Organization of a webinar to improve the business skills of Afghan women in the field of entrepreneurship with USAID, the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the US Department of Commerce.

Country context: Between 2002 and 2012, Afghanistan saw a significant improvement in its economic and social indicators. The average annual economic growth was 9.4%, which contributed to the development of the country. However, since 2015, this growth has slowed down and even reversed. One of the main reasons for this was the reduction of financial assistance from foreign donor countries, which stopped allocating grants and investments. The growing destabilization of the political and economic situation in the country has become the main reason for the reduction of financial support.

Justification of the event: The promotion of gender equality was a priority for the development of Afghanistan. Despite some positive developments, women and girls in Afghanistan still face widespread discrimination and violations of their human rights. The country was also among the least favorable countries on the gender inequality index, and the literacy rate of women was one of the lowest in the world.

Kazakhstan has made significant efforts to support women entrepreneurs, and these measures have borne fruit. In the period from 2010 to 2020, the share of enterprises headed by women in Kazakhstan increased from 26.1% to 28.3%, and this applied to both small and medium-sized enterprises. Given these positive results, Kazakhstan was ready to share its experience in supporting women entrepreneurs with Afghanistan.

The purpose of the event: The main purpose of the event was to increase the empowerment of Afghan women entrepreneurs. By providing a platform for high-level dialogue, the event sought to highlight the contribution of women from Central Asia and Afghanistan performing various functions in overcoming the consequences of COVID-19 and solving problems in the post-pandemic period. The potential of women's economic employment, trends and ways to overcome gender inequality were also discussed.

Target audience: The event focused on businesswomen, women's political leaders, scientists, representatives of business associations and non-governmental organizations from Afghanistan and Central Asia.