The Afghan Street Working Children and New Approach (ASCHIANA) is An Afghan  non-governmental organization registered with the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Women Affairs. ASCHIANA has work protocols with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

The main aim of ASCHIANA is to bring change and improve the social, economical, cultural, physical and mental situation of the vulnerable groups of children.  ASCHIANA which means “Nest” in Dari is assisting the war-affected street working children and the children who are in distress.

ASCHIANA with the assistance of Terre des hommes opened its first center for street and working children in Shar-I-Naw district of Kabul in 1995.  The aim of the center was to provide meals, health education and medical treatment to the children.

Today ASCHIANA is established in Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif and Parwan Province and has 4 main types of activities:

• Assistance to street and working children and their families in Kabul (project carried out mainly with the support of EC under the CRC project).

• Reintegration of Demobilized under aged soldiers and other war affected young people for 500 families in Parwan Province (project supported by UNICEF).

• Vocational training project for youth in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif (project carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social affairs funded by the World Bank).

Educational and psychosocial interventions towards children of the Kabul juvenile rehabilitation centre in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF.
 

ASCHIANA’s Street Working Children Project:
Since July 2003, the project has benefited to 8,020 children (55% girls, 45% boys). 

Education and vocational training:
ASCHIANA’s core activity consists in providing informal education to make the street working children literate and get ready to integrate the formal school system.  This takes place either in the day-care centres Aschiana has opened or through outreach activities carried out in IDP camps. The children of ages 8 to 10 are given literacy, recreation, to be ready to join normal schools.  The children of 10 to 13 years are provided with basic education, recreation and professional skills.  The children of 14 to 18 are helped to attain education and to acquire vocational skills to make them earn a better income.

ASCHIANA is also involved in formal education and has set up an accelerated education programme for some of its beneficiaries.

Finally, ASCHIANA has set up a school sponsorship programme supported by private funds which consist in sponsoring the education of a child through family help so that the child stops working.

In the field of vocational training, ACHIANA has developed computer, design, carpentry, hairdressing…

Health:
All ACHIANA’s beneficiaries receive health education sessions. This include personal hygiene but also mine awareness, dangers of narcotics…. A mobile health unit provides health care or referral to appropriate medical institutions. ASCHIANA is also very concerned by mental health and provides psychological counseling.

In the centres and now in outreach locations, children are provided with a meal per day. 

Family counseling/support
Family counseling and support is a major element in ASCHIANA’s interventions.
Relations with beneficiaries’ families are systematically established.
Mothers receive literacy courses, health education, vocational training. Some of them are given micro-credits to develop their own economic activities.

Psychosocial activities
Children benefit from a series of psychosocial activities to gain confidence, be able to develop social relations and creativity: sports, drawing and painting, handicraft, music, plays, theatre, circus, excursions…

Networking activities
ASCHIANA has developed relations with several child rights organizations and partners in Afghanistan and throughout the world:

• Children of ASCHIANA take part in public events organized in Afghanistan to promote children’s rights and some of them have been invited by organizations abroad.

• ASCHIANA, together with organizations of the Asian region is a member of the Children Development Bank Network.

• ASCHIANA has friends and supporters throughout the world: individuals but also associations such as “Friends o Aschiana”.

CONTACT: 
ENG. MOHAMMAD YOUSEF, DIRECTOR
L. M. SHAMIM, DEPUTY DIRECTOR
ADDRESS:
CHAR RAHI MALIK ASGHAR, OPPOSITE PUBLIC LIBRARY, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN.
PHONE : + 93 70277280
EMAIL:  aschiana@yahoo.com.au.
WEBSITE: www.aschiana.com