In 2025, International Scholar-in-Residence Pashtana Durrani, M.Ed., traveled to Japan, Thailand, Qatar, and Rwanda. But no matter where in the world she is, her mind is with the girls of Afghanistan.
Durrani is an Afghan human rights activist, education advocate, and the founder of LEARN Afghan, a grassroots organization providing education and healthcare to girls through innovative offline platforms. She is on a mission to educate as many girls as possible in Afghanistan, a country where they are not allowed to attend school beyond 6th grade.
“Because of WCW, LEARN is one of the largest organizations impacting girls and women in Afghanistan. We are impacting millions of people that UN agencies cannot.”
“This is what running a school in Afghanistan is right now: You have to do it underground—in someone’s basement, in backyards,” said Durrani at an event hosted by WCW in November called “Her Right to Learn: Educating Girls in Afghanistan.” “I do this work from the safety of WCW and Wellesley, but the teachers and students in Afghanistan show up physically to these spaces every day. These women are making it possible.”
In conversation with international development economist and LEARN board member Courtenay Cabot Venton, MSc, Durrani spoke about her father’s dedication to educating his daughters, how she was inspired to found LEARN, and her dreams for the future of the organization. With the closure of USAID programs and reduction in international funding in the education sector, she has been traveling the world, meeting with governments, philanthropic organizations, and academic institutions to build alliances that champion long-term investment in girls’ education in Afghanistan. WCW has provided her a home base.
“I found my sacred spiritual home at WCW,” she said. “Because of WCW, LEARN is one of the largest organizations impacting girls and women in Afghanistan. We are impacting millions of people that UN agencies cannot.”
LEARN’s impact is undeniable. Since its founding in 2018, it has reached 6 million learners via radio programs, 2 million through SIM card-based learning initiatives, and 5,300 girls in person across 24 provinces of Afghanistan. Behind the numbers are individual lives forever changed by access to education, which offers something invaluable: hope.
“When I am a mother, and when I have a daughter, I want to tell her I did my best so girls her age could go to school in my country,” said Durrani. “I want to do that for my mother, my father, and for the girls in Afghanistan right now.”
Watch a recording of the event on our website at wcwonline.org/HerRightToLearn
Pashtana Durrani (left) speaks with Courtenay Cabot Venton at the event “Her Right to Learn: Educating Girls in Afghanistan.”
Durrani was recently honored with the Ginetta Sagan Award, given by Amnesty International USA. The award recognizes and assists women who are working to protect the liberty and lives of women and children in areas where human rights violations are widespread. It is named after Ginetta Sagan, former honorary chair of the board of directors of Amnesty International USA, who devoted her life to defending the rights of those who were unfairly persecuted by repressive governments.
