Empowering Girls in Afghanistan through Education

Join us as we come alongside our partner Sahar, to provide 500 girls in Afghanistan with an early marriage prevention program, empowering them to pursue their education.

Why Afghanistan?

Afghan girls and their families are demanding greater access to education in their war-torn country. Since the removal of the Taliban, millions of children have entered the school system—many for the first time. However, girls are still substantially under-represented among students flooding the Afghanistan education system.

According to recent data from the UN Population Fund, nearly 57% of girls in Afghanistan are married before the legal age of 16. Sahar’s schools in Balkh Province serve a mixture of cultural groups who all participate in the customs of early marriage for various reasons: bride prices, bringing money into poverty-stricken families, bride exchange, child engagement and “honor” situations. All of these practices contribute to girls dropping out before finishing secondary school.

Girls’ schools also continue to be targeted by violent extremists, and there continues to be a stigma against girls’ education in the country where the Taliban very recently outlawed education for girls.

ODW + Sahar

Our partner, Sahar, works to close the gender gap and get more girls in school by improving Afghan school capacity, training teachers, improving digital literacy, and implementing early marriage prevention programs.

Our second partnership with Sahar will support their Early Marriage Prevention Initiative among 500 secondary school age girls in the Balkh Province. This program will help decrease the instances of student dropouts due to early marriage by:

• Teaching the girls their rights under the law.
• Empowing them through leadership and self-esteem training so they can stand up for their legal rights.
• Encouraging students to communicate with their parents about the issue.
• Changing attitudes and perceptions about early marriage among the girls’ families and communities.
• Introducing them to female role models who can inspire their future goals.
• Helping Sahar learn the most effective interventions for preventing early marriage dropouts, in order to replicate these tools at other schools.

The program will indirectly impact more than 7,600 people, including family members of the girls directly impacted, community, religious and school leaders who engage in the curriculum with the girls, as well as other students at the school who will be exposed to the curriculum secondhand from the students and teachers involved.

Join us!

Join us and our partner Sahar to teach girls in Afghanistan about early marriage prevention so they can continue the education they need to pursue their dreams. One Day’s Wages will match your gift to this campaign up to $15,005, for a total grant of $30,010.