Family Guidance Center

As the first stage in a broad plan to provide relief for the untold numbers of women in Afghanistan who are victims of domestic violence, forced and underage marriages, rape, and other violations of their human rights, in 2007, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) embarked on groundbreaking project: the creation of a Family Guidance Center (FGC) in Kabul. Prior to the start of the project, in Kabul alone hundreds of women a year besieged government agencies such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), hospitals, NGOs, and local police stations seeking refuge from domestic persecution only to be turned away, defeated and discouraged, because no meaningful services were available. Now, these cases are referred to the WAW center. The FGC provides mediation and ongoing counseling for the woman and affected family members for a minimum of one year. When a woman cannot safely return home, the FGC provides shelter for her in and her accompanying children as well as legal help. Our philosophy is based on two fundamental premises: women do not have to jettison their culture or their religious beliefs in order to take charge of their lives; men as well as women, perpetrators of DV as well as victims, must receive counseling if headway against this social scourge is to be made.
http://www.womenforafghanwomen.org/