Past Initiatives
Herat Earthquake Relief
Thanks to our kind donors, Nooristan Foundation raised $4,000 for Herat Earthquake Emergency Relief. In partnership with Afghan Relief whose team is on the ground in Afghanistan, the following supplies were distributed and helped 65 families in need: large tents, blankets, food, water, water storage in the following villages:
Kasri Sharin - 8 tents
Kalae Saido - 5 tents
Sand Sapid - 7 tents
Astikhwan Chal - 3 tents
Chasma Ahmad Biland - 4 tents
Kalae Ghazi Paaen - 3 tents
Kalae Ghazi Bala - 5 tents
Jagda Paaen - 6 tents
Gazi - 2 tents
Kariz Naw - 6 tents
Naw Khan - 4 tents
Kariz Mori - 12 tents
Thank you once again for your generous donation which helped make a direct impact to many families affected by the devastating earthquake.
2023 Winter Relief Campaign
Over $6,200 was raised for our Winter Relief Campaign in under two weeks!
Our original goal was to raise $5,200 to help 104 children in our "Enlighten A Mind" program in Afghanistan to survive this harsh winter. These children come from impoverished homes with either one parent, a disabled parent or no income.
With your kind contributions, 130 families were given: large bag of charcoal, large bag of rice, bottle of cooking oil, and a winter blanket.
“Brighter Future” Campaign
Educational opportunities are extraordinarily limited in many provinces of Afghanistan. As a result, children often live without access to necessities such as electricity and educational opportunities. As cycles of conflict have shown, education and basic economic development are needed for sustainable peace. Basic micro-hydro systems can meet the need for electricity in remote villages at a low cost. When electricity becomes available to villages, literacy rates will rise as children and their families will be able to study by light, and schools and homes can be heated. Access to books, along with literacy programs, improves poverty.
In 2014, the Foundation launched the “Brighter Future” campaign through which micro-hydro equipment purchased locally was transported to remote villages in Afghanistan. From 2014 to 2019, the campaign helped seven villages, representing approximately 500 families, to access electricity and positively impacted their lives.
The concept was simple: Micro-hydro equipment was provided, communities donate the land, and the local people are part of the installation and maintenance.
Aid and development projects are most effective when the basic needs of the people are first met. Consistent access to clean water, viable and sustainable sources of electricity and education comprise the foundation of successful development programs.
For comparatively low levels of funding ($3,000-$5,000 per village), resources were provided that changed the lives of people immediately. One villager commented, “I don’t know how we lived in the dark before this program helped our village.”
Entrepreneurship Training for Women
Nooristan Foundation has supported women’s entrepreneurship as the organization believes that women need to be given the tools for self-sufficiency. NF worked with its implementing partner, PARSA, and in 2012 launched a project called “Trade Afghan” that addressed challenges in women’s businesses such as product development, quality control, and marketing.
NF provided total funding of $40,000 USD over two years to train 40 women, many of whom were widows, over a one-year period. Twenty (20) women were selected for the tailoring program, who were selected from mothers who had to give their children to orphanages because they could not support them. Both groups of women were provided with basic literacy training.
Nooristan funding contributed to PARSA's capacity to develop "earning and learning programs" for their participating beneficiaries for four years. In 2012-2013 PARSA has used Nooristan funding to establish programs at Marastoon and in the suburb of Dashti-Barchi that we can replicate in other communities. In our Nooristan program this year we doubled the number of women we promised to serve to 40. Of those 40 women, 32 are continuing to earn income after the program has been completed.
Tailoring
The tailoring program worked with trainees to produce simple products that they could sell in the domestic market. Trainees earned money for every piece they sewed during their one-year-long training period. The program trainers prepared the women to work in a cooperative or to work on their own producing and selling products for which they already have buyers. Highly talented trainees were selected as trainers for the organization PARSA in the second year of the program.
Agriculture
In an urban setting, there is a high demand for skilled women gardeners, either as trainers or in settings that cater to women only. The ten women from Baghe Daoud IDP camp received training, during which time they received a monthly stipend, as well as vegetables from the gardens that they are worked in. At the end of the program, the women were able to sell their vegetables to PARSA’s Afghan Garden Kitchen in the Marastoon areas of Kabul, as well as the Friday Bazaar.
Literacy Program
The program included basic literacy, as well as numeracy training since both groups were being encouraged to become businesswomen. This reinforced and strengthened their functional skill.
After completion of the first year, there was an employment rate of 70% of the women who participated and they either became full-time employees of PARSA or started their own businesses making around $60-$200 USD a month. Products from the women's work were qualified through the “Trade Afghan” product development program, creating a long-term demand for the products made. In addition, several women were selected to expand the program by becoming trainers for other women in addition to their employment or other earnings.
