A collaborative programme with the UK’s Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) and Mosaic Afghanistan—now rebranded as “Mosaic Global Foundation”—empowering vulnerable girls deprived of education in Afghanistan
Background
Since 2001, millions of girls and women in Afghanistan have cultivated a sense of responsibility towards the country’s rebuilding through education, despite numerous flaws and shortcomings. However, following the Taliban’s retaking of power in August 2021, girls and women were stripped of their educational rights and opportunities. Despite these immense challenges, they have seized every possible opportunity to educate themselves and others, recognising the critical importance of education. They understand the importance of providing young people with access to education and training to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to secure their future and livelihoods, contributing to global progress and combating the misinformation and disinformation propagated by the Taliban.
Challenges: Marginalised youth face barriers to building a better future
Girls and women in Afghanistan find themselves out of school, deprived of university education, and barred from job opportunities, casting a shadow of hopelessness over their futures. The harsh stance of the Taliban has created an environment where their dreams and ambitions are shattered at every turn. In addition, young men and women face the risk of mass radicalisation aided by the Taliban’s strategy of establishing thousands of madrassas.
The vibrant voices and talents of women, which once contributed significantly to the country’s cultural and intellectual fabric, are being systematically silenced. Silence prevails in classrooms that once echoed with the curiosity and enthusiasm of young girls. This unwelcoming scenario not only threatens the individual futures of millions of girls and women in Afghanistan but also imperils the progress and development of the entire country.
Opportunities: A partnership to create citizens and global citizens to make a difference
Mosaic Global Foundation and the TBI are implementing the Generation Global (Gen G) programme in Afghanistan. Facilitated by Mosaic, over 30 teachers and staff from an underground Kabul school participated in online sessions during the holy month of Ramadan in 2024, demonstrating their commitment to education by joining the programme while fasting. The method consists of initial “Training of Trainers” (ToT) sessions, and the trained teachers and staff would train our underground school student (girls between the ages of 13 to 18).
After completing their training with Gen G, the teachers and staff received certificates.
Objectives: Gen G aims to develop citizens and global citizens through intercultural dialogue by bridging global to local and vice versa (glocal)
Our shared goal is to support young people in engaging with diversity and pluralism, and in navigating global challenges in relation to local ones. The targeted population, young people aged 13 to 18, gains knowledge, skills, and attitudes to become active and open-minded citizens. The Gen G programme employs a dialogue approach to equip them with the skills required to become both active and global citizens. To become so, they should be equipped with essential faculties such as “active listening,” “critical thinking,” “reflection,” and the ability to “ask questions”.
Following their training, the teachers shared their newfound knowledge and cascaded the knowledge both in-person and online. To date, more than 500 students have been trained.
Teachers organised students into small groups in different classes, encouraging them to share ideas within a set timeframe, which fostered active participation and reflection on the exchanged ideas. Students were prompted to identify how they learned about specific issues and categorise their information sources. This process helped students examine their perspectives and experiences, prepare for conversations, analyse subjects from diverse viewpoints, and express their ideas through dialogue.
One teacher shared her experience: “Students were taught to evaluate news sources and identify and categorise key questions critically, such as ‘Why?’, ‘How?’ and ‘For what purpose?’ By focusing on these keywords and phrases, students better understood information and scrutinised the reliability and intentions of various news sources.”
One of the significant challenges faced by girls is the strict enforcement of Sharia Law by the Taliban, their version of it, and different ways of comprehending Islam. To counter that, we encouraged critical thinking among students. Teachers used practical examples targeting the Taliban laws and policies. Another teacher shared her insights: “Students discussed issues like early marriage, education barriers, and the dangers faced by women in Afghanistan. They shared personal testimonies and proposed logical solutions to these problems.”
Empowering Youth: The opportunities offered by Generation Global
Gen G emphasises intercultural dialogue as key to fostering meaningful connections and enabling young people to engage genuinely as global citizens. The programme offers a platform and organises video conferences, allowing young people to practice these skills and gain insights into different cultures, perspectives, and worldviews through interactions with peers worldwide.
Gen G first launched in 2009 and has since expanded to over 40 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. It has supported over 570,000 young people and trained more than 15,000 teachers in the skills of intercultural dialogue. Gen G’s online community offers a safe space for learning about and discussing contemporary global issues, including climate change, women’s and girls’ rights, human rights, and countering hate speech. The programme also provides free, flexible teaching resources on various global topics and offers comprehensive training for educators to support their students’ development as global citizens.
It is worth mentioning that now Gen G has found a new institutional home for itself. As of early 2025, the programme has started transitioning from the Tony Blair Institute to the International Baccalaureate (IB), a global leader in education. This strategic acquisition aligns with our shared mission of empowering young people globally with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to become active and internationally minded learners. For more information on this acquisition, please read more here.
Youth Dialogue Impact: Effective and enduring impact originates from a devoted team — Testimonies
Since completing their training, teachers have eagerly anticipated introducing the programme to young women in Afghanistan. “We need to broaden our minds to gain global awareness and use this knowledge for our personal and community development, and even as global citizens,” one teacher remarked.
In an environment rife with hopelessness and inequality, another teacher reflected on the training, saying, “We learned to identify problems and persist in our dreams, starting to find solutions instead of giving up.”
One standout moment came from a student in Afghanistan who shared their reflections: “I asked about the experience of my peers from the climate change and almost all of them answered my question, which was really sad because of the problems that are made by climate change around the world. In addition, the innovative actions that my peers and their communities have taken to stop climate crisis are all very inspiring.”
After participating in the virtual dialogues, a student from Afghanistan shared, “As my first time to participate in a video conference and talking about important topics such as Civic Participation, I enjoyed it very much and it was so interesting to me. In this video conference, I had the opportunity to listen, talk, ask questions, and receive feedback from my peers. I had a great time with my peers from different parts of the world fostering mutual understanding and worldview.”
At Mosaic, we hope to continue our work and collaboration with General Global, who are now an integral part of the International Baccalaureate (IB), and look forward to expanding the coverage of youth dialogue in Afghanistan and later in Central Asia.