Think Creative Issue 8

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Teacher Zahidullah Mohabat conducts class, using techniques and teaching materials from Afghan Children Read.

When you make the classroom like a playground and give students as much love as you give your own children, when you encourage them and speak to them kindly, how can they do anything but learn?”

-Zahidullah Mohabat

partnerships and new ways of doing business could prove to accelerate the region’s move towards inclu- sive, sustainable economic growth through intra-regional trade and two-way trade with the U.S. It also offers a model for reducing coun- tries’ reliance on inefficient import systems for food. In this way, the co-investment funds will reach qualified companies in West Africa at a critical moment, when the chance to not only recover but also to reimagine doing business has never been timelier. n the classroom like a playground and give students as much love as you give your own children, when you encourage them and speak to them kindly, how can they do anything but learn?” In her second-grade class, Rawasia flourishes with the support of teach- ers and family. “My grandfather helps me out with studies at home, and my teachers help me at school,” she says. “I help my little sister and brother so they can grow up and go to school too.” Outside of the schools, ACR engages with the communities through councils called school management shuras to build support for education locally and foster an environment of learning for the students. Lalzada is a member of the Benigah school management shura and stays engaged in school affairs, acting as an advocate and supporter of Rawasia and her classmates’ education. “I hope that in the future, all parents can help their children become as smart, bold and intelligent as my granddaughter,” he says. n

Community-based schools help girls like Rawasia have better access to education.

Opening doors to learning through community-based education

Afghanistan // Afghan Children Read

After school and the afternoon prayer, 8-year-old Rawasia heads home, where her grandfather Lalzada waits to lend a hand with her homework. “All of my children, boys and girls, are educated. I know the importance of education,” Lalzada says. “That is why I help all my grandchildren, so they can be educated and contrib- ute to our society.” In the family’s village in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, getting a quality education has been an uphill battle.

This has been particularly true for girls. They face cultural barriers to schooling — especially in more con- servative areas like Nangarhar — on top of the general fear parents have of letting their children walk too far to get to class. The Benigah community-based school has brought education closer to home. The USAID Afghan Children Read program currently works with more than 90 community-based schools like this one, which can help bridge

gaps in access to education. As with formal, government-run schools, the program provides teacher training, textbooks and lesson plans that reflect the most up-to-date, effective teaching techniques to improve the quality of education. Zahidullah Mohabat, a teacher at the Benigah school, says the trainings and teaching materials have helped his students excel and remain much more engaged in lessons. “I have made my class like a play- ground,” he says. “When you make

The COVID-19 rapid response has three objectives:

Given their findings, the National Survey’s writers encouraged policymakers to design stimulus packages with a gender-sensitive lens. Similarly, the project’s COVID-19 response and its wider goal of elevating women entre- preneurs inWest Africa are in line with the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP), an effort of the U.S. gov- ernment to reach 50 million women by 2025 through public-private partnerships and other government activities. Imagining a different future Despite new pressures, the Trade Hub’s ability to facilitate and pilot strategic public-private

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Overcoming disruptions in export- oriented supply chains Supporting domestic food security initiatives and preventing of job losses Scaling up production and service capabilities of companies engaged in COVID-19 response on a case-by-case basis

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Photos by JimHuylebroek

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