After gaining power in Kandahar (1994) and Herat (1995), the Taliban seize power in Kabul. They immediately begin imposing a series of edicts restricting women’s and girls’ freedoms, including shuttering all education for females, barring women from employment, and banning women from leaving home unless accompanied by a male family member.

Canadian journalist Sally Armstrong publishes a groundbreaking article in Homemaker’s magazine following her travel to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Her article describes the horrific situation facing Afghan women and girls and prompts 9,000 concerned Canadians to write to the magazine. Among them are numerous future CW4WAfghan activists, members and chapter founders.

Photo (left): Article in Homemaker’s magazine, 1996

Canadian writer Deborah Ellis works to raise awareness of the situation in Afghanistan and creates an informal group called Women for Women in Afghanistan.

Soon after, Deborah travels to Pakistan and is impassioned by the stories of Afghan women refugees. Women for Women in Afghanistan is shifted to a national organization with the help of Janice Eisenhauer, first volunteer Executive Director, and Carolyn Reicher, first Board President. The group’s grounding principle: listen to Afghan women’s voices.

Women for Women in Afghanistan’s first chapter is formed in Calgary, Alberta.

Vancouver and Victoria Chapters are founded and the first community fundraising events are held for “secret” schools in Afghanistan.

Founding members participate in appeals to Canadian Ministers to put forward a UN resolution condemning the Taliban’s human rights abuses against women.

Photo (left): Co-founder Janice Eisenhauer, signing CW4WAfghan’s first organization by-laws in 1998.

2001

The chapter network grows! Volunteer Chapters are operating in Calgary, Toronto, Waterloo, Vancouver, Montreal, Victoria, and Oakville.

Deborah Ellis donates her first royalties from her award-winning novel “The Breadwinner” to CW4WAfghan. Over the next two decades, Deborah’s five-book Breadwinner series resulted in an incredible $2.5 Million in royalties to support CW4WAfghan’s programs.

Taliban rule ends.

The Bonn Agreement in December 2001 leads to the establishment of an interim government. The education system has been decimated and a single teacher training college remains, serving males only. 

2002

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs are created. For the first time in Afghanistan’s history, a female presidential candidate, Massouda Jalal, campaigns for the presidency.

Susan Bellan of Ontario conceptualizes the Breaking Bread potluck dinner fundraising program to raise money to pay female teachers’ salaries in Afghanistan.  The first Breaking Bread dinner is hosted in Toronto in June 2002. Over the next two years, nearly 400 Breaking Bread dinners would be held, raising $500,000. To date, Breaking Bread events continue to be an integral community-building and fundraising event.

Awards:

Women for Women Afghanistan founders and chapters are awarded YMCA Calgary Peace Award, Canada Women of Influence initiative, and Lauryn Oates, volunteer Vancouver Chapter Founder and Chair, is recognized by Chatelaine Magazine as Woman of the Year.

These are the first of dozens of awards received by CW4WAfghan over the next two decades. Click here to see awards and recognition highlights.

Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) is incorporated as a non-profit.

CW4WAfghan establishes a twenty-year relationship with Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan (PARSA). CW4WAfghan provides funding support for their award-winning community development programs and supports Afghan women’s livelihoods through the purchase of goods to be sold in Canada. 

With funding raised by CW4WAfghan, a women’s centre providing literacy,  health education, and vocational training is opened by Afghan Women’s Resource Centre in Kaz Villlage, Lagham. This would be one of many projects undertaken in partnership with AWRC over decades of partnership. 

CW4WAfghan begins funding operational costs of a girls’ orphanage in Kabul, serving 21 girls as young as age three. 

Women of Halton Action Movement hosts their first Dinner Party event, a fundraiser that would benefit CW4WAfghan annually over the following two decades.

A new Constitution is created for Afghanistan that includes non-discrimination on the basis of sex; the right to free, public education from primary through to tertiary levels; and a 25% quota for women’s representation in parliament.

The first democratic presidential elections are held in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government. Women come out in record numbers to vote at the polls, lining up as far as the eye can see. 

