The Self Employed Women’s Association(SEWA), which starts women’s self-help groups, has been running vocational training programs in Afghanistan since 2008, teaching women to make jam and sew clothing, among other skills. The group said it has trained 3,000 Afghan women so far, despite two fatal terrorist attacks on the team in Kabul. The women, who are often orphans or widows, use the training to earn an income outside their home.

Sewa established a centre in Kabul in 2007 in response to a request made by the Afghanistan government to the government of India, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Afghanistan in 2006. They work with women of the war-ravaged families.

Three members of Sewa miraculously escaped death in Kabul on 20100226, in a terror strike that targeted Indian interests and killed at least 11 Indians.