(1967). Human Resources Development and Manpower Utilization in Afghanistan. This report, prepared by a labor economist and manpower specialist after about seven weeks of observation and consultation, aims to evaluate the extensive USAID (United States Agency for International Development) Mission education and training activities in relation to a realistic view of the current and future manpower needs in Afghanistan, and to determine what steps should be taken for this purpose. The introduction and list of specific proposals are followed by a general discussion of: (1) the Afghan setting; (2) the primacy of agriculture; (3) comments on the education system; (4) literacy and language; (5) middle level skills; (6) the Kabul University; (7) initiative and enterprise; (8) womanpower; (9) manpower planning; (10) a Human Resource Development program; (11) the labor market, occupations, and the wage structure. [Not available in hardcopy due to marginal legibility of original copy.] (AMM)… [PDF]
(1993). Disability Information & Awareness: Afghanistan. Version 2.2. This report focuses on a project in Afghanistan that coordinates the efforts of several agencies to develop community-directed disability, rehabilitation, and education services. The program stresses community mobilization aided by skills transfer from expatriate specialists, and includes physical therapy, prosthetics, living skills and mobility training for blind participants, vocational rehabilitation, and social integration. This report focuses specifically on the informational content of the project, designed to generate disability awareness and dissemination of information, and on project activities geared toward training community organizers who can involve participating communities in identifying their own resources and setting up necessary services. The idea of regional Disability Resource Centers, with participation by associations of disabled Afghans and caregivers, is developed. An annotated bibliography of approximately 100 items lists materials on disability service… [PDF]
(2007). Reaching the Underserved: Complementary Models of Effective Schooling. Academy for Educational Development Many countries that have undergone expansion of access to public education still face significant disparities in school enrollment and attendance rates at sub-national levels, and fail to reach a high proportion of children who are outside of the government system. Completion and student learning have also continued to be system-wide challenges that many Ministries of Education struggle to address. Educational Policy, Systems Development, and Management (EQUIP2) identified nine case examples of complementary, community-based approaches to schooling from around the world, and developed a research methodology for analyzing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of those models. Data were gathered on student enrollment, completion and learning, management, governance, organization, costs and financing. Cases demonstrate that complementary education programs can provide a unique and critical role to addressing Education for All (EFA) goals, particularly for disadvantaged and… [PDF]
(2008). On-Line, Off-Campus but in the Flow: Learning from Peers in Development Studies. Australasian Journal of Peer Learning, v1 Article 8 p61-69. Development workers studying at the graduate level benefit from exposure to the great variety of cultures and worldviews. In the Australian National University's Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (MAAPD) program, peer learning is giving current and future development workers in the field and in the classroom the chance to exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas that bring theory into sharp relief. The program offers flexible and blended delivery options, and has recently focused on using online discussions to nurture the exchanges among on-and off-campus students. Students working alone in development settings as diverse as remote Australia, East Timor, Egypt or Afghanistan can thus interact with their peers in the program to compare their day-to-day experiences of social development, conflict, justice, exploitation, gender or environmental issues, as they attempt to apply theory to practice. Using survey feedback from MAAPD students, this paper examines… [PDF]
(2002). Food and Education in the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. Final Proceedings Report: AIA-NGO-WFP-CAII Workshop (Islamabad, Pakistan, February 17-20, 2002). The civil war and desperate humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has severely limited human capacity development over the past 23 years. Human development indicators for Afghanistan are among the worst in the world, and the fighting has deprived more than a generation of even a basic education. To support and build on the indigenous early efforts to bring education back to life, private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and local Afghan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have continued to work on the ground in that country over many years currently offer the most logical avenue for initial external assistance in education. A workshop held in February 2002 sought to address the need for the Afghan Interim Authority (AIA), donors, and PVO/NGOs to establish direct dialogue mechanisms to improve coordination for the new official school year. The workshop was also designed to address the changed circumstance of the PVO/NGO community that now must develop working relationships with… [PDF]
(2009). Islam, Western Education and the Riddle of Human Rights. College Quarterly, v12 n4 Fall. Relations between Islam and the West have seldom been easy. Enmities and resentments date back centuries. So do cultural contacts, economic ties and periods of relative cooperation. Today, however, nothing symbolizes that unsteady and often tense relationship more than the events of 11 September, 2001 and the bloodshed that has followed in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the cities of London, Madrid and elsewhere. The attitudes and actions of both sides have important consequences for citizens not only in Islamic countries but also in the West. They present especially serious trials for educators, both in principle and in practice. For other citizens, the purported clash of civilizations brings up questions concerning the very Western values that are said to be in jeopardy. This article is intended to describe some of the background to the riddle of human rights as it affects Islam and the West, and to open the discussion of political principles to a consideration of the… [PDF]
(2004). If You Believe in Faith: An Interview with Afghanistan's Minister of Higher Education. Academe, v90 n5 p31-33 Sept-Oct. New construction springs up like hope in Afghanistan's capital: rampant, haphazard, and, too often, quick to deteriorate in Kabul's harsh climate. But one closely watched building project has come to symbolize so much–the renovation of the bombed-out, abandoned women's dormitories at Kabul University. When completed, they will house two thousand of the first female university students in nearly a decade. Girls and women were barred from schools by the Taliban, the faction that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Just east of the construction site, Sharif Fayez, the country's minister of higher education, arrives each day for work at a bunker-like building, passing Kalashnikov-wielding guards and a metal detector to get to his office. Fayez, a former Afghan expatriate with a PhD in English literature from the University of Arizona, has faced his share of challenges during his two-and-a half-year tenure as a cabinet minister in Afghanistan's interim government. In this interview,…