CW4WAfghan hired its first staff member in Kabul.

CW4WAfghan begins funding the Nazo Annah Library in Kabul and a women’s capacity-building program by the Afghan Women’s Network to promote women’s leadership and building peace.

CW4WAfghan begins funding the Fatema Tul Zahra (FTZ) School in Kabul in a partnership that would last the following 16 years.  CW4WAfghan donors covered all salaries including a headmaster, teaching principal, 22 teachers and after-school program instructors, a cook, cleaner, and guard. Our support also covered all educational materials, rental of the building, fuel for heat and cooking, uniforms and hot lunches, clothing, shoes, personal hygiene items, school supplies for the students, and more. Over the years, CW4WAfghan’s support would result in robust teacher development, school management processes, and expansion of the school to offer grades 1-12.

2005

CW4WAfgahn’s chapter network continues to grow with chapters located in Vancouver, Victoria,  Calgary, Kingston, Montreal, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, Regina, St. Thomas/London, Toronto, Waterloo, Winnipeg, and Whitehorse.

By 2005, CW4WAfghan had raised over $320,000 for the work of the Shuhada Organization, supporting projects such as a girls’ schools in Ghazni, Peshawar, and a nurses training program.

Afghanistan holds parliamentary and provincial council elections. Women win 28% of the seats in the lower house, exceeding the 25% constitutionally guaranteed quota.

2007

CW4WAfghan imports thousands of dollars worth of handicrafts made by Afghan women, purchased from the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre and other suppliers, to sell in Canada. To date, Afghan women-made products continue to be sold by chapters. 

Photo (left): At their annual Red Pashmina Walk, the Peterborough Chapter sells products made by Afghan women.

2008

CW4WAfghan opens its country office in Kabul.

 CW4WAfghan begins the Excel-erate Teacher Training project with funding from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  

CW4WAfghan funds the establishment of a women’s library in Herat and another women’s library at the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre in Kabul. Our finding supplies salaries, books, a records system, a digital database, and more. 

2009

CW4WAfghan becomes a Canadian federal charity and a registered NGO in Afghanistan. 

The second democratic presidential elections are held since the end of Taliban rule. 

CW4WAfghan sponsors the construction of the Sheikh Misry School in Nangarhar province, replacing tent classes with a new 12-room building serving 1,500 students. The $100,000 project is led by CW4WAfghan volunteer and donor of Calgary, Ash Khan, and his family. 

CW4WAfghan funds 50 women in Jalalabad to complete a Diploma in Information Technology, in partnership with the Afghan Women Welfare Department (AWWD), one of numerous projects undertaken with this Afghan women-led NGO.

CW4WAfghan’s Atlantic Chapter was formed in Pictou County. Over the next decade, the Atlantic chapter would expand to include several eastern provinces.

Photo (left): Tent classes in Nangarhar province before the Sheikh Misry School was built.

2010

CW4WAfghan’s office in Kabul moves into shared office space with the Canadian Embassy’s Project Support Unit (PSU). 

Murwarid Ziayee joins CW4WAfghan as the first Country Director in Afghanistan. 

CW4WAfghan funds a high school for Afghan girl refugees in Islamabad, Pakistan. 

CW4WAfghan hosts the first annual Teacher’ Best Practices conference in Kabul.

2011

CW4WAfghan opens the first village library: a concept that would come to inform our approach to literacy education, ensuring that literacy learners have access to relevant local language reading material by hosting classes inside libraries. 

Deborah Ellis travelled to Afghanistan with Janice Eisenhauer and Lauryn Oates. She interviewed young children and then wrote her next book in the Breadwinner Series, Kids of Kabul. 

The three-year Safelight/Fanoos Teacher Education Project commences with funding from the Government of Canada. 

The Afghan Songbook Project commences, funded for the following decade by CW4WAfghan. This project provides volumes of Afghan children’s songbooks and a new book of Afghan fables.

