Relief International began working in Afghanistan in 2001, with a focus on reconstructing schools and training midwives. Since then, we’ve expanded our programming to include healthcare, climate change mitigation, agricultural development, natural disaster response, women’s empowerment, domestic and gender-based violence prevention, water supply and sanitation, enterprise development, shelter and reconstruction, and civic skills trainings.
In 2019, the French non-governmental organisation Medical Refresher Courses for Afghans (MRCA) joined the Relief International alliance network. This natural partnership yields a combined focus in health, economic opportunity, education, water, hygiene and sanitation activities, and mainstreaming protection.
Our extensive work in Afghanistan leads us to partner with some of the hardest-to-reach communities affected by conflict, drought and floods. All of our programs are designed to tackle the pervasive discrimination women and girls in Afghanistan face every day at multiple levels – an effort that’s finding more allies among religious leaders and the police in some of Afghanistan’s most conservative provinces.
We increase access to healthcare across the country by rehabilitating and constructing hospitals and clinics, and are currently operating more than 80 health facilities. We’re also building up a desperately needed workforce by training doctors, nurses, and midwives to work in remote areas cut off from services.
To mitigate the effects of climate change, we have created partnerships with farmers and agricultural communities to help them devise strategies to safely preserve their limited water resources during times of drought and improve their food security.