In 2013, NF expanded the program to support this model for empowering widows and their families through a similar program that was implemented in Bamiyan Province. Bamiyan Province was selected because many of the women in the IDP camp had come from Bamiyan. By providing the program in their home province, it allowed the women and their families to gain skills and income in their local community. NF provided a budget of $20,000 to PARSA to implement the project in Bamiyan Province.
“Nooristan Foundation was responsible for supporting our "earning while learning" methodology, which we are now replicating. Nooristan also has contributed to PARSA's capacity to expand and serve the community because PARSA is now able to not only support former trainees as producers for PARSA, but also able to promise to pay the new trainees through sales of the products we have designed for the program and found a steady market for. The most promising outcome from the Nooristan program is that our former trainees are now seeking and finding additional markets outside of the PARSA marketing and sales of their product. In this outcome, we find that this program is truly creating a sustainable and long-lasting result in the lives of the women.” Marnie Gustavson, PARSA Executive Director.
Children attending the Pasigam Village School, which was the first primary school for boys and girls in the area.
Village School
Nooristan Foundation’s first project in 1999 was to provide books and educational supplies, as well as teacher salaries, to several schools in Nooristan Province. From 2010-2011, the Foundation provided teacher salaries to the Pasigam Village School.
Teacher Training
Nooristan Foundation believes that education is the foundation for economic development and progress in Afghanistan. Since teachers are the conduits of education, training them is one of the most effective ways to build peace and stability.
For decades, Afghanistan had a strong cadre of talented teachers and the country's universities were magnets for education in Central Asia. Even though the pool of trained teachers was drained after many years of conflict since 2002 increasing numbers of schools and learning centers are being re-opened or established. Of particular importance is the fact that there continues to be significant progress in the number of girls and women returning to school.
Nooristan Teacher Training
For the first time after decades of war, several teachers in Nooristan had the opportunity to attend teacher training programs in Kabul through the Afghan Institute of Learning in 2011. This connection of need to the resource was made between Nooristan Foundation Board member Mariam Atash at the Bush Institute conference in 2010 with AIL founder Sakeena Yaqoobi.
Nine teachers were sent to Kabul to attend skills-building workshops conducted by AIL and returned to their province to train other teachers. AIL provided a scholarship for the course and Nooristan Foundation provided the cost of transportation, accommodations, and a stipend for meals for the three-week period that the teachers stayed in Kabul.
Kandahar Teacher Training
Nooristan Foundation, through a partnership with the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), supported the training for several teachers from Kandahar province in 2012. The training was designed to provide teachers with new insights into the possibilities for curriculum development and approaches to help guide their students to further their skills and potential.
Since Nooristan Foundation believes in leveraging resources, it selected AIL to implement the training and sent several teachers from Kandahar to Kabul to attend AIL’s program. AIL is headed by award-winning humanitarian activist Sakeena Yaquoubi, whose organization has provided teacher training programs in Afghanistan and for refugee women in Pakistan since 1996. AIL has refined its program to meet the unique needs of Afghan teachers and continues to add new material and approaches to its curriculum.
Women in Kandahar were greatly affected under the Taliban regime and are eager to learn and to teach new skills. The teachers who participated in the AIL program went back to Kandahar and used their knowledge to train other teachers using the materials they receive from AIL. This "train the trainer" approach helped to multiply the effort to share knowledge and will encourage other teachers to pursue further training. It also helped to improve the educational experience of young girls in their classrooms and provide them with role models in their communities.
Midwives learn new skills in the training program
Midwife Training
Nooristan Foundation supported a successful midwife training program in Takhar province in partnership with the Marigold Foundation and a matching grant of $20,000 from the late Doris Buffet’s Sunshine Lady Foundation.
New Beginnings Program
Girls and boys received children’s bicycles at Baghe Daud
Nooristan Foundation implemented a “New Beginnings” program at the Baghe Daud IDP camp outside of Kabul from 2007-2010. Due to dire humanitarian needs, NF provided funds for emergency food relief for these internally displaced families.
To implement the project, NF had a partnership with the organization PARSA. Through PARSA, the Foundation was able to provide literacy training for approximately 60 women at Baghe Daud, as well as uniforms, shoes, backpacks, and umbrellas to 25 young girls so they could attend the area school.
In 2011, bicycles were allocated to each family, with two children’s bikes and one adult bike given per family. The goal was to provide a way for children to reach school and an adult family member to reach work and school.