Explore the World and Discover it!

I went to school in Nangarhar province and was going to English and Math centers with facing many obstacles, resistance and challenges because of getting an education especially co-education as a woman. But I always considered these challenges as opportunities for growth, and for working harder and contributing more. I was facing many challenges, but those challenges made me stronger, that I vision bigger, and as a woman be in the highest leadership position, invest on the capacity building and leadership of youth especially women and be closely engaged with the communities, having grassroots level representation activating the communities and using the down to top approach. Even after the brutal attack on my university, the aim of which was to close the doors for education, we as the AUAF community came stronger, and I as a senior law student of AUAF from Afghanistan got the Emerging Young Leaders Award after the very brutal attack on my beloved university. This shows the strength of education, peace, and that we as a community are coming stronger, and are making Afghanistan and the world a peaceful community. I feel more committed after getting such a prestigious award as it was not only recognizing my efforts but also putting  a responsibility on my shoulders to be a role model for the youth around the world through the grass-root level efforts.

The more we globalize, the better we can transfer values from different cultures. We can build a strong network of young leaders to support each other, be involved in shared projects with one another and make significant changes possible in different parts of the world! I saw that we were coming from different parts of the world and were having many commonalities, sharing a common vision and responsibility for changes in the society, and we were using different approaches from technology to workshops to dance and food to social media for bringing peace, prosperity, equality, acceptance of each other and working for a peaceful world. Young women and men are making significant changes possible, they are the leaders and their contribution, leadership and involvement should be encouraged and welcomed!

Recognizing the achievements of  youth not only inspire these leaders to bring their projects to the next level or equipping them with the tools expertise and network, or building upon their confidence,  or connecting them to a very great network, or recognizing and rewarding their leadership in challenging environments or providing opportunity to experience life in different part of the world; it is also inspiration for youth around the world to be motivated, have visions, dream big, take actions, face barriers, never let the challenges bring them down but rather use the challenges as opportunities to be the change and make the change possible as responsible citizens.

I  am enthusiastic about expanding my projects to all over Afghanistan raising the leaders of the country, brining different ethnicities together and promoting ethic harmony, working closely with the communities, activating the communities, working for peace and stability and decreasing the school drop out rate. I see the future of Afghanistan very bright from 15-20 from now. I am sure about it and we will make it happen!

No matter where do we come from, there are connecting factors that connect us to have peace starting from food to Music and to different types of dances! We as youth should never stop making the world a great place, our contribution make the world how we want to see the future and the present, we are the leaders and the present and the future depend upon us so never let anyone let you down just because you are young, you are never too young not to be capable of anything in world, the amazing ideas you have just go for it and make it happen. Never let the thoughts of lack of resources be a barrier for you, very successful initiative started first not having enough resources, you can make things happen, just go for it! You are very a strong person, never let anything in the society bring you down, redefine the norms and redefine a new reality!  (This last paragraph is what different emerging young leaders do in their respective countries and I combined the work they are doing and their powerful visions in my own wording).

Gharsanay Amin

Co-founder of Youth Empowerment and Leadership Organization

Young Women Leadership Conference, and Afghan Girls Sustainable Education

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Gharsanay Amin as recognition of her work got the “Emerging Young Leader’s Award” in 2017 by the US State Department; the second Degree Promotion from the President of Afghanistan, H.E. Dr.Ashraf Ghani; and the Responsible Citizen Award by the H.E. First Lady of Afghanistan, Rula Ghani. She is the organizer of the Young Women Leadership Conference, which provides leadership workshops for girls ages 14-19. Successful conferences have been held in Kabul, Bamyan, and Nangarhar, Ghor, Samangan, and Heart provinces with more than 500 beneficiaries. She is the co-founder of the Global Youth Development Initiative where students are connected to professional and peer mentors from across the world for academic advising and international exposure. Gharsanay is the co-organizer of the first ever Model UN in Afghanistan. As the team ambassador in the Everywhere Everywoman Project, she has been a part of a team whose mission is to develop the first ever-international Treaty on Violence Against Women from 2015-2017. She is changing the hearts and minds of the Ulema through the Afghan Girls Sustainable Education project which aims to increase enrollment and decrease drop out rates. Over 100 Ulema, tribal leaders and elders representing 21 districts from all over Nangarhar province have participated and she plans additional workshops in Jalalabad and then Laghman Province. Gharsanay recently won the Enterprise for Peace Scholarship representing Afghanistan in the One Young World Summit, 2018. She also secured a scholarship for the Generation Change Fellowship which is a two years abroad fellowship by the United States Institute of Peace. She is a Global Youth Change Ambassador by the Roundtable Global. She is also an alumni of Philia Women Empowerment, a platform provided by AUAF. She with a team represented AUAF in Willem Vis Moot Court Competition in Kuwait and in Hong Kong (getting the runner up award which for the first time a team from Afghanistan made it to that level), in ICC (International Criminal Court) Moot Court Competition in Hague, Netherlands, in International Dispute Resolution Competition held in India, and in IIT Mumbai Debate Tournament in India. She was one of the Youth Leaders in Youth Leader’s Exchange with His Holliness the Dalai Lama discussing the issues of healing and resilience and how to support youth peace building, encourage exchange with each other and manage conflict with non-violent ways and to develop inner peace. She was representing Afghanistan in the 9th Ministerial Meeting in the USA, Community of Democracies Civil Society Conference. Gharsanay was also selected to attend the Women2Women International Leadership Conference in Boston in 2015. She is a graduate of AUAF with securing high honor and honor awards almost in all the semesters and is a successful finalist for the 2019-2020 Fulbright cohort for Master’s degree. She has been teaching assistant in two courses offered at AUAF namely the Informal dispute resolution class and in the University success class. She did research in the rule of law and development in Afghanistan with Stanford Professor, Mehdi Hakimi

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