Unlock Women's Potential: Afghanistan & Pakistan

Overview

This quarter, Ascend continued to advance its mission of empowering women and girls through health, leadership, and community service across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thanks to the consistent support of our GlobalGiving community, programs are not only sustained but expanding in depth, reach, and long-term impact.

Afghanistan Highlights

Since restarting programming in 2023, Ascend has reached significant milestones that reflect both scale and depth of impact:

• Strong Healthy Empowered (SHE) Program: More than 550 women have successfully completed the SHE program, building psychosocial wellbeing, leadership skills, and health knowledge.

• Entrepreneurship Program: 270 women have completed Ascend’s entrepreneurship training, with 8 women awarded small grants to start or strengthen their businesses—supporting economic resilience for themselves and their families.

• Community Outreach & Education: Over 5,000 community members have benefited from outreach and education led by Ascend participants. Topics included mental health, feminine health, dental hygiene, environmental stewardship, nutrition, and related wellbeing practices.

These efforts extend Ascend’s impact beyond direct participants, strengthening families and communities while reducing stigma around health and psychosocial wellbeing.

Pakistan Highlights

Ascend’s work in Pakistan continues to grow, with a strong focus on women’s leadership, outdoor education, and community service:

• Women Outdoor Educators: 11 women have been trained or are currently being trained as Ascend outdoor educators, building local leadership and long-term program sustainability.

• Mental Health Programming: The mental health program launched successfully in 2025, expanding Ascend’s holistic approach to wellbeing.

• Community Service: Ascend-led initiatives have reached 5,000+ community members, promoting environmental stewardship, civic engagement, and collective responsibility.

Looking Ahead to 2026

The coming year marks an exciting phase of growth and deepened impact in Pakistan:

• Launch of girls’ leadership camps to build confidence, teamwork, and leadership skills at an early age

• Introduction of Wilderness First Aid training, strengthening safety, preparedness, and professional pathways for women

• New partnerships with a local university, expanding educational opportunities and institutional collaboration

Thank You

Your support through GlobalGiving makes this progress possible. Together, we are building healthier individuals, stronger communities, and a more equitable future for women and girls. We look forward to sharing more milestones with you in the next quarter.

Links:

• Entreprenuer grad shares her story

Leading Change in Afghanistan

In 2025, Ascend continued to deliver our Strong Health Empowered (SHE) core program to 150 young women, equipping them with vital knowledge and skills in health, leadership, and resilience. Outcomes from the program continue to demonstrate powerful, lasting impact. In a recent survey of more than 100 Ascend alumnae:

• 98.1% reported improved self-confidence, with the majority indicating a significant boost.
  
  
• 75% feel “a lot” or “very much” a part of a network of empowered women through Ascend.
  
  
• 95.5% have shared what they learned about health and wellness with others—multiplying Ascend’s reach far beyond direct participants.
  
  

Building on this strong foundation, we also launched a new Entrepreneurship Training, in partnership with the University of Central Asia, graduating nearly 240 women. Many graduates have already started their own small businesses — from mushroom cultivation and poultry farms to environmentally sustainable enterprises such as producing bags from recycled materials.

Our alumnae network remained highly engaged, with women gaining access to online resources, English language courses, mentorship, and writing clubs. Collectively, program participants and alumnae reached nearly 2,000 community members, sharing critical information on mental health, personal hygiene, first aid, and more.

In Afghanistan, while the de facto shutdown of internet services in late September disrupted many women’s programs that operate solely online, Ascend remained resilient. Because our center offers a safe physical space for women to gather, programming continued uninterrupted. Even when the internet is down, young women continue to learn, grow, and access opportunities through face-to-face sessions.

Training New Leaders in Pakistan

In Pakistan, Ascend welcomed a new cohort of Instructor Trainees, drawing women from across the country and the Gilgit-Baltistan region. These trainees are committed to leading the next generation of women leaders through outdoor education, health, and leadership. In Skardu, they are undergoing intensive training in mental and physical health facilitation, developing advanced rock climbing skills toward Single Pitch Instructor Certification, and delivering hundreds of hours of community service focused on health, wellbeing, and environmental stewardship. Upon completing their training, they will join Ascend as staff — leading after-school programs, summer camps, and leadership retreats that strengthen leadership and resilience among women and girls.