Afghan Female Student Outreach

Description

Afghan Female Student Outreach (AFSO) was founded in Spring 2023 to address the emergency among Afghan university women who have been expelled from their undergraduate and graduate or professional programs. To alleviate widespread depression and desperation and begin preparing these women to take on positions of responsibility if and when Afghanistan’s government changes, ten professors from four universities in Connecticut developed a pilot program of non-credit university-level seminars and TESOL classes with a set of criteria: that students be recruited from across Afghanistan; that all instructors be college professors; that all classes be taught synchronously rather than as prerecorded lectures; that we accept all qualified students regardless of their level of English ability; and that we take all measures to safeguard the security and confidentiality of these young women. As of Fall 2023, we now have an executive director, an advisory board, and 15 professors on three continents teaching more than 100 university women, with a curriculum aimed at launching our students on their journey toward completing their education outside Afghanistan.