Learning Centers for Rural Afghan Women in Herat

Covid-19 has created a great many difficulties in Afghanistan, especially because it is a poor country and has fragile health and education systems. AIL has had to close its Learning Centers in Herat but staff worked hard to adapt its education program to online, distance learning. Students have been provided with education packs and have access to a teacher by email, a hotline and in person if necessary.

It is vital that students continue their learning and do not lose heart.  “It takes time and patience to gain acceptance for girls’ education, especially in rural areas. I am concerned that we do not lose the ground we have gained,” says Dr. Yacoobi.

Quarantine has increased the sense of isolation that many women feel and is pushing girls into more household chores and we fear families will not look to return their girls to class and there will be a consequential rise in child marriage. The stress of the health and economic situation is causing a rise in family disputes and violence against women.  The education packs give girls a focus and a hope that they will return to school or an AIL center for classes in the near future.

AIL has been able to repurpose its tailoring classrooms at many sites in Herat Province, to the production of personal protective equipment. Teachers and tailoring course graduates are producing gowns and masks while other staff are joining in and helping to make face shields. These items are being used in AIL health clinics and being donated to the government for use in other cities. 

Your support is vital in helping us maintain our distance learning program.

AIL is working towards: SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Our project 1155 Fast Track Education and 1073 Save Afghan Women and Children with Health care are eligible for a Match from Safer World Now Fund, up to $1,000 USD per unique donor per project will be matched, while funds last! You can donate to both!

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Many of our Learning Centers in Herat Province offer tailoring classes. These are one of the most popular classes and often the first class that an illiterate girl or woman choses to take. The women learn how to produce professional quality clothing for their families and they can start a home business with this skill.  They end the course proficient in all types of sewing and are able to make shirts, skirts, dresses, trousers, coverings, hijabs and household cloth items.

The centers are currently closed, but as part of AIL’s coronavirus response, many of these sewing classrooms have been turned over to the production of personal protective equipment with many thousands of gowns and face masks being produced. Tailoring course graduates have returned to the centers to use their skills to assist in this effort. AIL staff are also producing face shields in large numbers. This health equipment is being used in AIL health clinics and some is being donated to the Ministry of Health for distribution to clinics and hospitals in several cities.

Your support for AIL’s education program has produced fine seamstresses who are now helping AIL and Afghanistan deal with this health crisis situation.

Thank you.

AIL is working towards: SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

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Here are details of some of AIL’s activities in the past few months.

• In December 2019, AIL distributed some clothes and stationary supplies to students at ten of its learning centers, including those in rural areas of Herat.
• There was a distribution of food aid to 200 families experiencing difficulties in the winter. Some of these families live in the vicinity of AIL centers.
• One rural Herat center reported that almost all sewing class students reach a professional level of tailoring and so can start their own businesses at the end of the course. The tailoring course includes instruction on small business start-up and operation. The women sell their own handmade clothing in the market and get income from that, as well as providing clothing for their families. AIL estimates that about 70% of its tailoring graduates start their own businesses or get work with tailoring companies.
• AIL’s legal clinic which provides free legal work to poor women held a mini workshop on children’s rights at a rural learning center in December. There were 43 female participants aged between 11 and 50. Topics included, rights and needs of children, making community safe for children, child rights regarding parents and the age of childhood. One woman said, “I am mother to 4 children and I did not know about their rights. This workshop helped me to understand rights and to be a better mother to my children.”

Thank you for your support.

AIL is working towards: SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

AIL works to promote literacy by providing classes at its Learning Centers, such as those in rural Herat. It also publishes a magazine and whenever possible books. Books published by AIL recently include:

Mobile Literacy Messages: a book supporting the literacy class that uses texting to teach the alphabet and up to grade 4 literacy in 4 months. Some mobile literacy classes take place at rural Herat centers and are for illiterate women.

Leadership Skills: supporting leadership development at centers, in workshops and the 2 year youth leadership course at the private Yacoobi High School. Women at the centers want to know how to advocate for themselves, speak in public and engage more fully in their communities.

Teacher Training: helping teachers improve their teaching skills at workshops and in staff meetings at centers. Some teachers who study with AIL go on to become teachers at AIL Learning Centers.

Healthcare Messages: for AIL clinics, mobile literacy classes and the ZMQ mobile app pregnancy monitoring program which AIL was a part of.

Peace Education: the most recent book published. Peace education is promoted at centers, preschools and in workshops.

Thank you for your support for our work.

The year end newsletter for CHI is attached.

AIL is working towards: SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

• newsletter_2019.final.pdf (PDF)
  

AIL seeks to spread education to as many women as possible and uses different means to achieve this. All its Learning Centers receive copies of the magazine that AIL publishes called Neda-e-Talim. There are two issues each year.

The content is educational and news orientated emphasizing literacy and health with use of photographs and graphics.  The most recent edition included articles on: literacy for a better life, Touchstone English language learning system, women and leadership skills, discriminatory language, health, peace, private school football, women’s rights, poetry and literature, discipline at schools, children’s literature.

The magazine also gives updates on AIL’s work, information on AIL’s Learning Centers and Dr. Yacoobi’s private radio station, Radio Meraj.  Copies of the magazine are widely distributed and available at all AIL facilities such as offices, libraries, centers and clinics.

Some of the women at centers are illiterate starting out on their education journey or are only able to read a little. The magazine is still of use to them as it has pictorial content too. More accomplished readers may read aloud to the illiterate women helping them and creating bonds of friendship.

Thanks for your support.