Education

Women Empowerment and Leadership is proud to announce Emelie Nordh completion of her internship at the WEL association under the direct supervision of Rita Anwari Sultani from Bond University International relation Law faculty. Emelie Nordh was WEL 27 intern which successfully completed 72 hours with the Women Empowerment and Leadership Association. WEL association would like to thank her for her outstanding work. Emelie began her internship with WEL at the beginning of this year and has achieved plenty during these 12 weeks. She was granted the wonderful opportunity to travel to the federal parliament house in Canberra – an enlightening and educational experience where she was able to witness the WEL team advocate for the women of Afghanistan. Furthermore, she has met prominent government officials, Milton Dick MP Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives which is a dream for any international student to become a reality. Emelie Nordh was given the incredible opportunity to fully coordinate one of WEL’s signature event “International Women’s Day ‘ voices of Afghan women At the Queensland parliament house on 11th of March 2023 She was MC for just over 100 guests including government officials parliamentary and the community leader. We would like to thank Emelie for her passionate spirit and excellent work, we wish her a great successful future ahead. We are looking forward to working with her in the near future.

Hosted by Jason Hunt MP, #Member for #Caloundra. She had the honour of talking about Women of #Afghanistan in the last 12 months and what they going through nowadays. She told the young school girls how privileged they are born in a country like Australia and have the freedom to be what they want to be. As we see on news those days women in #Afghanistan are not allowed to have the basic right which is education even not allowed to just go to the park for a simple walk. This is happing in the twenty-first century. If you have heart be the voice of Afghan women and hashtag #justiceforafghanwonen #openschoolforAfghsngirls

This week #Somaya Jan #Rahman and #Mayam Anwari Was invited to the Queensland Parliament by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Women, and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence the Hon Shannon Fentiman MP at the QLD parliament house. Both Girls were lucky enough to have coffee with the Minister and talk about their further as youth Parliamentary in near further. And they get the chance to meet with the Deputy Minister of Education as well. Thanks to Annastacia Palaszczuk MP government for building a strong safe community for our girls.

Women Empowerment and Leadership association stand and raise its voice against Domestic Violence. WHICH HAPPENING ON A DAILY BASE IN AFGHANISTAN WEL Director Rita Anwari Sultani had the pleasure to raise the voice of Afghan women and girls who have been held silent. She presents the history of higher education in Afghanistan. Which focused precisely on women and girls and the struggles that they have faced and the achievements that they have accomplished in the last 20 years. Part of her presentation: After the Taliban in 2001, the situation was getting better the acceptance of women and girls in society was getting higher and higher each day and the strategies government created about gender equality and the participation of women and girls in government completely changed the role of women in Afghanistan. Women and girls in this last decade in Afghanistan showed that they can be anything they want being a journalist or working on TV to being in government as a minister or MP. but Today after all these developments again darkness took over Afghanistan and the main victims of this darkness are women and girls, sadly enough that one more time we are witnessing the cruel and barbaric laws against girls going to school or work and their higher education. Even their physical appearance of what they should where there is no place in the current regime of Taliban for women and girls, but still, we can see how hard women and girls are trying to achieve their rights. For the world to see the cruelty of the Taliban and to help them fight back against this terroristic group. We would start the presentation by going to the first university of Afghanistan. History • Which was established in 1903 by King Nader Khan by the name of Kabul University. • After that King Amanullah khan, he expanded the Higher education system by connecting Afghanistan’s Higher Education system with European and other Asian countries. • There wasn’t any change in the higher education system After Amanullah khan. • With The soviet invasion and later civil war that happen Education system was going on in,1990 there were 14,600 students, of which 10,00 were in Kabul university and 60% were women. • By the early 1990s women equalled roughly 40% of the students in university. Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, schools were coeducational and women accounted for 70% of teachers, 50% of civil servants, and 40per cent of medical doctors. • After that when in Sep 1996 Taliban took the control of Kabul they completely ruined the Education system. • In 2001 with the help of international communities, the Afghan government developed strategies and action plans to bring women and girls back to universities and the government was initiated. 1996-to2001 Taliban’s era • During Taliban Girls and women weren’t allowed to attend school and universities and they were forced to stay home. • The percentage of women in Education and Higher education, and in government was 0%. • 50% of girls in Afghanistan were forced to get married at the age of 15. • Some reports show that even girls at the age of 10 were sold for 220 pounds of flour. • Women in Afghanistan were vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Government’s Performance • The changes that happened in 2001 created a pathway for the government to work on new strategies and plans and focused on the participation of women. • There were four strategies at the national level, and they were: • ANDS (Afghanistan National Development Strategies 2008-2010) • MDG (Millennium Development goals 2013-2018) • SDG (Sustainability development goals) • ANPDF (Afghanistan national peace and development framework) ANDS: (Afghanistan National Development strategies 2008-2010) It was focused on improving quantity and quality aspects to satisfy the demand for the market-based economy with skilled professionals. Areas that ANDS worked in Higher education were: A: Quality assurance and accreditation B: Increased faculty recruitment and higher education C: Development and upgrading D: Faculty research gender E: Gender equity F: Infrastructure improvement G: Institutional autonomy H: Information systems. MDG (Millennium development goals) Is an UN-based program to improve lives in developing countries this strategy was applied in Afghanistan from 2013 to 2018 strategy has 8 goals. And one of them is to promote gender equality and empower women which gives women and girls assess to go to universities and participate in social and political changes and activities. Especially in the field of higher education, this strategy helped more women and girls to apply to universities and even work in universities as teachers. SDG (Sustainability development goals) Is also and UN strategy for countries like Afghanistan this program has 17 goals. The program was organized based on the country’s needs. In Afghanistan, the focus was on Poverty, Gender Equality, and Quality Education. Part Gender Equality requires the participation of women and girls in every part and aspect of government. ANPDF (The Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework 2020-2025): ​Are national strategies that are focused on women’s and their socio-economic development and women’s economic empowerment, this strategy talks about how to ensure full access of women and girls to education, freedom from domestic violence, women’s empowerment, etc. • Another large program in Afghanistan was NHESP (National Higher Education Strategy Plan 2010-t0-2014) which worked on quality improvement and increasing access for both men and women, its two main goals were to improve quality and broaden access to higher education, with an emphasis on gender equity. • There were also precise strategies done by the Ministry of Higher education in coordination with the Ministry of women’s Affairs for involving women and girls in Higher education. • There was a higher Education Gender Strategy (2013) the ministry of higher education has developed an action plan to increase the number of female students and faculty. • A-pillar plan with this was the construction of boarding schools for women and girls, with the help of the US state department they construct three boarding schools the first one

Sara Luck started voluntary work with Women Empowerment and Leadership (WEL) association from May to November 2021. During this duration she gained a lot of experience in terms of communication, coordination, liaison, event management and social media. In particular, she support the administrative and record management of the Afghan Evacuation Support program that WEL organized. Following the voluntary work, WEL provided her with a certificate of appreciation for her tireless efforts during her work. The certificate was key in recognizing the skills and competencies she gained over the course of her volunteer work in WEL. She was able to join Denise Maxwell Solicitors after she concluded her assignment in WEL. They praised her for  her efforts and dedication during her volunteer work in WEL. She is now planning to start her own business. Therefore, WEL would like to wish her best of luck on her new journey.

Women empowerment and leadership has successfully kick-started their new project encouraging employers to bring new trainees to their organisation and enhancing the skills of the existing employees which will allow them to progress in their careers. The empowering of the community is growing for a better future and a strong economy. That’s what we do at the WEL association to build our community for a better future by great skill, education.