese government and Embassy for the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan. Over the past 4 years, 290 Afghan female professionals have been invited to China for training. Special training program such as those for protocol, statistics and economic officers have been very popular. According to the Afghan trainees, the training programs are rich in contents and formats and they have been inspired. China has funded 15 Afghan girls to study in China with full Chinese Government Scholarship, successfully cured 36 Afghan girls with congenital heart diseases, invited Kabul woman's martial arts team to visit China, donated a girls' primary school in Mazar-e-Sharif, supported the construction of a woman's training school in Zebak, provided fitness facilities for the Ministry of Woman's Affairs, and invited lady deputy ministers and heads of Afghan woman's associations and promotion organizations to attend the SCO Woman's Forum and other international conferences in China. The Kandahar Chinese Hospital, Kabul Republic Hospital, facilities in Kabul University, low-cost housing and national vocational training center, built with Chinese donations, have benefited and will continue benefiting thousands of Afghan women.

China actively supports Afghan women in learning and displaying their talents. From 2016 onwards, outstanding students from the Confucius Institute of Kabul University have for 4 consecutive years demonstrated their elegant demeanour through the Chinese Bridge language proficiency competition for college students. Three outstanding female students won the first prize and were invited to China to compete with learners of the Chinese language from all over the world. Last May, the Chinese Embassy invited two young female teachers from Ghulam Maimanagi Art Institute to visit China to experience a different landscape and hold an exhibition at the Prince Gong's Mansion in Beijing in an exchange with Chinese artists and audience on fine arts. This March, the Chinese Embassy held a special photo exhibition for renowned female photographer Hossaini Fatima. Nearly 150 women from the Afghan government, parliament, Confucius Institute and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan attended the event and learnt together the diverse lives of Afghan women and their pursuit of truth, kindness and beauty. Hossaini Fatima will give an exhibition in China next month at the invitation of China Soong Ching Ling Foundation. I wish that the exhibition will be a complete success and more Chinese people will feel the beauty, sunshine, struggle and strength of Afghan women.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Afghan independence. The past hundred years have witnessed the outstanding contributions of Afghan women to national independence and construction, their deep sufferings in the war and chaos and their ardent desire for lasting peace. As President Xi said, the level of woman's development varies across countries and regions, societal understanding of woman's potential, talents and contributions remains insufficient. In this situation, we must make unremitting efforts to broaden the development of woman's undertakings. In the future, the Chinese Embassy will continue implementing the Chinese commitment by providing more opportunities for Afghan women to study, engage in exchanges and receive training in China. It is our hope that the Afghan women will hold up half the sky, contribute the Afghan dream of achieving peace at an early date, and joint build and enjoy a better world.

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