2012

At the initiative of the Kingston Chapter, CW4WAfghan launches the Shafia Fund scholarship program, providing financial assistance to female students pursuing higher education. To date, the Shafia Fund has awarded 229 scholarships to deserving Afghan women.

CW4WAfghan brings its team of Afghan master teacher trainers to Atlantic Canada for a month of professional development training. The teachers toured charter schools, universities, and education centres. They join CW4WAfghan members from across Canada for the annual symposium in Pictou County, NS, and meet teachers, students, school leaders, school administrators, and teacher educators to share their experiences as educators in Afghanistan.

CW4WAfghan funds couples’ literacy classes in Kabul in partnership with the Roqia Center. Husbands and wives learn how to read side by side.

2013

CW4WAfghan wins its first grant from the Canadian Embassy’s Canada Fund for Local Initiatives A total of five grants between 2013 and 2020 delivered educational initiatives in Kabul, Parwan, Nangarhar, Khost, Faryab, Badakhshan, Bamyan, Takhar, Laghman, Herat and Kandahar.

CW4WAfghan receives a two-year $625,000 grant from USAID and Linda Norgrove Foundation for Afghanistan Reads (AR!) community literacy and libraries program.  Nearly 5,000 women and girls aged 15+ graduated from the literacy classes, and hundreds of literacy teachers were trained in literacy pedagogy, andragogy, reading promotion, and basic librarianship.

Photo (left): A young girl reads a new book at an International Literacy Day celebration, Kabul Country Office, 2015

In 2014, after several years of conceptualization and development, CW4WAfghan launched Darakht-e Danesh Library (DDL): a free digital library of learning materials. Today, DDL has 7,000 resources offered in eight Afghan languages with tens of thousands of downloads each month.

CW4WAfghan funds scholarships for 175 women in Kandahar to attend training in English, communications, 

journalism and computing, implemented by the Kandahar Institute of Modern Studies (KIMS): one of many collaborations over the years with KIMS.

Presidential elections are held in Afghanistan. Insecurity intensifies as the Taliban aim to disrupt elections by aggressively attacking civilians in terrorist attacks throughout the country.

CW4WAfghan holds its annual symposium in Winnipeg, where members visit the newly opened Canadian Human Rights Museum, and hear from keynote speaker Melissa Fung.

Alberta Order of Excellence awarded to Janice Eisenhauer. Click here to see all CW4WAfghan awards and recognition.

Photo (left): Takhar Literacy Class

CW4WAfghan collaborates in a million-dollar project to deliver The Afghanistan Women’s Empowerment Program (AWEP), a project of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC). This program aimed to advance women’s empowerment by increasing the social and economic participation of women in 36 districts of Takhar, Baghlan, and Bamyan provinces of Afghanistan. CW4WAfghan’s role was to deliver literacy education to female beneficiaries in four districts of Takhar province, over a four-year period (2016-2020) drawing on its successful methods from the Afghanistan Reads! Program in delivering adult literacy classes for AWEP beneficiaries.

CW4WAfghan begins focusing on critical thinking education. With support from USAID through The Asia Foundation, CW4WAfghan develops curricular materials focused on critical thinking in education. Our work in this area continues to this day. 

The Afghan Ministry of Education recognizes the work of CW4WAfghan with a special award given in a ceremony to the country office staff in Kabul.  

Billboards advertising the Darakht-e Danesh Library are erected throughout Afghanistan. The Library begins to be featured regularly on national media in Afghanistan. Library user numbers start to rapidly expand.

Photo (left): FTZ students excitedly review exam results

The Afghanistan Reads! (AR!) Program is recognized as a Best Practice Honouree by the Library of Congress. 

CW4WAfghan continues to further build on our work in adult women’s literacy and develops and tests an innovative and evidence-based adult literacy curriculum, designed in collaboration with adult literacy expert and researcher Dr. Helen Abadzi. The results of the new curriculum were significant with literacy fluency being gained by students within six months. This work is the subject of a chapter in an edited volume, published 2023, and has also been profiled in our publications. 

