Afghanistan Policy, Programs & Research: Centering Student Voices

This event convenes recently resettled Afghan university students who were displaced from their homes in the summer of 2021 when Kabul fell to the Taliban. The students speak about their experiences with higher education in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United States, the hardship they’ve faced, and their determination to still receive an education. It also brings them into dialogue with scholars, practitioners, and policy experts in the fields of forced migration, education in emergencies, and foreign policy. 

Policies, programs, and research relevant to Afghans and Afghanistan are especially mutable at the moment. The opportunity to inform changes is substantial. Yet, a key stakeholder group is often overlooked. While student voices are critically relevant to policy, they are typically drowned out in the sea of elite policy discourse. The research that informs policy also seldom includes youth perspectives. Therefore, this conference will center and amplify student voices before uniting them with those who regularly inform policy. The event concludes with a facilitated workshop for all participants to translate insights into action.

Jihae Cha, GSEHD assistant professor of international education, explained the conference was designed to give the students a platform to share their stories and recommendations for strengthening support for other Afghans in the diaspora and back at home.

The “Afghanistan Policy, Programs and Research: Centering Student Voices” full-day event was a collaboration among the Hollings Center for International Dialogue, Friends of the American University of Afghanistan, GW UNESCO Chair in International Education for Development housed within GW’s International Education Program, and GW’s Refugee Education Advancement Lab (REAL).

Read GW Today's article recapping the event >

Dr. Jihae Cha, Dr. Laura Engel, and former adjunct professor Dr. Kyle Long are quoted.