Ministry of Women's Affairs (Afghanistan)

Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) (Pashto:د ښځو چارو وزارت) is a new ministry in the Afghan government which was established in late 2001 by Afghan Interim Administration.

MOWA is the lead agency for promoting women's rights and advancement in Afghanistan. MOWA had a major shift in its strategy from welfare oriented, direct implementing approach to a policy influencing body by 2002.

The current minister of Women's Affairs is Delbar Nazari

Provide direction, build inter-ministerial collaboration and develop the capacity of government agencies to ensure that policy formulation, planning, implementation, reporting and monitoring equitably respond to the differential needs and situations of women and men. This is being done by:

To ensure that Afghanistan women’s legal, economic, social, political, and civic rights including their right to be free from all forms of violence and discrimination are respected, promoted and fulfilled.

As the prime agency for women’s advancement, MOWA is headed by a Minister who reports directly to the President and is a member of the Cabinet. The Minister is supported by a deputy minister for technical concerns and another for administrative and financial matters.

In the fiscal year March 2004 – 2005, MOWA has a total of 1,268 staff in Kabul and 28 other provinces. Provincial Department of Women’s Affairs have not yet been set up in the provinces of Uruzan, Paktika, Daykundi and Panjshir.

With the adoption of the new Constitution defining the country’s legal system and criteria, this department develops and expands its work within the Constitutional framework in order to further gender equality in the country. It liaises with the Ministry of Justice and the Commission of Judicial Reform to ensure that women’s human rights be explicitly recognized and protected in the judicial system and the standards set under international human rights instruments and being fulfilled.

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