The bestselling Breadwinner novel by Deborah Ellis is made into an animated film produced by Angelina Jolie.

CW4WAfghan develops a digital literacy curriculum for school students, with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, and pilots the curriculum in the Fatema tul Zahra (FTZ) girls’ school in Kabul.

The Darakht-e Danesh Library (DDL) interface becomes available in the Afghan minority languages of Nooristani, Uzbeki, Munji and Swaji. It is the first time content in the language of Munji is ever published on the Internet. 

CW4WAfghan funds the production, printing and distribution across Afghanistan of 12 bilingual children’s storybooks in Pashai and Pashto, published by Hoopoe Books. Today, our Darakht-e Danesh digital library continues to make available a variety of Hoopoe titles, among some 500+ other children’s storybooks in Afghan languages.

Presidential Citation from the American Library Association (ALA) for Innovative International Library Project is awarded to the Darakht-e Danesh Library.

Janice Eisenhauer retires as Executive Director, and Dr. Lauryn Oates takes on the role after serving as CW4WAfghan’s Project Director and Programs Director.

CW4WAfghan delivers literacy classes and teacher training in the remote Wakhan Corridor of Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan.

Photo (left): Teacher training class, Kabul

2019

CW4WAfghan enters into a $1.65 Million contract with Global Affairs Canada to deliver The Gender Equity in Teacher Training (GETT) Project to Improve Girls’ Education in Afghanistan. GETT works to alleviate the chronic shortage of qualified female teachers through innovative teacher professional development (face-to-face and online), and engaging college managers/instructors to adopt inclusive policies and practices. 

CW4WAfghan receives an award for best practices in the Afghanistan Reads! Program and for its support to the Ministry of Education and Literacy Directorate through effective programs aimed at eradicating illiteracy in Afghanistan.

2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CW4WAfghan develops the Learning Basket program, delivering printed storybooks and educational materials to Afghan homes.

The Doha Agreement is signed between the Taliban and the United States Government, ostensibly to end the conflict. It excludes the involvement and agreement of the Afghan Government, as well as the citizens of Afghanistan. Afghan women warn that their rights are compromised by the deal and their futures are now at risk.

Afghanistan Policy Dialogue (Advocacy) program is established in response to increased threats to women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan in the context of negotiations with the Taliban, at the signing of the Doha Agreement.

CW4WAfghan funds Afghan NGO Gahwara, to print a children’s book about the Coronavirus, in Dari, Pashto, and Uzbeki. 

CW4WAfghan creates an online courseware platform for Afghan teacher professional development, Darakht-e Danesh (DD) Courses. High-quality courses in a variety of subjects are developed and translated into Afghan languages and can be taken at a learner’s own pace, from anywhere.

By 2021, through various programs and initiatives, CW4WAfghan had trained over 10,000 teachers and established over 300 libraries and science labs. 

CW4WAfghan becomes an NGO in official partnership with UNESCO (consultative status) after collaborating on two projects with UNESCO that year: delivering programming to encourage Afghan girls to return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic and translating reading materials for Afghan persons with disabilities, thereby making Darakht-e Danesh Library one of the first Afghan libraries to offer audiobooks and accessible resources for children with disabilities.

August 2021

The fall of Afghanistan and the reoccupation of the Taliban. Hundreds of dissidents, government employees, Afghan army, activists, journalists and cultural figures have disappeared or are executed. Thousands more go into hiding and hundreds of thousands of Afghans evacuate the country.

The Taliban restricts girls from attending school beyond grade six in Afghanistan.

In response to the change of government, CW4WAfghan’s Advocacy program focuses on advocating for restoration of the right to education for girls and women in Afghanistan, for safe passage for those who wish to leave Afghanistan, for the evacuation of those at risk, for international educational opportunities, and for employment for Afghan women. 