(2013). Linking Recognition Practices and National Qualifications Frameworks: International Benchmarking of Experiences and Strategies on the Recognition, Validation and Accreditation (RVA) of Non-Formal and Informal Learning. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning This publication is the outcome of the international conference organized by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in collaboration with the Centre for Validation of Prior Learning at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, and in partnership with the French National Commission for UNESCO that was held in Hamburg in March 2010 with participants (experts and officials) from governmental organisations from more than twenty UNESCO Member States in all regions of the world. The reports contained in this book demonstrate the many ways that recognition, validation, and accreditation of prior learning can help to make lifelong learning for all a reality. The concept of lifelong learning has become a vital component in developing and utilizing human potential and capabilities. Lifelong learning covers the full range of learning opportunities, from early childhood through school to higher and further education. Qualification systems across the globe are generally… [PDF]
(2006). Meeting EFA: How Do Complementary Models Meet the Education Needs of Underserved Populations in Developing Countries? Issues Brief. Academy for Educational Development This issues brief describes how complementary education approaches that rely on community, nongovernmental, and ministry collaboration present a promising response to the challenge to the limitations of conventional primary schooling. The brief is based on nine case studies of successful complementary education programs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mali, and Zambia, demonstrating that such approaches can effectively reach and educate otherwise underserved populations in various geographical, political, and social contexts…. [PDF]
(1973). Project Afghanistan: Undergraduates in Dynamic Cross-Cultural Experiment. International Educational and Cultural Exchange, 8, 4, 14-20, Spr 73. …
(2004). \To Veil the Threat of Terror\: Afghan Women and the Quarterly Journal of Speech, v90 n3 p285-306 Aug. This article explores the role of widely circulated images of Afghan people in building public support for the 2001-2002 U.S. war with Afghanistan. Emphasizing images of women, I argue that these representations participate in the more general category of \the clash of civilizations,\ which constitutes a verbal and a visual ideograph linked to the idea of the \white man's burden.\ Through the construction of binary oppositions of self and Other, the evocation of a paternalistic stance toward the women of Afghanistan, and the figuration of modernity as liberation, these images participate in a set of justifications for war that contradicts the actual motives for the war. These contradictions have a number of implications for democratic deliberation and public life during wartime…. [Direct]
(1981). The Afghani. Fact Sheet Series #5. As an introduction to Afghani refugees in the United States, this report discusses various aspects of Afghani life both in the U.S. and Afghanistan. Within the discussion of Afghani cultural background, Afghani history, geography, livelihood, language, ethnicity, religion, art, food and dress, festivities, names, and social structure are reviewed. The section on education reveals that modern education has not yet had a wide-spread impact in Afghanistan. A review of the Afghani languages of Pashto and Dari points to possible problems for the Afghani English as a second language student. Issues covered are: (1) the pronunciation of consonants, (2) the pronunciation of vowels, (3) articles, (4) basic word order, and (5) modification of verbs. Based on this review of Afghani culture and language, implications for refugee orientation are discussed. (JK)… [PDF]
(2001). Afghanistan's Children Speak to the UN Special Session, September 19-21, 2001. This publication presents translated messages from children in Afghanistan presented at a special session of the United Nations in September 2001. Compiled and funded by The Save the Children Alliance members working for Afghanistan, the booklet begins with the text of Articles 12 and 13 relating to participation of The Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children's spoken or written messages translated from Dori or Pashtu follow and relate to participation at home and in their country, survival in the midst of war, the need for protection, and the need for opportunities to promote their own development. The children's messages are accompanied by their drawings and by photographs of the children themselves. The final section of the publication describes a Children's Consultation Kit, developed to assist adults in communicating more effectively with Afghan children; the kit was piloted among groups of Afghan refugee children in Peshawar, Pakistan during January and February 2001,… [PDF]
(2008). Cost, Convenience Drive Veterans' College Choices. Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n46 pA1 Jul. When Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, introduced his "21st-Century GI Bill" last year, he predicted that it would give veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the same educational opportunities that World War II veterans received under the original GI Bill of Rights, signed into law more than a half century ago. Webb's bill, which was signed into law late last month, will provide military personnel and recent veterans with enough aid to attend the most expensive public college in their states. Supporters say it has the potential to significantly expand college access for veterans and to increase their ranks at traditional four-year institutions. However, recent enrollment trends and interviews with veterans suggest that cost is not the only factor keeping today's troops out of nonprofit, four-year institutions. Many veterans prefer community colleges and for-profit institutions because they are more convenient and cater to their needs. Those trends, coupled… [Direct]
(2008). ROTC Seeks to Expand on Campuses, and Colleges Cope with a Conflict. Chronicle of Higher Education, v55 n10 pA30 Oct. With its forces stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is looking to significantly expand the number of Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs on college campuses for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which led the Army to close more than 80 programs. At the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and other colleges that have applied for a program, the effort is being celebrated by cadets but criticized by faculty members and students who oppose the military's exclusion of openly gay service members. The Army's expansion effort stems from the Pentagon's request for the officer-training corps to produce 4,500 second lieutenants each year, a 15-percent increase over its annual quota four years ago. That target will rise to 5,350 in 2011. This year, ROTC produced 4,300 lieutenants, more than in 2007 but still short of its quota. That shortfall has the training corps looking for ways to produce more lieutenants, including adding 15 to 20… [Direct]