ThemissionofAILis to provide education, training and health services to vulnerable Afghans in order to foster self-reliance, critical thinking skills, and community participation throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) rebuilds education and health systems in Afghanistan using a holistic approach. AIL combines innovative education, healthcare with health education and quality training programs, and provides emergency and legal aid. AIL is mainly run by women, benefits all needy Afghan people, & seeks to help all Afghans rebuild their lives and society. With AIL's Mobile Literacy Education for Women and Girls, Afghan Women learn to read & write in 4 months.
How does your innovation work?
Teachers are given special training by AIL staff to conduct the mobile literacy classes. There are two teachers for each class. The literacy level of the students are tested before the class starts and at the end of the class to determine their literacy level. Afghan women and older girls study in a four-month program utilizing literacy books and texting over mobile phones of 2000 messages on such topics as health, peace, VAW, human rights, democracy, and core values. The Afghan women and girls will become more educated and have the ability to understand and access global concepts. The students will teach their family and friends how to use mobile phones and may teach them some literacy or the alphabet. The attitude of the students will change and the lives of their families and community will improve and the students will be encouraged to continue their studies. The attitudes of the community about the value of education for females will change to the positive and the distrust of cell phones used by females will greatly decrease.

There are no other classroom literacy programs for women and girls in Afghanistan that combine using a literacy text with texting over mobile phones and, in addition, has students becoming literate at the 4th grade level within 4 months. AIL’s program is unique in that it teaches life skills, core values and many other topics to the students and allows them to use critical thinking skills and their creativity in texting responses to their teacher’s questions. Students both write out their responses to questions in Dari and text them over their mobile phones. AIL is now working on a mobile phone app which will enhance the students’ literacy.

Teachers needed training in interactive teaching methods but now need to know about peace, leadership, health and human rights, democracy and elections so they can pass this onto their students. Literacy learning through texting on mobile phones accelerates learning so new mobile texting classes are in place. A few hours of instructions in pregnancy and childbirth saves lives so AIL set up an Expectant Mother Workshop program. AIL knows change in programming is constant to keep up with need and to utilize all resources and new ideas. AIL continues to change and utilize new ideas for ways to better serve the community and develop education, personal, and holistic growth.
With further funding, initially, AIL would like to increase teacher training for additional classes in other provinces in Afghanistan. AIL has already requested funding for increased funding from EXPO 2020. After reaching women and girls in Afghanistan, AIL plans to promote its solution for other countries using the concepts used by AIL. In other countries, the language and messages would need to be adapted by the basic concepts of the program are replicable.