Almost two years after the radio of Voice of Afghan Women (VAW) went experimentally on air for two hours per day with the assistance of a UNESCO project, on January 2004 VAW radio has exponentially increased its coverage moving its 600 watt FM transmitter and the antenna from the studio’s roof downtown, to the peak of ‘Antenna mountain’, enabling the radio to broadcast to an estimated population of four million people living in greater Kabul and in the rural areas of the Parwan and Logar provinces.

Jamila Mujahed, President of the association, said that with the extended coverage, she hopes the radio to reach more women and men who need to become gender sensitive, but also to attract paid commercials which would support the work of the eleven female reporters now ensuring nine hours of broadcasting per day on the new frequency 96.8. The transmitter has been moved thanks to an IPDC project for the «further development of the women media network», under which also training and some basic radio production equipment are provided in order to extend the reporting capability of VAW to rural areas. Moving the transmitter was also made possible thanks to the German Development Service in Afghanistan (DED) which provided a microwave uplink necessary to send the radio output from studio to ‘Antenna mountain’, and the BBC World Service Trust which is hosting in-kind the VAW’s antenna on one of its mast.

VAW was the first radio run by women in Afghanistan - there are three others. Over the last two years, VAW has been reporting and raising-awareness on issues such as maternal care, women’ rights, civic-education, election, forced marriages etc. Under another IPDC project funded by the United States of America, UNESCO is working with VAW also to establish a community television station.