PARSA
BUILDING HEALTHY AFGHAN COMMUNITIES
PARSA
Building Healthy Afghan Communities
MISSION STATEMENT:
Founded in 1996, PARSA is a private non-governmental
organization working directly with the disadvantaged people
of Afghanistan. PARSA supports communities as they make
their own development solutions, focusing on promoting
social change and a healthy and fair society for all people
but especially women and children.
OUR HISTORY
 Founded as: “Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for
Afghanistan” we are now known as PARSA
 Founders: Mary McMakin, Yasin Farid, Palwasha Madomi
 Original work focused on physiotherapy and help for disabled
Afghans, widows and orphans
 Marnie Gustavson became Executive Director in 2005
 PARSA has evolved into a dynamic organization with
a community-based approach to development
PARSA Today
PARSA Focuses on:
Developing Local Ownership for
Building Healthy Afghan Communities
PARSA Approach
We asked ourselves and our beneficiaries:
What makes a community healthy?
Our Answers:
Family and community are cared for and there is no violence.
Everyone has human rights. Children are confident, creative,
love Allah and are valued. Each adult has access to ways to
make money to sustain their family. Our village is clean and
free of disease. Our animals are healthy. We are honest and
support each other in the time-honored Afghan way.
PARSA Approach
We enter a new community and focus on one of the three
aspects necessary for Building Healthy Afghan Communities:
Building
Economies for
Women
Building
Youth
Leadership
Building
Healthy
Families
Building Economies for Women:
Our women’s programs
give the highly skilled
women of Afghanistan the
ability to become
breadwinners for their
families and earn respect
in their communities.
Trade Afghan Women’s
Businesses is a network of
businesswomen from
across the country who
have joined together to be
part of the Trade Afghan
product line.
Our other economic
programs also support
women in product
development, skills
training and agriculture.
Trade Afghan and PARSA’s Women’s
Economic Programs
Building Youth Leadership:
PARSA believes strongly
in the importance of
developing strong,
educated leaders who will
play important roles in
the future of their
country.
PARSA’s Afghan Scouts
have over 1800 Scouts in
12 provinces that engage
in leadership training,
civil service, and more.
Voice of Afghan Youth is a
new TV and radio
program that will
showcase the talents of
Afghan youth.
PARSA’s Afghan Scouts and
Voice of Afghan Youth
Building Healthy Families:
Afghanistan has seen
conflict for thirty years
and the resulting
psychological trauma
runs deep. PARSA’s
psychosocial programs
train Afghan
psychosocial
professionals in how to
respond to the needs of
patients with traumatic
backgrounds, such as
those living in battered
women’s shelters,
orphanages and refuge
camps.
Psychosocial Programs
Where PARSA Operates
PARSA operates
in communities
in 12 provinces.
Sometimes our
programs are
province-wide,
sometimes in
very specific
locations.
Community-Based Approach
Exploring our PARSA approach
via case studies of select
communities we work in:
Dost-i-Barchi, Kabul
Bamiyan
Government Orphanages
Shamsa Village Orphanage, Kabul
Marastoon, Kabul
Battered Women’s Shelters
Faizabad
Case #1: Dost-i-Barchi
Women’s Economic Program
Group of Kabul women who organize
their own cooperative and request
support from PARSA when necessary,
such as:
 Supplying a teacher for a literacy
course
 Providing training in embroidery etc.
 Helping to find markets for women-
made products
 Providing jobs for women who work
on the PARSA Farm
Case #2: Bamiyan
Trade Afghan, Afghan Scouts
One of PARSA’s longest standing
partner-communities and the heart of
the women’s economic programs.
Currently 180 women enrolled in Trade
Afghan
PARSA supports the women in
materials and training for economic
activities, provides a plot of land for
farming, and a location for their
women’s center
Working in the cave communities
Over 220 Scouts registered province-
wide, 8 Scout Masters trained
Case #3: Government Orphanages
Afghan Scouts, Psychosocial
PARSA has a long history of work in the
government run orphanages, including:
Advocating for improved conditions in
orphanages nation wide
Establishing Scout Troops in 5
orphanages, with 40% girls enrolled
Providing psychosocial and social work
training to orphanage caregivers
Voice of Afghan Youth will work with
orphanages where Scout Troops are
established to showcase the positive
aspects of the children’s lives
Case #4: Shamsa Village Orphanage
Afghan Scouts, Psychosocial
PARSA worked to help establish Shamsa
as a model, private Kabul orphanage
based on the “SOS Children’s Village”
model:
Providing psychosocial training to the
orphanage “mothers”
Monthly activity days at Marastoon for
the children
Establishment of a Scout Troop
Working with partner organizations to
improve conditions in the orphanage.
Case #5: Marastoon
Women’s Economic, Afghan Scouts
Location of PARSA’s main offices:
PARSA tailor shop and gift shop
Friday brunches for the Kabul
community
Afghan Scouts troops and main Scout
building where events are held
PARSA Farm – agricultural training for
women, selling of fresh milk, produce
and eggs
Case #6: Women’s Shelters
Psychosocial, Women’s Economic
Battered Women’s Shelters in Kabul are
an incredibly important refuge for
women escaping abuse:
•PARSA provides psychosocial training
to the caregivers working in the shelters
in three regions
•Trains women in basic skills, such as
making jam or fudge, so that they can
earn a small income via our Trade
Afghan program
Case #7: Faizabad
Psychosocial, Women’s Economics
PARSA has worked in Badakhshan in
the past and decided to restart our
program there after the Argo landslide
of 2014
 Supporting psychosocial efforts for
the families of Argo landslide victims
 Launching a province-wide branch of
Trade Afghan
 Scout Troops established in the
National Orphanage
 Focus province for Voice of Afghan
Youth
Community-Based Approach
PARSA may seem overwhelming because there is so much
variety in the work what we do. We have realized that being
flexible with our programs in a way that suits the unique
needs of each community is much more effective than trying
to implement a single rigid program across a range of diverse
communities.
Complexity in program structure is a requirement of
a community-based approach to development.
And our approach works.
PARSA
Building Healthy Afghan Communities
CONTACT PARSA:
www.afghanistan-parsa.org
Red Crescent Compound, Marastoon, Afshar, Kabul
contact@afghanistan-parsa.org
Marnie Gustavson: +93(0)799 020 588