“I used to feel forgotten,” says 33-year-old Sakina Rahmati, a single mother from Kadestan, an informal settlement in Herat province. “But now I feel like I belong to a community that truly cares about its people.”

Sakina (name changed for privacy reasons) lost her husband when their youngest child was only two months old. Since then, she has been the sole provider and caretaker for her two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.

Previously, Sakina worked as a teacher at the local school in the Kadestan area. However, like many other women, she lost her job following the takeover of the Taliban in 2021. To survive, she turned to hand embroidery, but the delicate work strained her eyesight, and the income was never enough to cover her family’s basic needs.

“I was worried,” she says. “My eyes were getting worse, and I couldn’t afford glasses. My daughter needed school supplies and a uniform. Sometimes, we struggled just to afford food.”

Just as things seemed hopeless, Sakina’s dream came true — an initiative where she could work and earn enough to meet her family’s basic needs. UN-Habitat Afghanistan with support from IOM initiated the project “Housing, Land, and Property Rights of Displacement-Affected Community in Afghanistan” in Sakina’s home area.

Sakina attended hazard and capacity assessment workshops to share her insights on the local risks and contribute to discussions on possible solutions, as part of UN-Habitat’s community engagement process. As a community, they identified pressing needs such as access to clean drinking water, unpaved and unsafe access roads, uncollected waste, and dark neighborhood streets, as well as possible climate-induced risks for the people living in the neighborhood.

After careful analysis with the community, UN-Habitat constructed a hand pump well to improve access to water; installed a solar lighting system around the community health center to enhance security and improve access; and more importantly, provided Cash-for-Work (CFW) opportunities to repair and enhance community infrastructures.  Sakina was among 135 women and men who benefited from the CFW initiative. Improving the community infrastructures, providing access to water and making public spaces safer for women,  benefited the entire community, but also helped Sakina and many other families to make ends meet.

 Kids Pumping water and workers cleaning side road drainage

Sakina shared how these efforts increase the sense of ownership and pride among community members:

“Other women and I feel that this project belongs to us. It directly responds to the needs and problems in our area. Participating in such projects creates positive change and strengthens cooperation and solidarity among the people. This is the path to building a prosperous and advanced Afghanistan.”

She emphasised how these initiatives provided job opportunities, reduced poverty-related conflicts, and deterred migration caused by lack of employment. She also called for continued support and inclusion of women in such projects, highlighting their role in sustaining families. Looking back, she added, “With the money I earned, I was able to buy glasses, have my eyes treated, and buy school supplies and uniform for my daughter.”

Workers leveling the uneven road and building a flood protection wall

Stephanie Loose, UN-Habitat Afghanistan’s Country Programme Manager, said, “While the needs remain high, this project had a great impact on people, specifically women and girls”. Referring to shrinking humanitarian funding, she added “Afghanistan remains one of the largest humanitarian crises with over half of population in need of aid – and a massive influx of returnees in vulnerable situations from neighboring countries. Afghanistan should not be forgotten, and we need to do more projects that have a tangible impact on people’s lives – together with our sister UN agencies”.