Afghanistan

RET’S INTERVENTIONS 

Pakistan 

In 2001, RET started working with Afghan communities in Pakistan and supported more than 46,100 Afghan refugees (of which at least 12,478 were female), including training of 1,556 educators throughout 17 projects. 

Between 2001 and 2007, RET’s interventions in Pakistan focused on protection and inclusive & quality education (formal & non-formal) to advance Afghan refugees’ rights and other persons of concern to education. RET supported the strengthening of education systems at the local level and the professional development of teachers & other education personnel and the equipping of educational facilities and provision of educational materials. RET provided primary & post-primary education; secondary & tertiary education; accelerated learning programs (ALP), in addition to literacy, numeracy, life skills, and livelihood skills for vulnerable young women in urban- nonurban and camp settings, such as in the Hajiabad Refugee Camp. 

RET provided psychosocial counseling training of trainers for teachers to protect and meet the specific needs of displaced youth in conflicts and provided kindergarten daycare for children accompanying young women in their secondary accelerated programs. RET addressed early marriage and the gender imbalance in Afghan refugee schools and provided inclusive solutions by integrating blind and mobility-impaired female students into the educational system to counter social isolation.

Through its cross-border activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, RET supported 551 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Afghan (of which 523 female), including the training of 230 educators. The programs centered on supporting the schooling and integration of repatriated Afghan refugee youth and their teachers and providing remedial school programs. 

Afghanistan 

Since the war against the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR in the late 1970s, Afghanistan has gone through recurrent conflicts and instability that caused massive displacement inside the country and neighboring countries. Many people have since returned, despite the country still being in a fragile situation.

Women were left the most vulnerable, with little or no access to education. 

Young women are significantly affected by decades of violence and instability. Many of the women had fled as children and received little or no schooling. On their return to Afghanistan, they were considered too old to be integrated into the formal education system. 

These educational deficits have severe consequences given women’s traditional role in Afghan society. Without education, women can hardly plan their future independently, and their reliance on male family members increases. At the same time, after years of exile, returnees bring new visions of the future, socio-political views, values, and understandings of Afghan identity to the country, leading to tensions and conflicts with the host society. Their sudden return intensifies competition for land, access to resources, and job opportunities against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s high unemployment rate. 

In 2008, RET entered Afghanistan, as Afghans started to return home after years of displacement. Throughout this period, RET has directly supported 60,500 Afghans, including 3,877 educators, through 25 projects. The early interventions in Afghanistan focused on the education of young women and girls. RET implemented accelerated learning programs, life skills training, training for income generation, medical services, small-business training, and multiple programs to stabilize the communities through economics and social empowerment of women and their families.