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This project successfully funded on 12th June 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Azada Women
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
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Aim
Connecting women in Afghanistan to the world — so they can work, learn, and build their futures. One woman. One hundred dollars. One year.
Women & Girls in Afghanistan – the Situation
In January 2026, the Taliban passed a law making it legal for an Afghan man to beat his wife – provided he doesn’t break her bones. Beating an animal carries a harsher sentence.
Today, 20 million women and girls in Afghanistan live in what amounts to a virtual prison camp. They are denied rights taken for granted in most countries: safety in their own homes, access to education, freedom to work, to move, to speak. Since 2021, the Taliban has issued more than 250 edicts targeting them. The pace is not slowing. It is accelerating.
What Azada Women does
With internet access, an Afghan woman is given opportunities – to earn an income, take a course, consult a doctor, and stay connected to support networks that help her survive.
A woman without it is largely cut off from all of those things.
Azada – the Dari word for 'free' and 'independent' – is a project that funds internet connectivity for women inside Afghanistan. We identify women through a trusted network, provide the means to get and stay online, and support them with access to work, education, and community.
The cost is $100 per woman per year.
For many women, connectivity is no longer a convenience. It is a form of resistance.
"For me, internet is like a bridge. Without it, I’m cut off from everything."
– Woman 23, Kabul
Services already exist online for Afghan women – education, courses, therapy – but for most, they remain out of reach. Not because the internet is banned, but because it is unaffordable.
A mobile data connection in Afghanistan costs around $8–10 a month. One hundred dollars can connect a woman for up to a year – including secure access tools that help her stay safe online.
It is one of the most direct and cost-effective interventions available to women in Afghanistan today.
We work in small, self-contained groups to protect the women involved. Identities are never shared publicly. Security is paramount.
What the women say
We asked the women we work with what it means to know that people outside Afghanistan are thinking of them. Here is what they said:
"Knowing that people outside Afghanistan still think of us and consider us important means more than I can fully express. It reminds me that we have not been abandoned." – Woman 19, Kabul
"It truly matters. Sometimes just knowing that somewhere in the world someone is thinking of you and has not forgotten you can save a person from sinking into despair. That feeling of being seen, even from afar, gives tremendous strength to keep going." – Woman 38, Kabul
"Many of us feel that the world has forgotten us over time. But if there are individuals who are working with us and supporting us, it gives us a good and hopeful feeling." – Woman 41, Kandahar
Who we are
Azada Women is a project of The Scheherazade Foundation, a UK-based charitable organisation dedicated to empowering women and bridging cultures.
All funds raised through this campaign are managed under UK law, with any surpluses reinvested into the programme.
What we're asking
We're raising funds to connect as many women as possible. $100 can connect one woman for a year. $500 connects five. $1,000 connects ten.
If you can give, please give. If you can share this page, please share it. Every action – however small – reminds a woman in Afghanistan that she has not been forgotten.
“With internet, I feel like I still have a future.” – Woman 18, Mazar-e Sharif
Their work
Under Taliban law, making images is grounds for flogging, imprisonment, or even the death penalty.
The following artworks – made in the privacy of a home, at great personal risk – were made by women inside Afghanistan, working together through an online art therapy programme. Many of them had never held a paintbrush before. These are expressions of their inner worlds. They are among the women Azada connects.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made