Learning for Life
Afghanistan
Photo by Emily Philips / Management Sciences for Health
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Learning for Life, a
women’s health and literacy
initiative, is working
to overcome the effects
of war and an oppressive
regime that have long
denied most Afghan
women and girls the
chance to learn even the
most basic skills. Only one
in five Afghan women is
literate and the infant
mortality rate is among the world’s highest. Achieving
the required level of literacy will also qualify the learners
for further training as health providers.
Women attend multi-level classes in reading, writing,
math and health and social sciences. They discuss
real-life events and develop important communication
skills. In the process, every woman learns how to better
protect and improve her own health and that of her
family. The women also say they share what they learn
with their neighbors.
Program materials and activities draw on the participants’
stories from real life events. Learning includes
activities such as debates and discussions. These principles
work together to make an engaging learning experience
in an environment where little has changed in
educational methods over the last 50 years.
Those who go through the program gain new-found
confidence and pride in their ability to read and write
and to take on new challenges. A young girl of 15 is no
longer afraid to go into town to buy the medicine her
mother needs because she can now read the pharmacy
signs on her own. Some women describe the thrill of
writing their own names for the first time and getting
help with lessons from their children. Another
expressed gratitude that, many years after her brother’s
death, she can finally read a letter he sent her.
In two years, more than 8,000 women have completed
the literacy program, which is administered by
Management Sciences for Health and the Afghan
Ministry of Public Health under the rural expansion of
Afghanistan’s community-based health care program.
More than 500 women have continued their training
through prerequisite classes for a midwifery program
and other healthcare fields with acute shortages of
female workers.
Learning for Life has not only sparked the women’s
enthusiasm, it has also earned the approval and support
of their families, neighbors, and village leaders.
Participants are allowed to progress at their own pace,
and approximately 90 percent complete the classes.
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