Learning Centers for Rural Afghan Women

Dear Friends,

Exciting Opportunity!

We are competing today for a share of a $50,000 bonus fund. The more we raise from you by midnight ET the larger the share of the pot we will get.

There is MORE! The two projects below ALSO receive 50% Match from Safer World Fund so your gift will be worth 50% more and then a percent more than that from Bonus Day.

Can you help?

1073 Save Rural Afghan Women and Children with Healthcare

1155 Fast-Tracking Education for Afghan Women and Girls

Newsflash: Dr. Yacoobi  is one of BBC 100 Women 2017! 

Herat’s Learning Centers (LCs) play a crucial role in providing educational opportunities to disadvantaged women in small communities. So far in 2017, 18,737 students (12,319 female) have attended 6 month courses at 28 LCs in Herat locations. In addition to regular classes in academics, sewing and other subjects all students at LCs are taught fundamental life skills such as health information, peace education and leadership.

Leadership is essential to every society. If there are no leaders then there is no government which leads to insecurity and chaos. Economic, political and educational and cultural activities decline.  Leadership skills training whether in regular classroom setting or in special intensive workshop formats have always been part of AIL’s programming.  The training builds the capacity of the youth and women and girls especially. They learn how to voice their opinions and take a leadership role. Sessions start with explanations of what a leader is, the difference between leadership and management and how to build self confidence in leadership. Communication skills, knowledge of social justice, politics and democracy are all covered.

One student said, “I learned that everyone can be a leader. I learned how to express myself and treat other people who are competing with me. I gained self- confidence. Leadership concerns influencing others and helping them be more capable so they can handle conflicts. I will be able to use these skills in my life.”

In 2017 in the Herat area AIL has provided 86 people (50 female) with Leadership Workshops adding to the leadership skills knowledge they gained in LC classes.

Thank you for your continued interest.

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

Follow our CEO on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SakenaYacoobi

Dear Friends,

Herat’s rural Learning Centers (LCs) play a crucial role in providing educational opportunities to disadvantaged women in small communities. So far in 2017, 8,000 students are attending 16 LCs in rural Herat locations including 5,351 females.

As an example, one rural center had the following classes during one month. This center has 563 students (530 female). There are 227 students studying Arabic (208 female), 88 females doing sewing and 175 (164 female) in literacy classes and 73 females in embroidery class.  The students also learn about health, peace, democracy and any current topics of interest that the teachers wish to address in class.

The manager reported last month, “As the number of applicants is increasing we are looking at having more classes. The students are mainly young girls most of them want to learn sewing and to become literate so they are applying for those classes most often.”

Thank you for your continued interest.

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

Follow our CEO on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SakenaYacoobi

Dear Friends,

The Afghan Institute of Learning and Creating Hope International have photos in this year's GlobalGiving's Photo Contest!

We need your help!
Please vote for these photos NOW until Friday, May 26th at 12:00:01 EDT.

AIL Photo     CHI Photo

Your vote will help us win a $1000 bonus prize and the opportunity to be featured on the GlobalGiving homepage and in their social media outreach! Thank You.

Updates from programs!

Girls team wins Technovation Challenge with Education App!
Professor Sakena Yacoobi High School , Herat has won first place in the girls  Technovation Challenge competition creating mobile phone applications.
The 5 girl team beat 36 other teams from Afghanistan with their education app Amozgar, that teaches literacy. Sponsored by AIL, they worked on this project for 3 months creating an app with the alphabet with audio and words and sentences.  Their message, “With Amozgar we change homes into schools.”
The team and their app now move on to the semi- final round of judging with 100 teams from around the world. Six finalists will be picked from this round to compete for the final prize.

Radio Meraj wins more Top Awards in Media in Western Afghanistan!
The Afghanistan Institute for Research and Studies held a contest for 161 media outlets. Meraj was permitted to enter 3 categories and won all 3!  Meraj won best news package, best analysis and speakers, and best innovative programming. In addition, a photographer working with AIL won the best photography prize for one of his AIL photographs.
The competition attracted media outlets from all over the western zone including the well- known stations that have been operating for decades. Meraj’s success is remarkable in that it has been in operation for only two years yet won awards usually associated with stations of 5 plus years of experience. It won the most awards among all the existing media.
Radio Meraj is many years ahead of its strategic plan and has gained popular and professional credibility and success making it one of the top three Herat stations.   The station operates 20 hours a day reaching 9 out of the 15 districts of Herat.

