Kay Niedermayer, Girls' Education in Afghanistan: Alternative NGO Approaches

Girls' Education in Afghanistan: Alternative NGO Approaches

By Kay Niedermayer

Afghanistan is a country left in shambles after decades of war and conflict. This has left many groups, communities, and organizations puzzled as to where to begin rebuilding a torn nation. Afghanistan's economy is dependent on foreign investment, especially on aid. However, some question the approach and effectiveness of such aid which sometimes lacks a focused intention. There are currently many NGOs working in Central Asia on relief aid campaigns, although many of these relief campaigns focus on short-term projects and not long-term development projects such as education. Investing in education and especially that of the female population has proven to be one of the most effective ways to increase the social, economic, and cultural wellbeing of a community and therefore a nation. The Central Asia Institute (CAI) and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) are two NGOs which aim at a more personal and direct approach to supporting an Afghan-led campaign for girls’ education in the region.

The CAI and CW4WAfghan approaches to education projects in the region are centered on building relationships and enabling the Afghan people to create sustainable community development projects. This means listening to the needs and voices of the Afghan people. There are many other similarities to these two NGO initiatives including the use of books as a way to promote their cause. However, there are many differences as well and these will be outlined in a comparative analysis. These NGOs are examples of some of the initiatives going on in the region and are not single-handedly responsible for the amazing progress of education in the region. This being said, after more than a decade of work in the region, they have proven to be both successful and valuable to the advancement of education and the empowerment of Afghan people through an approach focused on building relationships, partnerships, and sustainable community-oriented projects.

The Context of Women's Education in Afghanistan

The past several decades of internal conflict has left the people in Afghanistan with little access to basic human rights or the means to an adequate standard of life. Since the Taliban gained power over most of Afghanistan in 1996, women's rights have been especially violated (Shah 2001). It is important to understand the circumstances of women under the oppressive regime of the Taliban. Although the Taliban have since been overthrown, these circumstances have created a foundation which must be overcome in order for women to regain any form of agency, self-determination, or the realization of their basic human rights. This context impacts how socially acceptable it is for women to earn an education or work in public spaces.

A British reporter, Saira Shah, travelled to Afghanistan to film a feature documentary Beneath the Veil (2001). In this feature, Shah highlights the detrimental consequences that the Taliban leadership has had on the women of Afghanistan. Because women were not permitted to work, many were forced to beg on the streets for the means to feed their families. At the time more women died annually for childbirth than anywhere else in the world and a one in four children died before their fifth birthday (Shah 2001). Girls older than twelve years were not allowed to attend school (ibid.). This was potentially the most significant blow to women's rights because education enables individuals to gain the tools needed to question and improve their circumstances. When girls are unable to access education, it is effectively an attempt to silence their voice and deny their humanity.

However, Shah also highlights several examples of women's resistance. In the feature, she met with members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) who struggled (and continue to struggle) for peace, freedom, democracy, and women's rights. They shared videos of violence and oppression against women that were filmed with hidden cameras with the intention of sharing these striking images with the world. They also allowed Shah access to some of their operations, including secret girls' schools (Shah 2001). By continuing girls' education, women were able to resist the Taliban regime. However, because of the risks and dangers faced through these underground schools and because of a prominent conservative ideology that girls should not be educated, many girls and women were left without an opportunity to gain an education.

Though the Taliban have since been overthrown (but not entirely silenced), the new government in Afghanistan has many challenges to overcome on the path to rebuilding the nation. In a follow-up feature, Lifting the Veil, reporter Sharmeed Obaid Chinoy shows how women’s struggle for equality and the right to education continue in post-Taliban Afghanistan (2007). Remnants of the conservative Taliban ideology remain and threats of backlash still exist in the region (Obaid-Chinoy 2007). After years of education being lost due to conflict and distracted focus from this issue, girls' education is often not of primary concern. Women have been left unskilled and uneducated after twenty years of conflict and often lack the resources, not the will and determination, to reinstate education programs. In 2007, only two of five girls were able to attend classes and Human Rights Watch reported an increase in attacks against both students and teachers associated with educating girls (ibid.). It is these challenges that create a unique space where education focused NGOs can play a vital role in rebuilding communities in Afghanistan.

Education is a long-term tool that can shape future generations. By focusing on sustainable, long-term projects in partnership with local Afghani communities, NGOs are able to create change that has proven to be much more effective than a short-term, relief-centered approach. Central Asia Institute (CAI) and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) are examples of just that. Their campaigns focus on girls' education and not only enables women with opportunity but makes an attempt to shift the prominent societal ideology to one that is more open and progressive. These NGOs do not function without reservation and concerns. It is important that NGO initiatives in the area empower Afghanis and do not impose Western ideology on the format of education; this could be conceived as a new wave of colonialism. However, by teaching skills and giving Afghani women the resources to continue these programs after foreign aid and interest dries up, these approaches have proven to be long-lasting. By no means are the goals of these NGOs entirely realized today; the struggle for education and reconstruction in Afghanistan continues.

