Approach

Five decades of war and cold conflict in Afghanistan have devastated almost every aspect of life, including the health system and education. Women have been the primary victims of this turmoil, resulting in many women remaining uneducated and consequently unaware of their rights and entitlements. When such women arrive to the UK with their families, they often face significant, intersecting challenges arising from their illiteracy, lack of education and language barriers. These difficulties further isolate and marginalise them.

Similarly, Afghan elders face parallel challenges. Many remain socially disconnected from world around them and face difficulties integrating.

Children born into such families are profoundly affected. Growing up in environments shaped by these struggles impacts their social, emotional, cognitive, language and physical development. Without adequate support from parents, these children are at risk of not receiving the care and support they need to survive and thrive.

AHO was founded to serve such marginalised and vulnerable Afghan families and is committed to improving the lives of women, the elderly, and children.

Projects for Elderly People

The elderly projects focus on the lives of elderly people in three main areas as below:

Rights, entitlements and welfare

We aim to empower older people by offering workshop awareness sessions on topics such as their rights, entitlements and access to welfare support in the UK. Topics include pension credits, the blue badge scheme, identifying emergency contacts and navigating medical appointments.

One-to-one sessions are offered, which aim to address individual needs.

Advancement of physical and mental health

We aim to help improve the physical and mental health outcomes of Afghan older people, by offering workshop sessions and increasing awareness around areas such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle, nutrition and healthy eating, sports and physical activities, and physical and mental health.

Clients will be provided guidance on using tools like Strava and Samsung Health (steps) to promote physical activity and online exercises such as yoga will be shown as an option for housebond elderly individuals.

Inclusion and integration

We aim to foster greater inclusion and integration for older people, by providing a local network that enables them to participate more effectively with the wider community. To enhance self-esteem and improve mental health, we will provide clients with opportunities to showcase their creativity, talents, skills and experiences.

To further support better integration, we support our clients to strengthen their digital skills by using apps such as Google Maps and YouTube. We offer opportunities to socialise and to celebrate culture and language, such as through celebrating Afghan festivals and cultural events.

Projects for Women (women empowerment)

We believe that Afghan women play a vital role in the household of Afghan families. Empowering Afghan women means empowering the whole household. For this reason, women are the principle focus of our organisation.

Enhancing Digital Skills

For better integration into UK society, clients are empowered to develop their digital skills. These may include navigating Google Maps and different apps; accessing emergency contacts; online transactions and sharing location by WhatsApp or Google etc.

Social integration

To enhance social integration, we provide training sessions to raise awareness about women's autonomy, poverty, violence against women, domestic abuse and safeguarding.

Additionally, we provide women with a local network to socialise and connect. They are given the opportunity to celebrate Afghan festivals and cultural events in ways that resonate with them.

Enhancing Mental & Physical Health

To raise awareness and improve the mental and physical health of the women we work with, we offer workshop sessions on healthy lifestyles, nutrition and healthy eating, sports and physical activities and mental and physical health.

We will offer access to cycling classes, Gym and other female specific sports clubs, in line with their preferences.

Women will be encouraged and supported to use digital instruments to record and monitor their activities.

Projects for Children

Parents' Support

We promote Early Childhood Development by providing education to parents. This includes education around child development; child safeguarding; types of child abuse and raising awareness about certain parenting practices that are common in Afghan culture but may be considered abusive under UK law.

We offer workshop sessions on IYCF (Infant and young child feeding); nutrition and on child emotional, cognitive, social and physical and language development.

We provide training to increase awareness of child spacing, highlighting its economic and social benefits for the entire family as well as the mental and physical benefits for the mother and children.

Support Parents of Children with Disabilities

We support Afghan parents of children with disabilities or special educational needs, helping them to better advocate and care for their children. We guide parents to the most appropriate resources and support.

Additionally, we aim to raise awareness of the stigma within the Afghan community that often leads to concealment of a child's disability, which in turn prevents the child accessing appropriate support.