The Transform Education Newsletter

Dear Education Transformers,

It has been a long month, marked by crises across the world. The Taliban taking over in Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, the deterioration of Lebanon’s economy, and the alarming IPCC report being illustrated by wildfires across Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain and Italy. These crises put vulnerable persons at risk, and affect women and girls’ safety and access to education. 

While we come to the end of the month, it is critical that our collective efforts continue. Many different channels through which to support, have passed by on social media at high speed. We realise that this can be quite overwhelming and stop us from taking action. Please find below a list of resources, put together with help from Chalk Back. While this list is by no means complete, or tackles all crises affecting women and girls today, we hope it will give you some guidance.

Reading up on Afghanistan

Pashtana Durrani is the executive director of LEARNafghan, a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to providing quality education and building resources for women and youth in Afghanistan.

Listen to this interview with Durrani on NPR or read her interview in Passblue, where she discusses the current situation for women and girls.

For further reading on the Afghan context, Munazza Ebtikar has curated this digital archive.

Where to Donate

• Women for Afghan Women: Shelter, resources and aid.
• Women for Women International: Safe spaces, support networks, sponsorships.
• Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security: Humanitarian visas, emergency evacuation, safe houses.
• GoFundMe on behalf of Women's Regional Network: Protection and security of  women’s human rights defenders.
• GoFundMe organised by Afghan activist Samira Hamidi: Humanitarian aid to internally displaced people.
• Urgent Action Fund: Safety measures and relief efforts for Afghan women, girls, and gender nonbinary human rights defenders and activists.
• Madre Speaks: A partnership with networks of grassroots women's groups in Afghanistan and Haiti to get support where it's needed and prioritize the women and families most at risk.

Other ways to support

Women for Afghan Women has created a document with resources to support women in Afghanistan, that is kept up to date.

Reading up on Haiti

This Human Rights Watch article highlights the importance of adopting gender strategies for response efforts in Haiti. For further reading on the damage done to school buildings in Haiti, see UNICEF's assessment.

Where to Donate

• Madre Speaks: A partnership with networks of grassroots women's groups in Afghanistan and Haiti to get support where it's needed and prioritize the women and families most at risk.
• FOKAL: Distributes funds across grassroots organisations providing support to displaced communities and farmers.
• The Ayiti Community Trust: for grassroots organisations offering emergency relief, recovery and reconstruction.
• A list of trusted emergency responders for donations: Assembled and kept up to date by The Haiti Response Coalition.

Who to follow:

@KayFanm

@Marijan_Ayiti

@TheHaitianWomensCollective_

Reading up on Lebanon

Find out more about the economic collapse in Lebanon, and its effect on security, unrest and women’s rights.

• This article by FE-MALE highlights how it has become increasingly hard to get menstrual supplies due to the collapse of the Lebanese currency.  
• Check out this charter of demands by feminist activists and women’s rights organisations in Lebanon calling for a Gendered Disaster Response Plan.

Who to follow:

@Li_Haqqi

@Ai4Women

@HayatMirshad

We hope that you have the time to take care of yourself or another who needs it. As we stand in solidarity, and many of our members continue to do valuable work, practicing self and collective care is incredibly important to ensure our efforts are sustainable.

Education Transformer Shamah has assembled this playlist that may help with that!

In SolidariTEa,

Us

A last word on rest 💖.