Central Asia Institute (CAI)

The Central Asia Institute is an NGO founded by an American, Greg Mortenson, in 1996. There central mission is to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan (CAI 2010). This NGO is a grassroots organization which has evolved in philosophy and approach over years of trial and error as well as first hand experience (ibid.). It is important for the CAI that their projects empower the community, and as such, community members are involved in every aspect of the projects; communities are required to match CAI funds with local resources and labour in order to ensure the project's viability and long-term success (ibid.). The NGO was originally focused on girls' education in Pakistan, but was invited into Afghanistan to build schools by the Kirghiz people from the Badakshan region (Mortenson 2009). Greg Mortenson has shared his personal story and the challenges and successes that the CAI has faced and achieved through the publication of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, books which both tug at the heart-strings and raise awareness and funds for the issues and initiatives of this NGO.

Greg Mortenson believes quite sincerely that the conflict in Afghanistan will ultimately not be won with guns and air strikes, but with books, notebooks, and pencils; tools of socio-economic well-being (Mortenson 2009; xxii). The CAI builds schools which are intended for equal access to boys and girls, however this NGO realizes the importance on emphasizing girls’ education in order to ensure that equal opportunities are available. This NGO advocates that young women hold the biggest potential to become agents for change in the developing world; educating a boy means educating an individual, however educating a girl means educating an entire community (ibid.; xxiii). This is a philosophy based on studies and experience. World Bank studies show that one year of primary school education can increase the life income of a woman by 10-20% (ibid.; 12). The CAI also indicates that educating women is a means of facilitating peace and resisting against fundamentalism in the region; an educated woman is less likely to encourage her son to join the jihad (religious struggle) (ibid.; 13).

The CAI's goal is not to indoctrinate but create opportunities, they emphasize the difference between literacy and ideology (ibid.; 14). The CAI is proud to share that they have built 131 schools in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, which supports 58, 000 students. All of this has been achieved with absolutely no funding, they ensure, from the United States government; a goal they feel is important to ensuring their neutral, relationship-centered approach in the region (ibid.; 15). Though they do not dictate the curriculum of the schools they build, the CAI values a strong emotional foundation which is built prior to the construction of a school in order to ensure that the schools are not used to promote ignorance or fundamentalism (ibid.; 18).

Along with their unique approach to building relationships, CAI is also unique in the manner that they choose the locations for their projects. The places where CAI builds schools are places where the government have not bothered and foreign NGOs refused to venture; these are areas that lack educational infrastructure due to geo-isolation, poverty, religious extremism, war, and more (ibid.; 29; ibid. 34). The CAI acknowledges the destruction that the Taliban caused on the Afghan society, especially concerning education for girls. In Kabul alone, 106,256 elementary school girls and 8,000 female university students were expelled and 7,739 female teachers lost their jobs when the Taliban came to power in 1996 (ibid.; 74). By 1999, some 35,000 girls were being home-schooled with the help of international efforts, however the majority were left with no such opportunity (ibid.).

Greg Mortenson made his first visit to Afghanistan in 2001 (ibid.; 76). Though the American invasion brought hope of change, this change was slow to manifest. Dr. Ashraf Ghani stated that less than a quarter of the aid promised by President Bush was delivered and of that less than half was aimed at long-term development projects (ibid.; 81). Through his experiences in the region, Mortenson witnessed how combining aid with ideology was a highly effective strategy of the militants and realized that secular education was the cheapest and most effective way of combating this kind of indoctrination; a concern which was clearly not the focus of the major Western NGOs (ibid.; 180). The CAI does not label these schools as American but rather leaves them to the local community to maintain while making routine check-ups to ensure the success of the school and help with payments of the teachers' salaries. Because it is primarily a community project, these schools are more immune to attacks from fundamentalists, including the Taliban. In one village, Saw, the Taliban threatened the community in an attempt to keep girls from attending the school (ibid.; 283). However, CAI appointed a local mullah as headmaster of the school; he informed the Taliban that they would be committing a sin against Allah by acting on these threats, and the school was left untouched (ibid.).

In Afghanistan, the CAI saw a unique opportunity to establish vocational centres in Kabul, which is not necessarily part of their foundational mandate. These vocational centres are intended to provide women with skills such as weaving, embroidery, and other domestic crafts along with writing lessons (ibid.; 322). The centres are established in coalition with Afghan Women's Co-op as a second Afghan insurgency against the Taliban, a quiet and hidden revolution of female learning and literacy (ibid.; 327).

Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan)

Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan is a non-profit grassroots network/volunteer organization founded in 1996. CW4WAfghan does not have any religious or political affiliations. There are now twelve chapters across Canada. Their goal is to ensure effective long-term sustainable education programmes for Afghan women and their families and to engage Canadians as global citizens (CW4WAfghan 2010; 2). They do this by working towards facilitating and establishing educational opportunities for Afghan families while informing Canadians about human rights issues in Afghanistan. CW4WAfghan has a variety of projects including classroom resources for teachers in Canada, workshops promoting awareness, and funding non-profit Afghan organizations. On their website, CW4WAfghan states that they realized very early on that Afghan women are the best possible sources of knowledge, experience and expertise on the issues that affect them and it is their stories and voices that must guide our actions (CW4WAfghan 2011). Their projects are funded by donations, book royalties from Canadian author Deborah Ellis and with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) (CW4WAfghan 2010; 2). Though their projects span a variety of areas, there is one goal which every initiative of CW4WAfghan is interested in promoting, directly or indirectly, and that is education of women and girls.

CW4WAfghan was co-founded in 1996 by two development studies students from the University of Calgary, Janice Eisenhauer and Carolyn Reicher (CW4WAfghan 2011). They were mentored by well-known Canadian author Deborah Ellis, who in 1996 was speaking out against the Taliban's rise to power. Ellis went on to write the Breadwinner trilogy, the royalties of which have helped fund many CW4WAfghan projects (ibid). The trilogy also supported the CW4WAfghan initiative indirectly as these books helped raise awareness and sympathy for human rights violations committed against women by the Taliban regime.

CW4WAfghan is focused on building relationships with Afghans and using their voices and needs as a guide for their initiatives. They are an organization that works in solidarity with Afghan partners. CW4WAfghan has helped facilitate local organizations in many endeavours, including starting schools for girls, libraries, orphanages, internet cafes, launching skills training, literacy, and computer courses (CW4WAfghan 2010; 7). Their partner organizations include the Afghan Women Welfare Department (AWWD), one of the first women led non-profits founded in 1989 in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan 2010; 9). AWWD has trained some 15,000 women in literacy, human rights, hygiene, and computer skills, and provides legal aid for women with family issues (ibid.). AWWD has also established a literacy project in refugee camps near Peshawar, Pakistan. These initiatives began in 1993 and continue today (ibid.; 11).

CW4WAfghan also works with facilitating the needs of teachers in Afghanistan. The Excel-erate Teacher Training Program sends teachers from Canada to Afghanistan to work with local teachers (ibid.; 13). In the 2009-2010 year, over five hundred teachers were trained through this program in the northern Kabul province (ibid.; 18). This program trains teachers with extensive knowledge in math, science, and social studies, as well as a variety of teaching methods and approaches (ibid.).

Breaking Bread for Women in Afghanistan is a project directed towards raising funds and awareness for Canadian communities. Canadians host potlucks with the goal of raising $750, the average annual salary for an Afghan teacher (ibid; 15). The funds raised pay for teachers’ salaries and literacy classes, providing teacher training, and fund educational resources (ibid.). This initiative brings communities together both in Afghanistan and Canada. It is a creative and effective method of fundraising, which also enables Canadians as global citizens by involving them in the process and sharing the issues of women in Afghanistan with their friends and family in Canada. In 2010, over $1,200,000 had been raised (ibid). In sum, CW4WAfghans focuses on education as a way to facilitate the realization of human rights and poverty alleviation for women in Afghanistan.

Criticism and Applause

In 2008, CARE, Oxfam, and World Vision released a statement concerned with the direction that development initiatives in Afghanistan were headed. “Afghans desperately require effective, community-owned development that is coordinated not co-opted by military strategy” (CARE 2008). Furthermore, these organizations have criticized the emphasis of development for larger centres and expressed the need for a whole-of-country aid approach. Quick impact projects, Mark Fried of Oxfam Canada argues, are “synonymous with ineffective aid” (ibid.). With this in mind, it seems that both CAI and CW4WAfghan's approaches, which strive to keep Afghan women's priorities at heart, may be on the right track. Both of these organizations have provided plenty of numbers to confirm their effectiveness in the region. However, this is not to say that these NGOs function without criticism.