Dear Friends,

We are delighted to let you know that an AIL project has been selected as one of only six projects in the GlobalGiving Girl Fund! The project is 921 Afghan Institute of Learning Empowers Afghan Women. This project will receive one sixth of the donations made during the rest of this year to this special fund!

We would not have been selected for this opportunity without the support we received in the month of March from many donors such as yourselves. Great team effort! Thank you!

Project Update

AIL provides a variety of educational opportunities for women and girls, especially those in rural communities. This education helps them to improve their lives. Fast track classes continue to be a popular option at many Learning Centers. One of the most popular is the 4 month long Mobile Literacy Class. This class enables students to acquire literacy at a much faster rate than in the traditional literacy class. So far in 2017, there has been one class in Herat for 30 students running during the months of January through April.  13 students started the class not knowing the alphabet, 9 could read a little and 9 were reading at first grade level. We will update you on the results when these have been collated. The students learned to use the phone and compose hundreds of text messages during the class on various topics including health, peace, democracy and society and share them with their teacher, students and friends. There is also a social component to this class enabling the students to be in contact with relatives and friends which decreases isolation.

       "My name is Qamar. I am a 13-year old girl. I reached the third grade in school before I was asked to stop and stay home and help my mother with the chores. While at home, I did not practice my writing, therefore I forgot everything I learned. However, as the time passed, I became aware of what happened to me. The majority of girls around me went to school and became educated. I felt lost. I did not have the knowledge or ability to speak and build relationships with my peers. I blamed my family, especially my mother for this misery. A cousin of mine knew how I suffered. She suggested I make a change in my life. Regardless of how old I was, it was never too late for me to learn. At first I was ashamed, but finally I said I was going to do it. My cousin enrolled my name in the mobile literacy class at AIL. Now I am relearning my childhood lessons and becoming familiarized with new words day by day. I learn how to write messages and send them. I can save my friends numbers and interact with them through text messages. I thank Professor Sakena Yacoobi for providing educational programs for girls. By participating in this class, I am encouraged to continue my education.”

To give you an idea of how successful this fast track class is: 255 (85%) of the 300 students who attended the ten  Mobility Literacy classes in 2016 went from little to no literacy ability to a fourth grade reading and writing ability in four months! 45 students completed the classes at a third grade level. A great achievement for these students and AIL.

In 2016, 8,842 rural girls and women attended 15 LCs in Herat part of the body of 16,197 females who attended LCs under AIL management. Thank you for being part of the support for these centers and the women who rely on them.

Dear Friends,

When a community asks for AIL to set up a Learning Center (LC) it is a requirement that the community are supportive of the idea both theoretically and practically. Only with community involvement will these rural, illiterate women be able to achieve success in learning new skills. Here is the story of how one community supported its center and its women in 2016.

“One of the local people who lives near the center is called Khalil. He has helped the center a lot. The center did not have a telephone line and we had internet problems so Khalil voluntarily gave his house phone line to the center and helped by holding internet classes and seminars and these continue today. Another man named Naser who has a house on the same road has helped too. He offered to put the course’s advertisement board on the roof of his home because it would be seen more easily. The board is still there today. One of the other neighbors allowed the center to use his house's wall as a board and to advertise its programs. Other families gifted useful informative books in Arabic to help students learn the language.    

Herat's Education Department cooperated with the center and provided the opportunity for the center to introduce its programs to the girls' high schools. From the other side of things 4 high schools assisted the center in showing its activities.”      

This is truly a community effort! This operational approach is what creates sustainable opportunity for rural women. In 2016, 8,842 rural girls and women attended 15 LCs in Herat part of the body of 16,197 females who attended LCs under AIL management.

Please see our year end newsletter. Thank you for being part of the support for these centers and the women who rely on them.

• 2016_YearEnd_Update.pdf (PDF)