Not long ago, Afghan women and girls were completely banned from all levels of education. Today, many girls still face major barriers to education, and more than half of young Afghan women do not attend school. While the nation now has a higher number of female students than it has had in decades, much work remains to be done. Lack of infrastructure and qualified female teachers are major hurdles. Luckily, many organizations are working to change this reality. One of these organizations is the Womanity Foundation, which has supported education for Afghan women and girls for nearly a decade.
In 2007, Womanity began supporting the largest girls’ school in Afghanistan, the Al Fatah School in Kabul. Based on its experiences there, the organization developed a replicable model for establishing educational institutions for young girls. This approach, called School in a Box: Advancing Girls’ Education in Afghanistan, offers three primary avenues for building successful schools. First, students should have access to counseling, whether individually or in groups, on overcoming the obstacles to education that they face. Counselors may also need to mediate between schools and families to find creative solutions to individual problems. Second, teachers and school staff must receive training based on their real-life needs. Womanity offers this training and also provides tuition for national university entrance exams and university scholarships. Third, schools should try to forge connections with local communities through activities
that respect Afghan traditions and culture.
Between 2011 and 2014, Womanity collaborated with several other organizations to bring the School in a Box model to 12 schools in Afghanistan while continuing to support the Al Fatah School. The model was also replicated in five other schools in the Paghman District and Panjshir Province. These efforts have brought high quality education to tens of thousands of girls, as well as boys. In addition, hundreds of teachers and staff members have received the training they need to overcome challenges and provide excellent education to their students.