To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress his Department has made in implementing the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in UK and international development programmes in Afghanistan in the last 12 months. (275864)

The Department for International Development (DFID) has made the following provisions to implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in its development programmes in Afghanistan:

Drawing on the findings of the research DFID commissioned at the end of last year, titled ‘Understanding Afghanistan’, we have developed a detailed Gender Equality Action plan for Afghanistan. This plan supports the 10-year National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan (NAPWA) by ensuring gender equality is an integral part of our programme.

The UK Government are working closely with the Afghan Government to ensure that gender equality is integrated into their own policies to ensure long-term, sustainable improvements. We have provided an adviser to the Afghanistan Government to ensure the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), which lays out its development plan over the next five years, has integrated cross-cutting issues such as gender equality into sector plans. DFID also provides funding to Womankind and UNIFEM who are both working to support women's rights in Afghanistan.

In addition, DFID has committed almost £11 million (2008-09) to support elections in Afghanistan. At present women hold 68 out of 249 seats in the Lower House and 23 out of 102 seats in the Upper House. Our funding will raise awareness and understanding of the electoral process and empower women's political participation.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to take account of the needs of women and girls in its work on reconstruction and assistance to Afghanistan since its response to the International Development Select Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2007-08 on Reconstructing Afghanistan. (275865)

The Department for International Development (DFID) has drawn on the findings of the research commissioned last year, titled ‘Understanding Afghanistan’, to develop a detailed Gender Equality Action Plan for Afghanistan. This plan supports the 10-year National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan (NAPWA) by ensuring gender equality is an integral part of our programme.

The UK Government are working closely with the Afghan Government to ensure that gender equality is integrated into its own policies. We have provided an adviser to the Afghan Government to ensure the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) has integrated cross-cutting issues such as gender equality into sector plans. We invested £60 million (2008-09) through the Government of Afghanistan's Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF): this helps pay the salaries of over 165,000 teachers. 28 per cent. of teachers are now women and this has helped to ensure the number of girls enrolled in school continues to grow. 35 per cent. of all enrolled students are now girls, up from virtually none under the Taliban.

In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) is providing funding to Womankind and UNIFEM and £40 million of support over five years to the Micro-Finance Investment Support Facility in Afghanistan, which provides small loans to poor individuals to invest in businesses. Nearly 65 per cent. of those receiving loans are women.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to ensure that girls from communities in Afghanistan where they are prevented from attending school receive adequate nutrition. (275866)

Food insecurity remains the most pressing humanitarian concern for Afghanistan. Over the last year chronic food insecurity has been driven by high food prices and drought. The UN World Food Programme's (WFP) emergency response—to which the Department for International Development (DFID) contributed £17 million from January 2008—reached 8.7 million of Afghanistan's most vulnerable. This programme distributes food to families in the most food vulnerable parts of Afghanistan based on a WFP and Government of Afghanistan needs assessment, regardless of whether girls are attending school.