Programs

Central Asia Institute has many projects that support our mission to promote education and literacy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

School Buildings
The process undertaken to build new schools or improve on existing structures is one that requires an invitation from the local community and 2-4 years of pre-planning with the village elders, tribal chiefs, military commanders, Islamic clerics and government officials influential in the area. CAI is often the only organization (government, international, or local) supporting local initiatives in several of the underserved areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Each project involves local people in all phases: initiation, implementation and evaluation. A committee of elders and experts guide these phases to completion. This includes the community matching CAI project funds (for skilled labor and materials) with equal amounts of local resources (wood, land and sand, etc.) and sweat equity (free or subsidized labor). Such commitment ensures the project’s viability and long term success. Once the school has been completed, furnished and stocked with supplies, CAI remains connected to the people providing support until such time that the village can sustain the school’s costs on its own.

Scholarships
Central Asia Institute awards primary, secondary, and advanced education scholarships. When students graduate from their village primary school, they are left with no further structured education. Students interested in furthering their studies in a larger town, but who are financially incapable of doing so, can apply through the local CAI project manager for a scholarship. Scholarships include room, board, tuition, school supplies, textbooks, uniforms, and travel to and from school. The advanced education scholarships generally support teacher training, midwifery training, or animal husbandry.

Case Study: Aziza
Infant mortality and birthing mortality is extremely high in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. For example, in remote Charpusan Valley of northern Pakistan, there are around 2,000 people in 8 villages. Prior to the late 1990’s, this valley had no health care of any kind. Every year, 3-5 women died in childbirth. With approximately $1,000, Aziza—from Zuudkhaan village, was able to attend maternal health care training in Gilgit in 1998-1999. Since Aziza has returned to the Zuudkhaan village, as the first health care worker in the area, not one woman has died in childbirth.

Teachers
The most important step to establish education in a remote village is to have community participation and a dedicated local teacher. There is very little government or outside organization support for teachers in the regions CAI serves. The few teachers who taught prior to 1993 were mostly volunteers. CAI has been able to make a profound difference simply by providing stable salaries. Due to the significant problem of few highly qualified teachers in the region, CAI selects a local educated person - even if their education is limited - and puts that individual through intensive teacher training workshops over a period of several years.

Hiring a local teacher ensures community involvement and investment in their children’s education, and the teacher also has his/her own community ties and personal reasons to stay in the area. This process has had excellent results.

Public Health
In conjunction with girls’ school projects, 5-10% of CAI’s total overseas resources are devoted to critical needs including public health and environmental sustainability. In developing countries, one of the main causes of death in children under five is the basic lack of clean water. The children that do survive the ill-effects of water-borne diseases often suffer from stunted growth and development. In Pakistan’s remote Braldu valley, one out of three children born dies before age one. Clean drinking water and sanitation have profound benefits to communities, families and especially the growing child.

Women’s Centers
Central Asia Institute often sets up one double-sized room in each school. This room may function as a ‘community center’ in the evening and during the long, harsh winter months. For women, a community center is an especially important place where they can gather, resolve problems and learn vocational training skills. A sewing machine and materials can be bought and delivered to a village for around $40. Within a year or two, that woman can be independently earning income from her handicrafts and clothing. As she learns sustainable skills to help support her family, the local economy is also stimulated, and the women are empowered in a society where their opportunities are limited.