Following the Fall of Kabul, CW4WAfghan redesigns the GETT Project (Gender Equity in Teacher Training to Improve Girls’ Education in Afghanistan) to serve exiled Afghan educators living in countries in the region (Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey) through distance education courses. With funding from Global Affairs Canada, CW4WAfghan develops and delivers courses including digital literacy, how to teach online, gender-based analysis, mental health, and reading essentials.

CW4WAfghan begins implementation of the “KIX” project: Networked Improvement Communities for School Leaders Towards Equity and Inclusion. This two-year project is administered by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and funded by Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The project is designed to be implemented in Afghanistan by CW4WAfghan, in Pakistan by Allama Iqbal Open University, and in Nepal by Kathmandu University, with technical leadership from the Open University UK, and management support from Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development, Inc. (FIT-ED) in the Philippines. Following a pause in August 2021, the project was moved to Pakistan.

CW4WAfghan adapts the Learning Basket program to include nutritious food staples, sanitation packages, and winterization supplies for families facing economic uncertainty due to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. This program is now called the Learning Plus Basket program.

Photo (left): Rally for Afghanistan in Vancouver, B.C.

2022

The Taliban ban women from attending higher education in Afghanistan.

Photo (left): CW4WAfghan’s Victoria Chapter hosts a Red Pashmina Walk to raise funds and support for the right to learn.

Darakht-e Danesh (DD) Classroom, a virtual secondary school, is launched in September 2022 and piloted with a class of seven students. DD Classroom expands in 2023 to include two cohorts of grade seven students, and two cohorts of grade eight students. Ultimately, DD Classroom will serve students of Afghan nationality from grades seven through 12, who will earn an internationally-recognized credential upon graduation.

A record 60 Shafia Fund scholarships are awarded to women in 2022.

2023

In response to the Taliban’s bans on basic and higher education for women and girls, CW4WAfghan launches the Remote Communication Assistance (RCA) program, connecting students, teachers, and grassroots organizations inside Afghanistan with connectivity and hardware to access virtual education opportunities. In its first year,  336 RCA grants were provided including laptops, internet packages, and power banks. 

The Taliban ban girls from attending school beyond grade three in some provinces. They close down teacher colleges throughout the country, dismissing 5600 faculty and staff. 

CW4WAfghan’s Advocacy Program is invited to deliver an oral statement at the UN on the importance of gender-equitable education in emergencies.

CW4WAfghan launches a new program: Safe Harbour: Protecting the Right to Learn through Resettlement. This program supports at-risk Afghan students and their families with resettlement support to come to Canada.

The Alliance for Women’s Education in Afghanistan is founded, and CW4WAfghan joins the Steering Committee alongside the American University for Afghanistan, UNHCR, and Education for Humanity. The inaugural members’ meeting is held in Doha, Qatar in June.

A new chapter is founded in Saskatoon. CW4WAfghan is supported by 10 wonderful and growing Chapters from coast-to-coast that continue to fundraise and rally for the right to learn: Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London, Peterborough, Toronto, Ottawa, and Atlantic.

CW4WAfghan provides a grant to Boum Books to print 8,000 books for distribution across Afghanistan: four children’s titles in each of Dari and Pashto.

CW4WAfghan is awarded a new grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for a project to test and research a new approach to the professional development of exiled Afghan teachers in Pakistan.

CW4WAfghan begins granting access to its learning management system (LMS) to other schools, organizations and learning entities delivering virtual education to Afghan women and girls, through its Third Parties program.

For a quarter of a century, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan has been a beacon of hope, championing education programs for Afghan women and girls. Everyone has the right to learn, and our commitment to this principle has fueled our efforts to break barriers and create opportunities.

To all those who have been steadfast supporters of our mission, we extend a heartfelt thank you. Your commitment has been instrumental in the success stories we celebrate today, and we look forward to continued collaboration in shaping a brighter future for generations to come.

On September 1, 2024, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan changed our name to Right to Learn Afghanistan!

With over 25 years’ of experience advancing education in Afghanistan, our new name more vividly reflects our longstanding mission to make the right to learn a reality for Afghan women and girls.

Learn more about this change