Fast Track Education for Afghan Women and Girls

One of our most effective fast track classes is the innovative 4 month long Mobile Literacy Class. These classes were started in 2013 and are complimentary to the regular literacy classes.

The students are given mobile phones and taught how to use them. The teacher sets questions which students answer by text message either individually or by group work. Remarkably most students progress from not knowing the alphabet or at most reading at 1st grade level to reading at 4th grade level by the end of the course!

Texting is used as a means to accelerate literacy acquisition but also to engage women in discourse and create social bonds between classmates and friends reducing isolation. All students love this format and text much more than required by the syllabus.

"I am Satayesh and I am 23 years old. I really am so happy to have this rare opportunity to be part of a class like this. The class is good as it makes us focus more on learning new technology, how better to use a mobile phone, messaging and making emergency calls. Through the class I have made new friends who I share my problems with and we find solutions together. I am motivated to participate in regular school after this class because I found out how important knowledge is.”

There were 10 classes running for 350 women in Herat city area through 31 August. 86% of this women reached Grade 4 literacy and 14% are at Grade 3. A great result!

Thanks for your support.

Matching Funds available TODAY ONLY!

$100-499 donation 15% match/$500-749 donation 30% match/$750-1000 donation 50% match

You can donate to CHI and AIL and get a match for both.

New monthly donations (active 4 months) up to $200 per donor per project get 100% match!

Empowering women is at the core of all of AIL’s work. The centers provide the opportunity for education in academic subjects such as literacy and income generating skills like sewing. FastTrack program provides women and girls to progress as fast or as slow as they are able to.  Each woman and girl who comes to class also learns about health, democracy, leadership and how to advocate for herself. AIL runs Leadership Workshops for women.

We wanted to tell you about another program Dr. Yacoobi started, the Women’s Empowerment Group. In 2018, 80 highly educated women aged 25 to 50 were invited to attend this program. The aim was to help them become better leaders, learn collaboration and cooperation and mutual support skills. The group discussed many topics in meetings and via the Telegram system. Topics included: good governance, culture, education for women, the environment, democracy, trust, honesty, responsibility and cooperation. After a year of working together almost all the women felt empowered to take on a greater leadership role and most stood for elected positions. They have learned the importance of supporting each other and after elections they rallied behind the winners.

These women advocate for all women, especially the disadvantaged, from a position of influence and elected credibility. They are also role models, especially for girls. The women are life-long members of the group and continue to meet and support each other

Thanks for your support.

News

Recently, the Professor Sakena Yacoobi High School, Herat won an International School Award from the British Council. The awards go to schools that demonstrate a commitment to developing global citizens by embedding internationalism throughout the ethos and curriculum of the school. The Director of the British Council, Afghanistan said: “This globally recognized accreditation helps enrich learning & improve teaching by guiding international learning activities, from introducing international education into the curriculum to embedding it within school culture.”