Participants from universities across Afghanistan were proud to present their institutional plans to their colleagues at a conference in Kabul from August 3 to 5.  The conference was the culmination of more than four years of hard work by faculty members to improve the learning environment for themselves and their students, supported by USAID’s Higher Education Project (HEP).

Afghan universities were shattered by decades of conflict and often were empty shells with no equipment, books, or electricity.  Students took exams outside and families were afraid to send girls to study because of lack of security.  The remaining faculty members were struggling and did not know how to build the capacity of the institutes they had kept going throughout the Taliban years.

USAID introduced institutional development teams (IDTs) at the universities, which helped faculty members to determine their own futures by learning how to request funding and make plans for changes in the university environment.  The changes have included buildings, professional development, the establishment of kindergartens, and sports facilities for students.

The conference in Kabul was the occasion for more than one hundred members of IDTs across the country to present their plans to their colleagues, share successes, and get mutual support.  They discussed how to present their development needs, build solid teams, and keep the progress going.  One participant said, “this conference is very important because it allowed us to meet colleagues from all over the country, some for the first time, we were able to share ideas, problems and solutions.”