Women for Afghan Women

Non-profit OrganizationsNew York, United States501-1000 Employees

Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is a grassroots civil society organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of disenfranchised Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan and New York. In particular, WAW works to help Afghan women and girls exercise their rights to pursue their individual potential to self-determination, and to representation in all areas of life—political, social, cultural, and economic. WAW relentlessly advocates for women’s rights and challenges the norms that underpin gender-based violence to influence attitudes and bring about change.

Women for Afghan Women provides life-saving and life-changing services, education, and advocacy for women and children across Afghanistan and New York who have endured human rights violations, including forced and underage marriage, attempted “honor” killings, domestic violence, ba’ad (custom of females exchanged in compensation for a crime), rape, forced prostitution, unlawful imprisonment, and barred access to education and employment.

WAW has grown from a small network of volunteers in 2001 to an organization with over 850 staff members, the vast majority of whom are Afghan and female.
WAW is now the largest Afghan women’s and children’s rights organization in the world. We have over 850 full-time staff, 32 centers, and programs in 16 provinces throughout Afghanistan. In addition, WAW’s work in the United States includes our New York Community Center in  Fresh Meadows, Queens, and our Washington, DC Advocacy Office, with plans to expand into Northern Virginia and other Afghan diaspora communities. 

As of 2018, WAW has provided services to nearly 38,000 women, children, and their families; trained more than 362,000 individuals on women’s rights; and provided nearly 723,000 conflict-induced internally displaced persons and refugee returnees with protection and monitoring services. WAW provides life-saving and life-changing services,  programs to over 5,000 individuals annually.

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