Afghan Institute of Learning Empowers Afghan Women

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

AIL’s empowerment of women is multi-faceted through healthcare, health education and education and training.  Here is an overview of the trainings held in 2021.

Trainings in Herat: AIL Herat has held 3 leadership workshops for 105 people and 2 Reproductive Health workshops for 70 women.  662 people have attended mini workshops on a range of subjects including: democracy, human rights, citizenship, management, good governance and peace. These mini workshops last for a few hours while major workshops take place over a few days. Herat has a special Women’s Empowerment Group which brings together highly educated women to help them to further develop their skills in leadership, team work and advocacy. Sixty members of the group have attended sessions in 2021 to discuss social affairs, leadership, cultural matters and women’s rights.

AIL Herat has outreach to youth through two special projects: one is a leadership class, which recently increased in size from 30 to  50 students, and the other is a Youth Club which has 100 members. The subjects covered include leadership, democracy, citizenship and human rights.

Trainings in Kabul:  AIL Kabul held 3 teacher training seminars for 150 people (128 female) in 2021.  Three leadership workshops were held for 170 people (155 female). One reproductive health workshop was held for 35 women. There were 3 mini workshops for 107 (105 female) in subjects related to children and school.

Thank you for your support which continues to be vital to helping Afghan women thrive.

Update on clinics:  Our health clinics are stretched to capacity and beyond with thousands of displaced people adding to the local patient numbers. There is a shortage of medicines and of the Covid vaccine.  We have hundreds of people camping outside our facilities but we lack enough food, vitamins, Ensure and Pedialyte to help everyone who needs it. We desperately need funding, food supplements, clean water, hygiene supplies and Covid vaccines.  We plan to open 2 new health clinics in 2022 to help address the need.

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.

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.

 Learning Centers update

One of the ways AIL empowers women is by providing education through a network of Learning Centers.  The centers are a vital educational resource for many women who have missed out on schooling or wish to improve their knowledge base and learn new skills. Women who have been educated are empowered in their lives to make the most of their talents by gaining employment, managing their home lives and being better able to advocate for themselves in home and community.

So far this year, centers have helped 15,310 students (9,918 female). There are 22 rural centers and 17 are urban. Popular subjects include: Arabic, sewing, literacy, computing and English. Preschool classes were offered at 8 Herat centers and 3 specialist preschool sites in Kabul reaching 664 students. (Recently, 2 Kabul preschools and one preschool class in Herat have had to close). Courses in sewing, beautician, English and computing provide income- generating skills which help women gain employment or start their own home business.

Thank you for your support which continues to be vital to helping Afghan women thrive.