The Workshop of the International Conference on Afghan Women's Education (ICAWE), co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia serves as a testament to the ongoing commitment to advancing education opportunities for Afghan women, recognizing the pivotal role education plays in fostering personal growth, professional development, and societal progress. The Workshop concluded its sessions in Doha, with several recommendations, including the need for a thorough analysis to understand whether the ban on girls' education in Afghanistan is cultural, religious or systematic. It also emphasized the need to work on lifting the ban through engagement with local communities, granting the Afghan people an active role in decision-making processes, as well as prioritizing a comprehensive approach over external lobbying. The recommendations also included the need for dialogue with national government bodies to integrate and support community-based education, the presentation of successful case studies emphasizing the impact of this type of education on marginalized regions, advocating the establishment of innovative funds accessible to local education partners, and strengthening cooperation with the private sector, particularly Afghan businesses, to create a skilled workforce. The recommendations emphasized the need to develop initiatives to improve computer literacy among Afghans, considering the skills gap, integrate digital literacy programs into the education system, emphasize that technology is a temporary tool that should not replace physical access to education, and ensure that digital solutions do not compromise girls' access to education. Distinguished Workshop participants included HE the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Rina Amiri; HE Director of Asian Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Yousef Sultan Laram; HE Director for South and Central Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Jatmiko Prasetyo; the CEO and co-founder of the Digital Citizen Fund, Roya Mahboob; the Secretary General of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, Andreas Stefansson; HE former Minister of Education of Afghanistan, Rangina Hamidi; HE Swedish Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Johan Ndisi; and the Director of the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Dr. Ghassan Elkahlout. The workshop, organized by the Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, provided a platform for in-depth discussions, exchange of best practices and development of strategies to empower women's education. The workshop aimed at identifying the challenges, advocating for international support, facilitating knowledge-sharing and making recommendations to improve Afghan women's education sector. The workshop included four thematic sessions to encourage active participation and in-depth discussion, focusing on formal education, informal community-based education, funding and global partnership for financing education and digital solutions for education. Afghan, Arab and Indonesian experts, scholars, activists and politicians from various governmental, non-governmental, international and academic organizations participated in the workshop, which guaranteed comprehensive discussions leading to concrete and tangible recommendations. All of these findings were discussed during the first day of the Doha Forum conference during the "Education for Her, Progress for All: Reconstruction of Education for Women in Afghanistan" session. Following the success of the first ICAWE in Bali 2022 and the gathering of high-level attendees from more than 45 countries to find solutions for Afghan women's education, the second edition is planned to take place in 2024 in Doha, Qatar.
Source: Qatar News Agency