The CAI has been criticized by some for a lack of transparency in terms of financial accounts. The American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) published a report in 2010 that highlighted the apparent non-existence of any audited financial statements for the CAI. The CAI does provide financial statements on their website, however there are a few issues which, as this report highlights, remain unclear. Mortenson's books are being sold under the premise that a portion of the proceeds will help fund CAI projects in Pakistan in Afghanistan. But as the Watchdog Report points out, “up to” 7% to 9% of the proceeds are promised to CAI, without clarifying to buyers the exact percentage (AIP 2010). Similarly, it is unclear as to where the speaker's fees (for Mortenson's engagements) are allocated (ibid.). The report states that “every charity has an obligation to be transparent in its financial reporting to the public, and an independent audit of a charity's financial activities does a munch better job of fulfilling this obligation than does the self-reported ... information reported in a charity's tax form” (ibid.). Although these discrepancies should not be considered significant enough to overshadow all of the work done by the CAI, it does cast doubt on the minds of potential donors, especially when Mortenson has been so vocal in criticizing other organization's spending habits.

Of more concern, however, are the criticism against the approaches and ethics of both NGOs. Mortenson states that in order to maintain healthy working relationships with the Afghan people and to remain a neutral presence within the region, it is crucial that CAI does not receive state funding from the military (Mortenson 2009). However, the CAI has built friendly relations with American military representatives on the ground in Afghanistan. The American military has issued the use of Chinook helicopters to help in transporting some materials for CAI projects, and at least one school was inaugurated by a military officer (ibid.). Although CAI does not receive fiscal support, this may be undermined by the visibly strong relationship that has been built between the NGO and the American military forces.

CW4WAfghan has also been criticized for some supposed hypocrisies in their mandate. As a feminist organization, they promote the agency and self-determination of Afghan women. There has been criticism of this NGO for invoking Orientalist tropes and “(re)producing imperialist narratives of Afghan women” through the construction of knowledge (Butler: 4). This is reminiscent of other “white” women saving “brown” women campaigns, including those against foot-binding in Asia. This is a rather extreme accusation against CW4WAfghan which highlights the complexity of women's education in Afghanistan. CW4WAfghan's Excel-erate program is especially problematic in this way, as it reinforces the idea that Canadian teachers are superior and therefore obligated to help train Afghan teachers. While it may be helpful for Afghan teachers to be aware of educational methods from abroad, it is harmful to consider such a program of peer-to-peer training (because after all, the Canadian teachers are the peers of their Afghan counterparts) adequate preparation. This reinforces a premise that the education system of Afghanistan cannot be on par with that of North America. Furthermore, although the Taliban regime shook the foundation of teaching methods in regards to girls’ education, it would be inappropriate for Canadian educators to assume that they have nothing to learn from their Afghan partners in turn. If this training program designed with more of a reciprocal relationship in mind it could be of greater benefit to both parties.

These criticisms are not reflected in an effort to paralyze or undermine the efforts of CAI or CW4WAfghan, but rather to improve the consciousness which in which these NGOs function. Overall, the effectiveness of these NGOs has been proven both in quantity and quality. It is important to ensure that in any endeavour where we set out to let the voices of others guide us, we do not lose sight of the goal. The CAI and CW4WAfghan are building relationships with individuals in Afghan communities that may not have ties to any other NGO or access development outlets. These individuals have many immediate needs which may seem more pressing than the need for education in their community (such as food and shelter). However, both organizations are established on the premise that education is the best way to facilitate all of these needs in a sustainable, long-term manner. It is crucial for the success of these initiatives that they stick with this mandate. Both NGOs do this in different ways. The CAI focuses more strictly on an education mandate; their development programs are almost exclusively centered on schools and vocational centers, with a few exceptions. CW4WAfghan is more scattered on the other hand. Though the value of education is at the center of all of their programs, other services, such as legal aid, take a more indirect approach. In either case, the alternative approaches of CAI and CW4WAfghan have proven to be tried and true in regards to their goal.

Conclusion

To Afghans, literacy and education represent hope, progress, and self-determination. It is for this reason, that supporting education initiatives are crucial for long-term social development and peace-making in the region. CAI and CW4WAfghan have pursued alternative, relationship-centered approaches to affect real change throughout the country. In 2000, at the height of the Taliban regime, there were less than 8,000 students in Afghanistan, all of them male; by 2009, there were 8 million students enrolled across the country, 2.4 million were women (Mortenson 2009; 318). This of course, cannot be solely attributed to the work of CAI and CW4WAfghan, but has these NGOs have been working in the region long before the Taliban were overthrown, they have most definitely contributed to these numbers. Although development and change in post-Taliban Afghanistan has been proven to be slower than hoped, these personable approaches have proven effective and the initiatives have gained steam as the issue of girl's education in Afghanistan has been brought to the attention of the international community.

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