Though less than half of what facility directors requested, the $250,000 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency will allow classes to continue at the Afghan-Canadian Community Center.
An announcement of the funding was made this week at a ceremony to mark International Women's Day. The centre, though catering to both male and female students, is an especially important educational outlet for Kandahari women and girls who often risk their lives to go to school, centre director Ehsanullah Ehsan said.
"We are proud to celebrate . . . the female students of ACCC who are contributing to the development and prosperity of Afghanistan and Kandahar," Ehsan told a crowd of 240 women collecting graduation certificates for completing English language, computer and management courses. "Let me congratulate you for the achievement you have made and for the bravery you have shown against challenges. You have power and authority in life that can only be achieved by education."
Since opening in 2007, more than 1,500 students have received instruction at the 23-room facility or through the centre's online courses.
CIDA has given the centre about $350,000 over the past three years, but that money was set to run out at the end of March until the latest $250,000 grant was announced. It's unknown how long that will keep the facility afloat, or whether the agency will provide further money once Canadian troops and civilians leave the Kandahar area later this year.
The centre had asked CIDA to provide $650,000 for three years of operations, capital investments and curriculum development.
"Throughout the remainder of our funding relationship, we will continue to work closely with the ACCC to determine the most suitable arrangement to ensure its continued operation," CIDA spokesman Alex Asselin told Postmedia News last month.
Besides CIDA funding, the centre is also dependent on donations and modest student fees charged to the male students.
About 700 of the facility's students, including 300 women, have moved on to full-time jobs with aid agencies, United Nations programs and the Afghan government, Ehsan said.
But despite those successes, serious challenges remain for women in Afghanistan, he told graduates at the ceremony.
"Illiteracy, poverty, violence, disease and discrimination, forced marriages, underage marriages, selling girls for property and forcibly giving a girl to a man to settle tribal feuds are still common practice and go unchecked in our community," he said. "Women are deprived of basic rights to education, decision-making and freedom of expression."
Malalai, a female student at the centre, said education is necessary for women, not only to earn a living, but to teach them they have choices.
"We have such painful cases for women here in Kandahar, women cutting off their fingers, or burning their bodies or committing suicide by drinking poison — all due to lack of education. Once they get education they won't kill themselves," she said.
Another student, Rahila Jan, said that despite ongoing security problems, women's lives in Afghanistan have improved since the Taliban government was ousted.
"My parents now understand education is essential for girls, they are supporting me, which is a good sign for me. I am so thankful to Canadians for supporting us."
This week's ceremony at the centre coincided with the release of a new UN report on Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, which found a six-per-cent increase in the number of women killed and injured.
Overall, 2,777 civilian deaths were recorded in 2010, the highest total to date in the decade-long Afghan war and an increase of 15 per cent compared with 2009. Three-quarters of those deaths were attributed to insurgent attacks, mainly suicide bombs and IED blasts. However, in a disturbing trend, targeted assassinations of civilians more than doubled last year, with half of the 462 deaths occurring in the south, including Kandahar province where Canadian troops are concentrated.
Deaths due to Afghan or NATO forces declined significantly in 2010 but still accounted for 16 per cent of the total. Nine per cent could not be attributed to any party in the conflict.
On the positive side, the report praised coalition forces in Kandahar for avoiding large-scale civilian casualties during clearing operations last year. An earlier clearance campaign in neighbouring Helmand province resulted in much more violence but also provided lessons for coalition militaries, the report speculated.
"Pro-government forces engaged in more extensive consultations with communities prior to operations and carried out a series of smaller operations around Kandahar City; and more attacks in the Kandahar operations appear to have been preplanned," it stated. "In addition, raids and attacks targeted Taliban fighters more precisely, resulting in few civilian casualties."
However, the report's authors noted that the same care was not applied to property protection, which worked against efforts to improve relations with the local population.
"The Kandahar operations resulted in the large-scale destruction of homes, crops, and irrigation systems. Many houses were destroyed to dispose of IEDs and to improve the defences of pro-government forces' bases," the report said.
"Military vehicles drove off roads to avoid IEDs but destroyed walls, gardens, and irrigation systems in the process and pro-government forces destroyed buildings used for drying grapes to prevent their use as fortifications."
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