An innovative development project is attempting to improve life for Afghan women, many of whom were notoriously ill-treated under the Taliban and are still largely confined to their home compound today.
So how to help women whose husbands don't let them to leave the front yard? One way is by teaching them gardening and innovative farming techniques that make them valuable contributors to their households and communities.
"We work with the women as entrepreneurs," said Ann Gordon a consultant with the Mennonite Economic Development Agency, which administers the project with financial assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency.
Called Through the Garden Gate, the program initially teaches some of the women simple but effective agriculture techniques that are often unknown to their husbands and fathers.
The women apply those techniques to their small gardens and the produce can be used by the family or sold. Because many women are not allowed to leave the family compound, the program also links them with sales agents who will take the produce to market for them for a small fee.
Gordon said they are now trying to find a contractor to build a large storage unit, essentially a root cellar, which the women can use to preserve their harvest longer.
"Because they actually store it longer, they can get a premium price," she explained referring to market forces that make produce more valuable when it is out of season.
But the program is not without challenges said Maryam Mubeen Sidiqi, director of the Afghan Women Business Council and on-the-ground project coordinator.
Besides the Taliban pressuring farmers not to work with NGO's, another challenge is the extreme patriarchy that dominates much of Afghan society. Sometimes when she goes to introduce the program, Sidiqi said the farmers want to know why they are only teaching the women these farming techniques and not the men.
"Women are part of the families and we are going to help the families," she tells them.
While the program aims to improve economic conditions, it also aims to raise the standard of living for Afghan women, some of whom can't even visit the women who live just a few metres away.
Sidiqi recounted a tale of how the stature of one young girl was raised in her father's eyes after her successful "kitchen garden" turned out a bountiful crop of cucumbers.
"Now you are better than me," he told her, referring to the techniques she used and the resulting produce.
"I will plant that method next year for all the land that we have," he said.
The program has other components that teach women to read and write. Around 95 per cent of Afghan women are illiterate.
Sidiqi recalls how one of the participants in that class, after writing some numbers as she was asked, took an extra moment to write her name.
"I sensed really a lot of pleasure to see that," said Sidiqi.
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