Founded in 2009, the AWWP acts to “support voices of women with the belief that to tell one’s story is a human right. Though it sounds simple, I cannot say how important this is in a country where women have been told their stories do not matter, and are urged to be silent“, explains AWWP Founder Masha Hamilton. Through various training opportunities, including reading salons and writing workshops, Afghan women gain the strength and confidence to take control of their lives and are able to narrate their experiences.
The School of Leadership Afghanistan aims to help Afghan women develop their intellectual and leadership potential. SOLA offers courses in Kabul for young women of high school age and provides scholarships for graduates to study abroad at leading schools around the world. A third component of SOLA’s work focuses on Afghan students who have pursued graduate level studies abroad. SOLA assists the women with job placement on their return to Afghanistan, helping them to enter leadership positions within the country’s public and private sectors.
Women’s Voices Now (WVN), founded by Leslie Sacks in 2010, is an online clearinghouse for women’s rights activists and supporters. What I love most is that, as an online forum, WVN connects the world in a visual and immediate way. Women whose voices were not heard are now speaking to a global audience, a truly amazing accomplishment. While watching Sacks speak on the organization’s website about the “guts and courage” of women in the Muslim World fighting for their rights, I am reminded of the Afghan women I have met in person and online over the past year and a half…
