Mazar Regional Management Office

Mazar Regional Management Office (MRMO) is one of the regional offices of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan in the North. This office implements Disability, Rural Development, Education and Health projects in 16 districts more than 1000 villages in Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan provinces.

Swedish Committee for Afghanistan has a Liaison Office in Jawzjan where it implements the Citizen Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP) in Shibirghan and Faiz Abad districts of Jawzjan Province with 202 Community Development Councils (CDCs). The CCNPP covers two districts and a total of 44785 households are benefiting from this project. 

Disability

Disability Project of Mazar Regional Management Office is working in 15 districts and 297 villages of Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan provinces. This project implements both community and institutional-based rehabilitation programs along with the inclusion of disability in health, rural development, and education programs.

In 2016, the disability program started training physiotherapists for the five provinces in the north. In the first batch, a total of 40 physiotherapists graduated from this three-year program in 2019. In 2020, the second batch has been started with 47 male and female students from the eight north and northeastern provinces which will be graduated in 2022.

The main objective of the disability program is full inclusion of persons with disabilities in Afghan society; a society in which men and women with disabilities enjoy equal rights with all others to health, education, employment, and participation in public life and in which they are protected from all forms of violence.

Rural Development 

The main purpose of the rural development program is to work for sustainable development of targeted communities to increase productivity in rural areas and alleviation poverty, involve people in planning and development through their participation in decision making and creating job opportunities where the people are suffering problems and don’t have access to the first living services. The Rural Development Program of Mazar Regional Management Office implements Community Governance and Livelihood Projects (CGLP) in Balkh and Samangan as well implementation of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Construction of education aid and health aid projects are also part of the Rural Development Program in Balkh and Samangan while CGLP supports SCA’s target groups to strengthen their governance role as well as to improve quality of their lives., WASH facilitate universal access of targeted communities to safe drinking water, hygiene awareness and lead them to the sanitation ladder through Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).

Education

Education Project in Mazar Regional Management Office covers 10 districts and 3 main cities in Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan Provinces. A total of 4375 Children (1639 boys and 2736 girls are studying in 215 CBE classes, 252 girls are studying in 10 Coaching Classes, a total of 1119 students that need special support in mainstream schools are supporting by education project. Capacity building is also part of the education project which provides training for the teachers and education department authorities.

Also, the education project supports the Teacher Elected Councils (TEC) in Balkh and Samangan provinces. The support includes capacity building, financial and technical support and supporting them in advocacy activities.    

Health

Health Project in Mazar Regional Management Office implements School Health and Learning for Healthy Life projects in Balkh and Samangan provinces.

The main purpose of the School Health program is to ensure better health and environmental conditions that promote the educational process and the cognitive abilities of the school children, to ensure that school children have adequate health conditions, reduce morbidity and absenteeism among school children, establish healthy school environment conducive for effective learning, provide the children with the knowledge that promotes healthy attitudes and behaviors, prepare the school children to lead a healthier life in the future and emphasize the role of the schools in promoting health in their communities.

Since 2018, School Health Program covered 13 schools and a total of 6000 students received health check-ups. Also, 50 school teachers received capacity-building training about school health.

Learning Healthy Life (LHL) is an approach used as a health-focused learning method to empower women and raise their awareness about health.

LHL can be considered as one of such innovative interventions introduced to its health program. The LHL project is in line with the Ministry of Education Policy to improve health awareness and service utilization and reduction of literacy among women.

The main purpose of this project is to empower women to decide for their health, train illiterate women to read and write, increase utilization of reproductive health services, increasing general, gender and human rights awareness, encourage students to learn subject with daily life and learn simple mathematics.

LHL program started in 2018 in MRMO and a total of 3200 women graduated from LHL classes in Balkh and Samangan provinces. 

“I showed everyone that I can” says Fatima

Mazar Regional Management Office Fatima is happy because she and her teammates were able to defeat the opposite team and won the championship. She is a member of the wheelchair basketball team.

Students learn sign language and braille to help their classmates

Mazar Regional Management Office Ten years old Nadia, a student in the fourth grade in Mawla Ali school is one of the youngest participants in Inclusive Education and Special Education training conducted by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan in Balkh province. The program conducted to teach sign language and braille to teachers and students and show them how they can help their classmates/students with disabilities in their schools.

From apprentice to a small business owner

Mazar Regional Management Office Alina Azimi is 25 years old and leading a producer group in Larghan village of Aybak district of Samangan province. She is a good supporter of her family and several other women in the village. She and 52 other women have graduated from vocational training courses; such as beauty parlor, bag sewing, cake and cookies baking, and soap making. The graduated women have established 23 producer groups in the Aybak city of Samangan province.

COVID-19 Weekly Update: MRMO

Mazar Regional Management Office Introduction: MRMO implements Education, Disability Inclusive, Rural Development, and Health programmes. The office covers the provinces of Balkh, Samangan and Jawzjan. The residents of more than 1100 villages are benefiting from SCA interventions.

Shukria’s contribution to preventing the spread of COVID-19

Mazar Regional Management Office The threats of coronavirus are spreading every day in Afghanistan and at the same time, it needs a joint effort to act against this epidemic. Shukria, 24 years old, is a resident of Nakarabad village in Shibirghan center of Jawzjan province. She is an active woman in the village and she is also the deputy of the Community Development Council in her village and besides that, she is a talented tailor. 

Completion of 26 rural development projects in Balkh and Samangan provinces

Mazar Regional Management Office After completion of these projects, it is expected that there will be a significant reduction of diarrhea cases especially among children as well as the projects will improve security for residents, who spend time traveling to distant water points to fetch water and the people will have access to sufficient quantity of water of appropriate quality for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene.

Educational Opportunities for Girls in Winter Camps

Mazar Regional Management Office Shoayb, Shamila, Hosna and around forty girls and boys are busy learning in Sare Chishma village of Kishindeh district in Balkh province. They attended in a two-month winter course which is facilitated by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. Shamila is ten years old and is in the second class of local school of Swedish Committee […]

The girl who struggles for her future

Mazar Regional Management Office Nasira Haqjou, who received professional training two years ago from the disability programme of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan in Mazar-e-Sharif, is now a professional tailor and has a student as well to teach. In a room, she is busy in tailoring. The profession which helps her to support her family and cover some expenses […]

The girl who is scrolling the wheels of her life’s success

Mazar Regional Management Office The tragedy of her life started five years ago, when she was 17 years old and was just graduated from high school. She had an accident in which her back bone was broken. It happened in their house and in the old well in the yard, which was out of use, collapsed and as a result Ms. Habiba fall into the well and was severely injured.