3
W
cation despite external forces requires perseverant, empowered people with the right
supplies and financial support to complete
their jobs. This approach to education always has been CAI’s greatest strength.
“It is difficult to work in these villages, yes. On any given day, men or nature can impact how we get people and
resources to these communities,” says
Dilshad Baig of CAI-Gilgit. “But I have
been these girls; I have been these women. I know what it is to be in their situation. They want to learn. We cannot afford to let this work slip, to let challenges
set back our progress. CAI has worked
too hard; the mission is too important.”
DRAMATIC CHANGES
MANAGEMENT
and vocational training. The best decisions
are made by capable, local CAI leaders
equipped with the necessary education and
information to help their communities.
FINGER ON THE PULSE IN UNCERTAIN
TIMES
The environment in which CAI strives
to provide education to all — especially
girls — today is just as hazardous, if not
more hazardous, than it has been in the
past 10 to 20 years. All of the brave students, teachers, and administrators who
choose to follow the path of peace through
education today truly are inspirational and
at the forefront of an ongoing movement
to create a better world. They are “peace
leaders” opening their countrymen and
women’s minds to the possibility of sustainable peace and economic prosperity
that only can grow in the fertile soil of literacy and education.
Tensions in Afghanistan are, sadly, increasing. Formerly picturesque mountain
roads that once allowed our CAI staff access
to bring about change in an impoverished
mountain village now are sometimes too
FALL 2015
dangerous to travel. Recent fighting in
the northern provinces of Kunduz and
Badakhshan has hindered our partners’
abilities to move around. Yet, it is not only
man-made complications that threaten
CAI-supported projects.
Earlier this year, northern Pakistan
was hit by a series of devastating floods.
Villages down long, narrow valleys like
Ghizer, Charpusan, and Broghil were cut
off from the rest of the world as torrents of
water barreled down mountainsides, taking bridges and roads with them. Children
couldn’t access their schools without walking miles down- or upstream to another
crossing. Sometimes even then, conditions
were too dangerous.
The United States Geological Survey
reported there were more than 130 earthquakes in Afghanistan this year alone.
Seismic activity is a constant threat to
structures and people located alongside
these major mountain ranges.
In these ever-changing, volatile environments, being flexible and nimble is
essential. Staying focused on sustaining
or accelerating the pace of progress in edu-
FOR
NGO
After months of strife over international
nongovernmental organizations’ (INGOs)
operations in Pakistan, the government
announced a new policy to regulate them.
The management of these matters has been
transferred from the economic affairs division to the interior ministry. Minister
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is charged with
overseeing the registration of INGOs via a
streamlined, electronic system. Registration
of visas, passports, and identity cards also
will be done through this system. It is believed that the policies will be instituted in
late 2015.
The United States
Geological Survey reported
there were a little more
than 130 earthquakes in
Afghanistan this year alone.
Implementation of these new rules and
regulations will significantly impact INGOs,
like CAI and many others, working directly