Afghan women have learned how to advocate for their basic, human rights and developed leadership skills through the Afghan Institute of Learning’s Human Rights and Leadership Workshops. AIL has trained over 4,000 women and men in these workshops. Human Rights Workshops relate the struggle to eliminate violence (of all types) against women in Muslim societies to empowering women. Women develop skills in communication and preventing violence against themselves and knowledge to affect positive change within their families. Leadership Workshops enhance women’s leadership skills, empowering them to participate in local, regional, and global decisions. Empowered by Leadership and Human Rights workshops, women now ask for more Women’s Learning Centers, take literacy courses, and stand up to abuse.
As a result of employment opportunities, education, and empowerment through AIL programs, women have moved on to become representatives in the Loya Jirga (Afghan Assembly). In the words of Habiba Surabi, Afghan Minister of Women’s Affairs and a former AIL employee who was trained as an AIL Teacher Trainer; “It was AIL that trained me and was sending me to camps in order to hear and feel the problems of my poor countrymen, that is why people in America call me ‘People Minister.’ The training and experience I received from AIL is unforgettable for me.”
AIL uses materials developed by Women's Learning Partnership and Sisterhood is Global Institute in its human rights and leadership workshops.