This is the latest project by Selene Biffi, an Italian social entrepreneur working in Afghanistan since 2009. After the Taliban came back to power, job opportunities for women were restricted to the home and a few other sectors. Thanks to the helpline, operated by six women, they will be able to develop their own initiatives in every aspect, from fundraising to product marketing.

 

Milan (AsiaNews) – A new project for Afghan women has recently started. Called Bale Khanom, it provides “a free telephone helpline to support women and women-led micro-enterprises in Afghanistan,” said Selene Biffi, 41, speaking to AsiaNews.

Another “project will also start in a couple of weeks, providing equipment to make it easier for women to work from home," added the social entrepreneur who has been volunteering in Afghanistan since 2009.

Bale Khanom means "Hello Ma'am" and is a project by women for women. Six Afghan women will work from home offering support to female entrepreneurs or aspiring ones.

Biffi's goal is to reach at least 5,000 women-run micro-enterprises in a year.

Despite increasing restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women over the past two years since they seized power in August 2021, 80 per cent of Afghan women have access to a mobile phone.

The technology used in the project to receive, sort and evaluate phone calls was developed in collaboration with Viamo, a social enterprise that focuses on technology and communications for developing countries.

Excluded from the education system and from working with NGOs, one of the few possibilities left to Afghan women is to work at home.

Bale Khanom, which is financially backed by Bank Intesa Sanpaolo's Charitable Fund for social and cultural contributions, will support women in areas such as product development, finances, fundraising, as well as management and marketing.

At present, women do not have access to credit and around 20 million people, almost half of the Afghan population, are surviving solely on humanitarian aid.

Making matters worse, literacy among women is low, just at around 22 per cent, while around four million women and children suffer from acute malnutrition.

Due to the country’s economic crisis and widespread poverty, household debt has increased sixfold, with more than 70 per cent of income going into buying groceries.

Telephone support was seen as the most suitable solution to support the creation, development, and growth of women's micro-enterprises.

Some Afghan women themselves asked Biffi if they could continue to work and support their families after the Taliban came back to power.

Originally from Mezzago (Italy), Biffi has tried to use her network of contacts to take advantage of the little room left by the Taliban, using her own vast experience in social entrepreneurship.

In Afghanistan she began by setting up the Qessa Academy in Kabul, a storytelling school to preserve the country’s cultural heritage and provide job opportunities for young people.

In early 2022, she created She Works for Peace, an organisation that promotes the economic inclusion of women through technical training and social inclusion.

“Bale Khanom is the first project of its kind in Afghanistan, and we hope it will contribute positively to female employment and broadly include them in the workforce,” Biffi explained.

In her view, these elements “are necessary for the reconstruction of a social and economic fabric at the local level.”

• afghanistan
• selena biffi
• social entrepreneur
• bale khanom
• hello ma’am
• taleban
• microenterprises