Ensuring Afghan children are safe and in school

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Thank you for your fantastic support for Street Child’s work to ensure children are safe, in school, and learning in Afghanistan!

Through Street Child’s essential education programmes, including in hard-to-reach, remote districts, we support over 50,000+ students in the country daily, and represent 13.65% of all community-based education centres in Afghanistan. 

We’re providing lifechanging and lifesaving across Afghanistan. For example, we recently finished a project in Baghlan and Zabul province which supported 23,879 children with foundational primary education services. In some villages, the support of donors like you helped provide education for the first time in over 15 years, clearly displaying the foundational nature and vast need of the project.

Despite the challenge of establishing education, and recruiting qualified and competent teachers in Baghlan and Zabul provinces, Street Child ensured children were in education, and learning, by:

→      Establishing learning in rural areas without education, establishing 400 new community-based learning classes in Baghlan, and 240 new community-based learning classes in Zabul.

→      Recruiting and training teachers, with 500 teachers trained in Baghlan, and 300 teachers trained in Zabul. In Baghlan, 198 of the teachers trained were women.

→      Conducting community advocacy to encourage education for primary-aged children in rural areas, with ‘back to school’ campaigns conducted in 500 villages in Baghlan, and 300 villages in Zabul. These campaigns met with key community members including community elders, with the main purpose of raising awareness of the importance of continuous education for all children.

→      Providing safe, warm and hygienic learning spaces. Child protection and mental health support were provided throughout. Further, all Street Child community-based education centres (CBEs) were equipped with drinking water handwashing facilities in this project. Many target villages also experience harsh winters, so firewood, heaters and winter clothes were provided to 450 CBEs in Baghlan and 250 CBEs in Zabul.

Looking ahead, Street Child will continue to support children in Afghanistan, by:

• growing our programmes so that more children can go to school
• extending our protection and mental health work so that more children are safe
• strengthening our teacher training so that more children are learning.

Education is the heart of Street Child’s work and we have multiple projects that aim to serve an additional 55,000 out-of-school children in the next six months – enabling more than 100,000 children to access an education every day. This will include us expanding our geographic footprint further and entering new provinces across the country. For instance, we will provide an additional 25,000 girls with multi-year education support, as well as expanding to Nimroz province where no other community groups or NGOs currently provide Education in Emergency services.

Thank you for your support for our work in Afghanistan! Together, we can help build a better future where every child is safe, in school and learning.

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Thank you for your fantastic support for Street Child’s work to ensure children are safe, in school, and learning in Afghanistan. Street Child is now working in 15 different provinces across Afghanistan. We are going where others won’t to provide education and humanitarian support, where and when needed.

In Afghanistan, an estimated 8 million children and adolescents are out of school, including 1.1 million girls who have recently been banned from attending secondary school.  Afghanistan is the only country in the world that denies access to education based on gender. 

Through Street Child’s essential education programmes, including in hard-to-reach, remote districts, we support over 50,000+ students in the country daily, and represent 13.65% of all community-based education centres in Afghanistan. 

We’re helping many students, especially girls, access education for the very first time. Girls face increased risks during times of conflict and instability, and curtailing access to education exacerbates these risks; particularly sexual and gender-based violence, and early marriage.  Gendered social norms are increasingly keeping girls out of school too—especially if classroom places are limited. Boys still get preferential treatment over their sisters and female peers.

We prioritise education because it is transformational. Increasing access to education not only supports girls to acquire foundational skills but also empowers girls and those around them to recognise and report instances of abuse through project teachers, social workers and other trusted community members. As such, our mission has been to ensure children across Afghanistan, especially girls, obtain at a minimum basic literacy and numeracy and can learn in safe, inclusive environments.

Thanks to your fantastic support, we’ve been able to reach more girls and boys in Afghanistan to be safe, in school, and learning. Our key recent updates in recent months include:

• In Uruzgan province, in October, we were also able to launch community-based informal accelerated learning classes for 14,715 out-of-school children – 6,639 were girls and 8,076 were boys.
• In the same month, we increased access to formal education for 3,325 children in Uruzgan province, including 1,980 girls and 1,345 boys.

• Our social workers received training on coaching and mentoring teachers. They regularly monitor the classes we teach, and coach teachers to ensure they can provide quality inclusive education to all children in their classrooms.

If you would like to learn more, the attached document 'One Year on From the Fall of Kabul" is packed with information about our work ensuring children are safe, in school, and learning in Afghanistan. 

Thank you for your support for our work in Afghanistan! 

• Afghanistan_One_year_on_from_the_fall_of_Kabul.pdf (PDF)
  

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Thank you for your fantastic support for Street Child’s work to ensure children are safe, in school, and learning in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, an estimated 8 million children and adolescents are out of school, including 1.1 million girls who have recently been banned from attending secondary school.  Afghanistan is the only country in the world that is denying access to education based on gender. 

Through Street Child’s essential education programmes, including in hard-to-reach, remote districts, we support 51,000+ students in the country daily, and represent 13.65% of all community-based education centres in Afghanistan. 

We’re helping many students, especially girls, access an education for the very first time. Girls face increased risks during times of conflict and instability, and curtailing access to education exacerbates these risks; particularly sexual and gender-based violence, early marriage, and honour killings.  Gendered social norms are increasingly keeping girls out of school too—especially if places in classrooms are limited. Boys still get preferential treatment over their sisters and female peers.

