Afghan Women and Girl's Survival Fund

The recent destructive earthquake in Afghanistan killed 1,000 people and left nearly 1,500 wounded and without a home. This was the deadliest earthquake to hit the region in two decades. Thanks to your generosity, MADRE’s Afghan Women’s Survival Fund immediately responded with emergency support to ensure that women and families have food, water, medical care, and other necessities as they begin the painful work of rebuilding their lives and communities.

Since the Taliban’s takeover, Afghan women’s leadership in addressing the food insecurity crisis and distributing humanitarian relief has proved especially important. Given that women and girls face persecution, it is even more difficult to get their needs met. Channeling resources into the hands of local women leaders and activists is essential–enabling them to equitably reach and provide relief to women and their families while establishing themselves as leaders in their communities.

MADRE’s Afghan Women’s Survival Fund partners directly with local activists and organizations that are too often at the margins of philanthropy but who best understand the context, the urgent needs of families, and the centrality of women’s rights as a matter of justice and as necessary to building community resilience.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover, MADRE will continue to provide grants to further sustain in-country programming for the long-term that will support women and girls during this protracted crisis and enable the continuity of Afghan women's organizations, including underground and in exile. Notably, MADRE has launched initiatives to facilitate trauma management, prevent gender-based violence, address forced marriages for girls, and continue girls’ education efforts. As one university student and former director of a girl's school said, "women have a role to play in this difficult time in our history."

Thank you for helping to make this critical work possible.