INCOME GENERATION:

Severe general economic depression of the country resulting from more than two decades of war and five years of drought has shaken the financial ability of average family in Afghanistan to the very foundations. In such circumstances, to alleviate the needs of a needy family, one way is through emergency programs and food distribution. This method, effective as a short term remedy, is not expected to affect the food security and income base of a family over the long run.

 

For the family to become self-sustainable and decreasingly reliable on aid, it ought to seek alternative sources of income. In the absence of micro-credit loan companies and credit banks in the country, NGOs can come to play a very important role in this regard. By implementing pilot profitable projects, and income generation projects involving teaching of skills to the beneficiaries at the same time of taking care of their immediate needs, families can be provided with a reliable source of income.

 

GRSP first started its income generation projects in 1996 in the form of a quilt making, tailoring project in Kabul. The immediate aim of the project was to provide a means of income earning for those needy families who had unemployed female members barred of working outside the house by the authorities.

 

After the completion of this experimental quilt making project, GRSP launched with assistance from NCA an income generation project in the year 1997. This was a carpet weaving project in Kabul, again targeting as its direct beneficiaries women who had no other source of employment at the time -having been confined to their houses.

 

As the second phases of the project, it was to expand to other areas with populations in need of alternative sources of income. However the situation been changed, and women could move out side.