Kyoto-based Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development has provided literacy education to about 2,800 women in Afghanistan over the past five years.
The organization, better known as NICCO, is one of several nongovernmental organizations taking part in a reconstruction effort led by the nonprofit body Japan Platform, which drew up an assistance project in a bid to improve Afghan social services.
The war-torn country remains unstable and lacks social services. This makes life even harder for illiterate women in rural areas, NICCO Secretary-General Norimasa Orii said.