Sakena Yacoobi

Sakena Yacoobi was born in Herat, Afghanistan. She is the executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning. An NGO led by the women of the country that she founded in the year 1995.

 

source of picture: muslimvoices.org

Afghan Institute of Learning

This organization was found to provide the teacher training to the women of the country, so aid the educations for the the boys and the girls and also to supply health education for the women and the children of the country. Under the leadership of Sakena, AIL has brought itself to be seen as the groundbreaking, visionary organization that serves at the local level and empowers the women of the communities of the country to seek for ways to drive education and health services to the rural and the urban girls, women and other poor people and the disenfranchised members of the society. The organization aided 80 underground home schools for 300 girls in the country subsequent to the Taliban closed girls’ school in the 1990s. the organization was the first that opened the learning center for the women of the country. The organization has trained 10,000 teachers since it was founded.

Sakena Yacoobi

Born in Herat, Sakena came to the U.S in the 1970s and there she gained a bachelor’s degree in the biological science from the University of the Pacific. And she gained her master’s degree in public health from the Loma Linda University. Before going back to her country in the year 1990 to serve the people of her country, she was a professor at the D’Etre University as well as a health consultant. While she was working with the refugees in Pakistan, she authored and published eight teacher training guides in Dari language. At the period, she also worked as the agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) delegate working on the portion of education of the UN’s rehabilitation plans for the people of Afghanistan.

With the use of grassroots patterns and holistic method, AIL now serves 350,000 women and children every year via the training programs it ids giving to the people, the educational learning centers, the schools and the clinic in both Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Since the year 1996, more than 7,700,000 people of the country have had a good taste from the organization’s education and health programs.

Sakena is also co-founder and the vice president of the Creating Hope International, which is a Michigan based NPO. She is a member of the Board of Directores of the Global Fund for Women. Sakena is an advisor to Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation. Sakena is the advisor to Women’s Learning Patnership (WLP) and also she is a member of WLP’s Roaming Institute for Women’s Leadership. She is a member and a past steering committee member of the Agency Co-ordination Body for Afghani Relief.

Recognition

In toting to her work with AIL, Sakena has remained a panelist and speaker on education for ladies and children at variety of international conferences, as well as the Clinton global Initiative, California Governor’s Conference on women and Families, the Central Eurasian Studies Society conference at Harvard University, the One World Forum at Earl of Warwick University in England, Association for women in Development in Bangkok, and also the International Institute for Peace Education in South Korea, Turkey, Balkan country and Central American country. She has been instrumental in focusing attention on the urgent desire for women’s rights and education and health care in Afghanistan

Sakena and AIL have gained international recognition for their efforts on behalf of Afghan women and kids. In 2001, Sakena was awarded the Bill Graham award from the Rex Foundation in gratitude of the efforts of the Afghan Institute of learning to help kids UN agency square measure victims of political oppression and human rights violations. AIL and Dr. Yacoobi are the co-recipients of the 2003 Peacemakers in Action Award of the Tanenbaum Center for Inter-religious Understanding and also the 2004 Women’s Rights Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation. Sakena and AIL have gained  recognition of service awards from the Ministry of Education in herat, Afghanistan, the district governments of Mir Bacha Kot, Shakardara, Kalakan, Farza, and sixth district Kabul,  Afghanistan and from various Afghan organizations. In 2005, Prof. Yacoobi was bestowed the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy. Sakena was among the one thousand women appointed to collectively receive the 2005 altruist Peace Prize. In 2006, Sakena received the subject Leader Award from the University of the Pacific in Frank Stockton, California and also the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. In January 2007, Sakena was inducted as a Senior Fellow, the primary Ashoka Fellow from Asian country. In May 2007, Sakena was awarded associate degree unearned academic degree of laws by the University of the Pacific for her leadership and human rights work for women and kids. In Dec 2007, Sakena received the 2007 Gleitsman International Activist Award at Harvard University. In June 2008, Sakena received an honorary Doctor of Humanitarian Service degree from Loma Linda University, recognizing her distinguished contribution to society. In February 2009, Sakena received the 2009 Americans for UNFPA Board of Advocates Award for the Health and Dignity of women. Sakena was cited by Americans for UNPFA as a tireless advocate for Afghan women, World Health Organization has accrued the accomplishment and improved the health of thousands of Afghan women and girls despite decades of armed conflict and a ban on girls’ education throughout Taliban rule. In March 2009, Sakena was given the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership for her outstanding work. In 2010, Sakena received the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights, and also the Asia Social entrepreneur of the Year Award given by the Schwab Foundation. Yacoobi was one among the one thousand women worldwide that was jointly appointed for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She was elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2006, recognizing her leading work as a social enterpriser.  In 2007, Yacoobi received the Gleitsman International Activist Award from Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's JFK School of Government