01/13/2003

Advocates Michelle Brown and Ada Williams will travel to Kabul to conduct a two-day advocacy-training workshop for 16 Afghan women leaders. On RI’s previous missions to Afghanistan, Afghan women identified advocacy as a skill they needed to enhance their impact on issues of concern. RI will collaborate with the Afghan Women’s Network to empower women leaders to more effectively advocate for themselves and the women they assist.

After delivering the advocacy training, Ada and Michelle will continue to Pakistan to assess the situation of the 1.5 million refugees who have not yet returned to Afghanistan. Most of the roughly 1.8 million refugees who left Pakistan in 2002 were urban refugees living without assistance from UNHCR. Because of budget shortfalls, UNHCR has had to cut programs for the refugees remaining in Pakistan. RI will assess the services available to refugees in Pakistan, the security situation for Afghans in Pakistan, and the desire of refugees to return to Afghanistan in the spring. Michelle and Ada will also investigate reports of "recyclers"— refugees who returned to Afghanistan, were unable to earn a living, and then traveled back to Pakistan.

Ada and Michelle will return to the U.S. on January 31st.