Dear Friends,
 

After a long and challenging year of 2015 we are happy to present you our winter Newsletter from, Afghanistan:

 

The Year in Review2015
 

was our most difficult year but the good news is that we survived it and are now stronger than ever. We lost 22 (50%) of our staff and closed our Bamyan center (restructured activities in the region) due to lack of funds, but still managed to continue all our activities. Many internationals with their resources and interests are leaving Afghanistan, our biggest fear is now isolation and that is why we need your help. Please join us,(www.AfghanMMCC.org/members) becom a member, and spread the word by sharing this newsletter and inviting your friends to join.
 

The International Children Peace Prize
 

Aziza our trainer and one of our child advocacy activity participants became nominated by KidsRights for the prestigious Children's Peace Prize in 2015. Numerous local and international media have covered her hard work of advocating for children rights in Afghanistan. She is now helping us to establish a Children Ombudsman Office in Afghanistan. For more details click here>Social Circus &
 

Landmine Awareness in Khost
 

In December, with UNHCR support we made the first "Social Circus" and Landmine-Awareness workshops and performances in a big refugee camp in Khost province. Hundreds of families have escaped the war and the kids need to know how they can protect themselves from the landmines that are still remaining in their new settlement. This was very successful especially as it was our first time in such a high risk area. As a direct result 3 new circus teams inside the camp are established and continue activities.
 

Funtainers
 

Facing the reality of Afghanistan and lack of finances we have over the past years developed a simple and low-cost solution to facilitate, sustain and expand our activities. A Funtainer, which is a modified container, is a mini circus base that enables children and youth to organize activities with only very little adult support. The Funtainers are very cost-effective and inspire the local communities to adopt and support the activities. We have now 23 Funtainers in different parts of the country connecting thousands of children. We hope to get many more established in the coming years.
 

Children Regional Shuras
 

In December we also organized Regional Children Shuras (Assemblies). The activities were implemented in Herat, Balkh, Bamyan, Nangarhar and Kabul. The Children Shuras have since long become integrated to AECC's increasing focus on Advocacy for children's rights. By end of the winter the National Children Shura representatives, will meet in Kabul to share their problems and organize roundtable discussions with government officials and VIPs.
 

Upcoming and new activities-
 

A new 3 years partnership for children of Kabul IDP camps with Welthungerhilfe has just started- Winter program in Kabul, Heart, Bamyan, Mazar and Ghor is in progress- We are mobilizing all our resources to establish a Children Ombudsman in Afghanistan- All the activities in Balkh and Herat supported by Finish Embassy and Warchild-UK are continued- We continue to look for support for our successful but unfunded activities in Bamyan, Ghor and Nangarhar
 

Best regardsBerit & David with all our colleagues
Kabul
 

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