HER Initiative: Higher Education Response for Afghan Female Student

Children & youth

Mar 11

Written By Annikken Grieg Sæthre

Who: SAIH

What: HER Initiative: Higher Education Response for Afghan Female Student

Where: Afghanistan

Project period: 2024-2026

About the project

Together with SAIH, the Grieg Foundation is providing Afghan women with access to digital university courses. The project responds to the education ban for Afghan women and girls by providing access to digital higher education.

After the Taliban imposed a ban in 2022 that prevents all girls and women from receiving education beyond the 6th grade, Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that denies women this right. Despite this gender apartheid in education, there is a high demand and motivation among female students to continue studying.

Through this innovative project, 150 women will have access to digital university courses. In collaboration with the University of Stockholm and the University of Education Freiburg, SAIH offers accredited university courses in networking, App development, English language, and Finance. The courses are taught in English, Dari, and Pashto. The courses also prepare students for university education abroad if it becomes possible at a later date.

To ensure access for students living under very challenging conditions, the project facilitates access to the internet and electricity and provides laptops to the students who need them the most. The students will furthermore receive psychosocial support and mentoring.

SAIH will collaborate with partners to conduct research and produce knowledge that will inform advocacy on promoting access to higher education, academic freedom and women’s rights in Afghanistan.

The project builds on a pilot phase (2023-2024), funded by Grieg Foundation, and developed in collaboration with Ayesha Wolasmal.

About the organization

SAIH (The Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund) is a solidarity organization by and for students and academics and have worked for over 60 years to promote higher education and academic freedom as a human right. Together with activists, SAIH works with 44 member organizations, and more than 30 local partners in seven countries.

Through initiatives such as giving Afghan women the opportunity to continue their studies, they stand in solidarity with students and academics worldwide who face barriers to education and freedom. SAIH fights for everyone to have access to inclusive and quality higher education, with a firm belief in education for liberation.