We prioritise education because it is transformational. Increasing access to education not only supports girls to acquire foundational skills but also empowers girls and those around them to recognise and report instances of abuse through project teachers, social workers and other trusted community members. As such, our mission has been to ensure children across Afghanistan, especially girls, obtain at a minimum basic literacy and numeracy and can learn in safe, inclusive environments.

Thanks to your fantastic support, we’ve been able to reach more girls and boys in Afghanistan to be safe, in school, and learning. Our key recent updates over the last few months include:

• On 22 June 2022, the south-eastern provinces of Paktika and Khost, which border Pakistan, were rocked by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. The quake has killed an estimated 1,000 people, injured more than 2,900, and affected more than 360,000.  Street Child responded within 24 hours, prioritising the immediate needs of the affected population and distributed household packages to 200 families (approximately 1,400 people) which included useful daily items that they lost in the earthquake including shoes, clothes, coats, blankets, toys, notebooks and writing materials.

• In July 2022: Street Child identified 5,425 out-of-school children in Uruzgan province and enrolled them in classes. 59% of these children are girls.
• In August 2022: 1,600 of Street Child’s community-based education classes run every day for primary-aged girls and boys across the country.

You can find about much more about Street Child’s work in Afghanistan in our report – “Afghanistan: one year on from the fall of Kabul”. This report, which will be released on August 15^th 2022, details the incredible work that our team has carried out over the last year, and our plans for the rest of 2022. You’ll be able to find the report on our website: www.street-child.org  

Thank you for your support for our work in Afghanistan! Together, we can help build a better future where every child is safe, in school and learning.

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Thank you for your fantastic support for Street Child’s work to ensure children are safe, in school, and learning in Afghanistan!

For the fifth year in a row, the Afghanistan conflict is the deadliest conflict worldwide for children. More than half the country's population need humanitarian assistance such as food, shelter and clothing, as well as psychosocial support.

Street Child is one of the only organisations who has remained operational during this worsening humanitarian crisis. Street Child now reach 51,000+ children daily, and we are scaling this up to 65,000 children by the end of May, helping children into education and with protection, health and hygiene services.

Education remains the centre of our focus for supporting children in Afghanistan. Street Child believes that education is a fundamental human right and the surest pathway out of poverty. Education saves and improves lives. Our learning centres offer a sense of normality and routine for children in Afghanistan, and provides a safe place to be, learn, and play.

Thanks to your fantastic support, we’ve been able to reach more children in Afghanistan to be safe, in school, and learning. This included supporting them through a harsh Afghan winter. Our key recent achievements over the last few months include:

• 14,750 new students were enrolled in school in our Education Cannot Wait project in February 2022. This project takes place in Uruzgan province.
• In Bamyan and Baghlan provinces, we recruited 240 new local teachers for our education projects. This includes 119 female teachers.
• In the same provinces, we have finished equipping 500 classrooms with hygiene facilities including handwashing stations and soap, as well as instructions on proper handwashing for children.

You can find about much more about Street Child’s work in Afghanistan in our report – “Afghanistan: 6 months on from the fall of Kabul”. This report, released in February 2022, details how life in Afghanistan has changed since the government takeover, the incredible work that our team has carried out over the last six months, and our plans for the rest of 2022. Please find the full report here: https://street-child.org/news-media/report-afghanistan-6-months-on-from-the-fall-of-kabul/

Thank you for your support for our work in Afghanistan! Together, we can help build a better future where every child is safe, in school and learning.

Dear GlobalGiving supporters,

Thank you so much for your support for Street Child’s work to ensure children and safe and in school in Afghanistan.

Over 570,000 people have been displaced by conflict in Afghanistan this year 2021, and the country is imminently facing the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. As winter approaches, temperatures are set to drop as low as –20 and families are already struggling.

Street Child has been present in Afghanistan for the last 27 years, supporting tens of thousands of children into education and with child protection, health and hygiene services. Our fantastic local team never stopped supporting children in Afghanistan this year, and we are proud to be one of the leading education organisations still active in the country.

Despite the challenges of the last few months, our programmes are continuing to bring education into communities across Afghanistan, in some cases for the first time. Some of our key recent achievements have been:

• In the Zabul region, we’ve been able to continue classes for all the 9,000 children we were aiming to reach, including young and adolescent girls whose access to education may have been threatened.
• Our projects in remote areas have benefitted from our innovative digital teacher training and observation through tablets.  
• Back to School campaigns have been completed in Trinkot, Gizab and Dehrawood.  1850 adults were engaged in the campaign, which mainly focused on importance of education, especially for girls.

Street Child’s main focus remains ensuring that children can receive the best quality education. We are continuing to support the exceptional teachers, community leaders and social workers, who excel at child-centred, interactive learning through our projects. We’re also providing heating in classroom spaces, and we are also seeking to include meals provision through our learning centres to keep children fed irrespective of their household circumstances.

For many children in Afghanistan, this year has been harder than ever. That’s why we’re also distributing emergency supplies (such as food, clothes and hygiene kits), and providing case workers and psychosocial support to families displaced by the crisis.

Despite the challenging circumstances, and thanks to supporters like you, Street Child expect to reach 65,000 children and their families in Afghanistan this year. For some children, you could be a lifeline throughout the crisis and upcoming winter. For many Afghan children, your support for their continued education won’t just help them this winter, it will help them for the rest of their life.

Thank you for your support! Together, we can help build a brighter future where every child is safe, in school and learning.

Links:

• Street Child's Afghanistan page