Afghanaid reaches deep into its communities calling for greater equality for women

 August 06, 2019

It's vitally important that everyone is involved in the fight for gender equality, regardless of gender or location.

Which is why Afghanaid, a British humanitarian and development organisation supporting communities across Afghanistan, involved both its male and female staff members in its global International Women's Day campaign.

Afghanaid’s IWD #BalanceforBetter campaign aimed to highlight the challenges women still face in Afghanistan - one of the world’s most difficult places to be a woman - as well as to celebrate the progress that has already been made, and spread the message that achieving a more gender-equal society in Afghanistan will benefit everyone. 

Spreading the message both nationally and globally

Afghanaid knew that, to increase the reach of the campaign message, it would need to involve everyone across all levels of the organisation, regardless of gender, seniority or location. Therefore, male and female staff members in both Afghanistan and London struck the #BalanceForBetter pose for photos and shared their thoughts on the campaign's themes via Afghanaid’s website and social media channels.

Staff members in Afghanistan also spread the message among the communities they work with; encouraging beneficiaries of their projects to strike the pose and opening up conversations about gender parity, diversity and inclusion. Increasing the reach to Afghanistan itself also helped raise awareness of International Women's Day within the country. 

Afghanaid also incorporated the IWD messaging and branding into the campaign to further increase engagement.

Sharing stories of women in Afghanistan

Alongside Afghanaid's campaign drive, the organisation also shared the transformational stories of women they are working with in Afghanistan, and the problems they have faced and overcome. This highlighted the need for a more balanced society in Afghanistan and the positive impact this would have across the country.

An engaging call-to-action video

Afghanaid created an engaging video for its campaign, which celebrated the women the charity works with across Afghanistan, the men who support them and the staff who work closely with them. The video called for viewers to help break down barriers and build a more balanced society for a better future in the country. Afghanaid shared this video, alongside its other IWD activities, with their mailing list to promote the organisation’s involvement in IWD and share how people could support the call for greater equality and women’s empowerment.

Empowering women benefits entire countries

Through its campaign activities, Afghanaid inspired others to believe that gender parity in Afghanistan is both necessary and possible, whilst also sharing the message that if you empower women, you will give power to entire communities and even entire countries.