EU provides €2 mln to Afghan women's education in universities in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Tashkent, July 25, 2019. /Kabar/. The European Union (EU) has provided a grant of €2 million for a project that will allow Afghan women to study at universities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Uzbek media reported citing the EU's Tashkent office.
50 students of bachelor's, master's degree and technical fields on directions of agriculture, applied statistics and mining will study in educational institutions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan till 2025.
As a partner of the project, UN Women also organizes summer schools to train participants in entrepreneurial and networking skills in order to facilitate their further employment and thereby economic empowerment.
"I believe that the people of Afghanistan should feel and see the international community uniting and supporting the reconciliation process in the country. That is why the EU has decided to work closely with Central Asian states in support of projects, that can help establish links between neighboring countries and countries in the region, in particular projects to improve cooperation, as well as projects aimed at the education and employment of Afghan women," Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative/Vice-President of the European Commission said.
This initiative is expected to help create new opportunities for women’s entrepreneurship and employment, as well as the development of their communities in Afghanistan.
According to the 2018 UNDP Human Development Report, 11 percent of all adult Afghan women received at least secondary education and only 19.5 percent of them are employed, while among men these figures are 37 percent and 87 percent, respectively. In 2016-2017, more than half of the population of Afghanistan lived below the poverty line.