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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Resources > Global Issues > Afghanistan's... > Educating Afghani... > The Omid Schools > Getting Started

Getting Started

FALL 2003

Godah School, Wardak province (student population: 40)

Like so many Afghans, Sadiqa Basiri spent much of the 1980s in exile. She left her home village of Godah in 1984 and went with her family to live in Peshawar. She returned to Afghanistan in 1994. The following year, after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 21 prominent Afghan women formed the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN). In 1998, many of them left the country again and moved to Pakistan after the Taliban took over power. When the Taliban fell in 2001 over three million Afghans were living outside their country, in Pakistan and Iran.

Sadiqa Basiri joined AWN in 2001, and began to work her way up the organization. At the same time, she kept her sights firmly fixed on her home village of Godah, in Wardak. She had benefited from a good education while in Pakistan, and she was determined to give the girls of Godah the same opportunity if possible. She knew it would not be easy: there was no school for girls in the entire valley and not a single educated woman – let alone a qualified teacher. More important, there was also some resistance to girls’ education among conservative elders. “Under the Taliban, girls and women belonged in the kitchen,” she said.

A world of isolation: Many Afghan girls are illiterate.  

Ms. Basiri turned to her father, Janat Gul Basiri to help. He had been an engineer in Pakistan and understood the importance of an education. He used his influence with the local community leaders of Godah, and won their approval. Ms. Basiri found the money for the teachers from her own AWN salary. The Godah school program was launched in December 2002.

In June 2003, Ms. Basiri heard that AWN members in two districts, Jalalabad (in Nangrahar province) and Paghman (Kabul province), were also asking for girls’ schools. Behind the veil of village tradition, there was clearly a huge demand for girls’ education in the villages. Ms. Basiri took this knowledge with her to the United States, where she stayed in the fall of 2003. She had won a scholarship to work as an Intern for two months at Women’s Edge, in Washington DC, and on November 20, 2003, she spoke about her goals for Afghan women at the Georgetown Human Rights Forum.

The challenge was clear enough: women accounted for over half of the Afghan population but less than five percent were literate. The life expectancy of the average Afghan woman was 44 years. As in so many poor countries, this crisis started with a lack of education. Education helps women to understand the importance of small families and personal hygiene. It saves lives.

Women account for over half of the Afghan population but less than five percent are literate. The life expectancy of the average Afghan woman is 44 years. As in so many poor countries, this crisis started with a lack of education. Education helps women to understand the importance of small families and personal hygiene. It literally helps save lives.

It was an important moment in the development of post-war Afghanistan. The new constitution had been discussed and drafted, and would shortly be adopted by the traditional parliament (Loya Jirga). Some Western feminists were concerned that the draft subordinated international human rights to Islamic law but Ms. Basiri took issue with this in her Georgetown presentation.

It was true, she said, that many abuses against women were caused by tradition and ignorance. For example, the Afghan constitution prohibited marriage under the age of 16, but girls as young as five were routinely married off by their parents. Such violations were almost never referred to family courts. But more legal protection was not necessarily the solution. Western activists believed strongly in the power of law to provide protection, but, said Ms. Basiri, laws alone will not provide protection. “We should listen to the communities.” 

Afghan traditional life: Threshers at work near Godah. 

Although the Taliban used Islamic law to deny education to women and girls, Ms. Basiri pointed out that the Koran calls for girls’ education, and that the first word in the Koran is “read.” According to the prophet Muhammed, the first thing made by God was a pen, and the second a book. The problem was that extremists like the Taliban had manipulated and distorted the meaning of the Koran for their own purposes.

During her stay in the United States, Ms. Basiri met with a range of friends, who all encouraged her to pursue her dream of developing a new model of education in Afghanistan, based on her experience in Godah. Some of them promised to help. She was also introduced to a donor who was introduced to her through The Advocacy Project. The donor was interested in funding an education program for girls, and at the suggestion of AP contacted AWN. Instead of starting from scratch, Ms. Basiri proposed using her Godah school and building from there. The donor agreed, and Ms. Basiri was able to leave the United States with the beginnings of a plan.

She knew it would not be easy, and that she would probably have to leave AWN and commit herself full-time to the work. But she also knew that she would have friends to help once the program got underway. Networking would prove to be an important element in her education model.

• On November 20, 2003, Ms. Basiri spoke about her work at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.

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