KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghanistan is recruiting its best and brightest students throughout the country to help teach others through a new USAID supported program called “Teach For Afghanistan”.

With support from USAID’s “Strengthening Education in Afghanistan-II project”, a new civil service organization called the “Teach For Afghanistan Organization” (TAO) was created to recruit and develop Afghanistan’s most promising graduates, or “Fellows”, to teach in high-needs schools around the country as part of a two-year commitment. The goal is to ensure all Afghan children are able to fulfill their potential through education. The Afghan program is based on the international “Teach For All” model.

“All of us at Teach For All are inspired by TAO’s deep commitment to developing a new generation of leaders in Afghanistan who will devote their efforts towards improving education and opportunity for children,” said Wendy Kopp, CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All. “We're excited about Teach For Afghanistan joining our global network and about the chance to contribute to its impact and learn from its innovations and successes."

The “Teach For Afghanistan” activity was launched in September 2016. Since that time, the organization has placed 80 Fellows in 21 high-need schools across four districts of Nangarhar province serving more than 23,000 students.

In April, Teach for All selected five Afghanistan Fellows (three female) for its Global Girls Fellowship program. The program focuses on understanding barriers to girls’ education and to build Fellows’ capacity and knowledge to find solutions.  This initiative, launched in April 2017, is a two-month online course for a small number of partners and plans to expand to a more extensive fellowship for a larger cohort in the fall. This is the first time that female fellows from Afghanistan were selected to the Global Girls Fellowship program.

“We are very proud to be associated with this program and its innovative approach to address the importance of education in these high-needs schools,” said USAID Mission Director Herbie Smith. “We are hopeful we can see more schools adopt the ‘Teach For Afghanistan’ approach and encourage more of the country best and brightest students helping others.”

With almost $17 billion spent on development programs in Afghanistan since 2002, USAID provides the largest bilateral civilian assistance program to Afghanistan. USAID partners with the government and people of Afghanistan to ensure economic growth led by the country’s private sector, to establish a democratic and capable state governed by the rule of law, and to provide basic health and education services for all Afghans.

• International fellowship selects participants from USAID supported “teach for Afghanistan” program (Dari)
• International fellowship selects participants from USAID supported “teach for Afghanistan” program (Pashto)