Afghanistan

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Wednesday 28th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I refer back to my original Answer. The aid money used will go through the stringent, rigorous regulations of the OECD, and it is there to be used for the development of Afghanistan and the elimination of poverty.

[Baroness Seccombe]

My Lords, following our debate last week, can my noble friend tell us what the Government are doing to ensure that women and girls are benefiting from the education aid to Afghanistan?

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend raises some very important issues. As I am also a lead spokesman for women and equalities in this House, I should like to say that 20 per cent of DfID support for vocational training is set aside for women. We also support a gender adviser in the Afghan independent electoral commission to strengthen the participation of women in elections as candidates and as voters. Some 28 per cent of teachers in Afghanistan to date are women; 26 per cent of all Afghan civil servants are women.