As a senior instructor, Abdullah Kakar, Head of Research and a Senior Public Policy Instructor at the Afghanistan Civil Service Institute (ACSI), is responsible for training more than 4,000 civil service employees in Kabul and 12,000 civil service employees in the provinces on topics such as public policy, strategic planning, and good governance.  Recently, Mr. Kakar was teaching a course on public policy to senior Afghan government officials when he received a surprise visit from President Hamid Karzai.  President Karzai sat in on part of the training session and asked him questions about the importance of public policy in Afghanistan.

As Mr. Kakar recounts, “The President entered my class and asked, ‘What are you teaching to these top public managers?’  I said, ‘Public policy.’  He said, ‘Look, I am your student, and I am sitting here on the chair.  Please teach me about public policy.’  When I explained using a PowerPoint presentation and answered his questions, he said, ‘Your presentation convinced me perfectly’ and shook my hands warmly.”

Mr. Kakar, who is also a student in the USAID Master’s in Public Policy and Administration program at Kabul University, is already applying the knowledge and skills that he learned in graduate school in his job as a senior trainer with the Afghan Government.  He uses interactive teaching methods and has translated many of his MPPA course materials into Dari.  These adaptations make the materials more accessible to civil service employees in the ministries and district offices.  Mr. Kakar believes that education and learning are the keys to developing a professional and competent Afghan Civil Service that can meet the needs of Afghan people.