Transform Lives of 70,000 Afghan Adolescent Girls

AIL is concerned about those children, especially girls who are unable to attend school or a Learning Center and in consequence have little or no access to education. This lack of educational opportunity leads to fewer options in the future, hopelessness and low self- esteem in young people. 

To address this growing concern, AIL has partnered with Dr. Yacoobi’s TV Meraj to set up Meraj Academy and develop a daily, televised high school curriculum for grades 7-12. Teaching takes place 4 times a day in one hour lessons. Students are able to submit questions via YouTube, Telegram, email or phone to teachers. There is also an archive of lessons for future reference. This service is available throughout the Asian region and live streamed. 

 “It has been my long-held dream to reach all the children of Afghanistan with education. Desperation brings on innovation, especially in a war- torn nation, where people have to be creative and adaptable to bring about change and success. My wish is that this televised education will bring hope to those children in danger of being left behind in education.” Dr. Sakena Yacoobi 

This innovative approach to education will make a big difference in the lives of adolescent girls unable to access traditional classrooms. We will follow the success of the program closely and alter and adapt it as needed. 

Your support makes all the difference! Thank you.

AIL has a number of programs that help adolescent girls with education and health. Here are some examples:

AIL runs a clinic and education program at a Girls Orphanage in Herat. Each month, there are approximately 101 patient treatments and 60 health education attendees.   The education section provides classes to 57 girls in languages, science, computing, Art, sewing, Arabic, literacy and entrance exam preparation.

AILruns a Youth Club which has 105 members and is made up of males and females. In April, the club ran a class about media, its importance in providing general knowledge and critical thinking for people. The youth were very interested in TV and Radio Meraj and their roles in society providing education and news to keep people informed. The utilization of media is an important skill in the modern world and valued by employers.

The Women’s Empowerment Group held a session on self-criticism and self-confidence and perfectionism in April. Women need to build a solid base of self-understanding, social interaction and advocacy skills so they can be more effective in society.

The Learning Centers in 2022 have provided education to 3,381 adolescent girls in subjects as diverse as sewing, math, physics, literacy and Arabic.

A Skills and Behavioral Etiquette workshop is a new AIL character development program to help children understand morals, behavior, responsibility and develop their character in keeping with core values such as trust, respect, peace and compassion. 

Your support makes all the difference! Thank you.

AIL runs a number of programs for young girls and women which teach academic skills but also life and  social skills, and public speaking and presentation skills.

One program is the special two year-long Leadership Class at the private Yacoobi High Schools which has 25 female students.  In February, all the students in the class graduated with high marks.

AIL also runs a Youth Club which has 105 members and is made up of males and females. The youth club provides opportunities for these young people to discuss and learn about current issues and difficulties in society and how to apply democratic values, reasoning, good citizenship and advocacy.  They learn how to be creative thinkers and problem solvers using group work and cooperating as a team.

In February, the club learned about public speaking, team work and being a team player. The youth are divided into groups and work on topics relevant to their lives. They have to give advice, make determinations and decisions about situations, discuss their opinions in front of other members and answer questions. The recent meeting showed there is much interest in the club providing an advanced computer class. In March, a speaker gave a presentation on IT and technology. The staff are prepared an advanced English class for the youth club members to attend

Your support makes all the difference! Thank you.

The 2021 Sakena Fund annual report is attached and we hope you find it interesting.

• Annual_Report_2021_compressed.pdf (PDF)
  

***There are only a few days left to donate in 2021! We would love your support for our projects. Thank you!***

AIL has always had a focus on educating adolescent girls. They are the generation that will change the country in the coming decades. We provide education classes in our Learning Centers, which are attended by girls who are in school and want to catch up with their peer group, and also by girls who have never had any formal education.

The new restrictions imposed on education by the Emirate have necessitated the segregation of girls and boys and some schools are still not open to girls. We have refocused our Learning Centers to providing post 6^th grade education classes for these adolescent girls so they do not lose ground in their education journey. In 2021, AIL educated 8,346 adolescent girls in its centers.

We run a special Leadership Class in one school and have increased the student number from 30 to 50, half of whom are girls. We also have a successful Youth Club which is 100 strong and as per new requirements is now running segregated programs for girls and boys. We teach peace, leadership and gender equality to both. The girls thrive on the study, debate and activism around the subjects that the club works on.

Reaching adolescent girls with healthcare and most importantly health education remains a lynchpin of AIL’s mission.  Healthy children can learn and girls who understand about health and their bodies can make better decisions and healthier choices. The centers give out health messages to all students such as in the context of a literacy class.

AIL Outreach 2021: 23,905 students, 18,132 PPE distributed, 6 health clinics, 50-bed Covid-19 hospital, 95,593 patient treatments, 59,888 health education, 13,050 food aid families served, 22 radio broadcasts daily, 8 hours of TV programs, 12 provinces reached.

AIL will continue to educate girls no matter what it takes,  adapting its programming whatever the circumstances.  Your support makes all the difference! Thank you.

Recent Developments in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been stunned by recent developments and people are adapting as best they can, to a new situation which remains both unclear and uncertain as to the future.  AIL’s current priority is to provide urgently needed assistance to the thousands of displaced families who have flooded into Kabul and Herat. Some centers provide a staging point for aid. Our staff are all working, though offices currently are men only with women working from home. The centers are all female and await instructions from the Taliban with regard to procedures required for reopening centers to our students. Our clinics have expanded their capacity to cope with the large numbers of refugees that are in the area.

The Yacoobi private schools are open and operating under the rules that have been given such as dividing male and female. It is exam season and students are studying hard and sitting their exams as usual. It is a great credit to them and their teachers as everyone has heightened levels of fear, stress and anxiety. The private TV and Radio Meraj are not broadcasting but awaiting instructions in how to recommence and staff are creating content and archiving materials for broadcast at a later date.

We have been touched by the outreach of support and outpouring of donations to help the Afghan people. We thank you for standing by Afghanistan as it faces another humanitarian crisis on top of Covid-19 and drought.

Youth Club

One of AIL’s newer programs is the Youth Club. This has over 100 members.  The idea of the club is to further develop the talents and capacity of young people who have progressed from school but are not yet fully independent adults. It is hoped many of the adolescent girls who are currently attending AIL’s Learning Centers or the Yacoobi private high schools, will go on the join the Youth Club. The club meetings involve study, debate and activism around subject matter such as culture, economics, good governance, race and ethnicity, English classes, management and peace. There are various sub-groups including: entrepreneurs, volunteer activist, leadership, innovators, active citizens. The pandemic necessitated the meetings going to the zoom platform.

As our youth club is run out of schools, we are happy to report this is still running. Our hearts swelled with joy, and some irritation, because we suspect they may be taking some slight advantage of the English language skills we taught them in order to explain to parental figures or Club authorities why it is they need to spend so much time texting and reading “English Stories”. The children are ok, if very much teenagers. They are smart and creative, and we are so proud, and will have to have a discussion with Club leaders about appropriate activities. They are so resilient, so brave. Our love for them could not be stronger. 

Your support makes all the difference! Thank you.