LONDON: UK Asia Trade and Investment Council (UKATIC) has partnered up with the British Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BACCI) to trade with and buy products and services made by women in Afghanistan through BACCI’s ‘Buy From Afghanistan’ project. 

The partnership is an effort to engage in trade with Afghan women, which has the potential to directly and indirectly impact the lives of approximately 5 million women and girls (about 25% of the country’s female population), and mobilise around $100 million in capital to buy from them. 

Since the collapse of the democratic government in August 2021, the restrictions on women’s involvement in society have severely limited women’s ability to participate in the national economy and society in Afghanistan. 

They face huge challenges in accessing education, work and business, effectively, roughly 20 million women, half the population of Afghanistan is shut out of social and economic opportunities, crippling the already fragile Afghan economy.

A recent UN report highlights a dramatic drop in female participation in the workforce from 25% to a mere 6% this year. With nearly 70% of Afghans unable to meet basic needs according to the UN’s Subsistence-Insecurity Index, women are often the most vulnerable.

UK Asia Trade and Investment Council (UKATIC), as part of its social responsibility and commitment to women empowerment has joined hands with British Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BACCI), to help as many women in Afghanistan as possible through trade by promoting and expanding the program across United Kingdom, UKATIC member countries across Asia, Europe and North America. 

The partnership aims to engage stakeholders to mobilise and deploy over $100 million dollars by 2030 purely to buy products and services produced by women of Afghanistan. 

The objective is to create jobs for 3.5 million women directly in their homes, villages and communities and economically impact the lives of another 1.5 million or more women in the country, ultimately economically impacting the lives of about 25% of the women population of Afghanistan in the next 5 years.