Professor sakena yacoobi biography

Sakena Yacoobi

Afghan activist

Sakena Yacoobi (Persian: سکینه یعقوبی) is an Afghan activist known for her work for promoting access to education for women and children.[1][2][3] She is the founder and executive director of the women-led NGO Afghan Institute of Learning.[4] For her work, Yacoobi has received international recognition, including the 2013 Opus Prize,[5] the 2015 WISE Prize,[6] the 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education,[7] and an honorary degree from Princeton University.[8]

Biography

Born in Herat, Afghanistan, to a Shia family, Yacoobi moved to the United States in the 1970s, obtaining a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of the Pacific in 1977,[9] going on to gain a master's degree in public health from Loma Linda University.[10] Yacoobi worked as a professor and health consultant in Grosse Pointe, Michigan before returning to Afghanistan in 1990.[4] Following this, she worked with Afghan refugees in Pakistan and

Dr. SakenaYacoobi

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and health care that the Afghan people were facing after decades of war and strife. Since its founding, AIL has either directly or indirectly impacted the lives of millions of Afghans. Under her leadership, AIL continues as an innovative organization working at the grassroots level helping communities and individuals.

I pray for the day when the world sees more than the war - when they see the other side of Afghanistan. My vision for Afghanistan is of a free country, a society where everybody is educated.

Every single girl must be educated in Afghanistan - that is my dream. I don’t have a small dream. My vision is big, has been big and is going to remain big. I think that there is going to be a day that this country will rise up, and I am looking for that day.

-Dr. Sakena Yacoobi

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is a founder and Executive Director of Sakena Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization. She manages grantor and

World Justice Forum IV Speaker: Sakena Yacoobi

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the founder and executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), the Professor Sakena Yacoobi Private Hospital in Herat, and the Professor Sakena Yacoobi Private High Schools in Kabul and Herat, Afghanistan.

Under Sakena’s leadership,  AIL has established itself as a groundbreaking, visionary organization which works at the grassroots level and empowers women and communities to find ways to bring education, training  and health services  to women and children.  AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training to Afghan women and the first to open Women’s Learning Centers.    AIL supported 80 underground home schools for 3000 girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban closed girls’ schools  Using their grassroots strategies and holistic approach, over 10 million Afghans have benefited from AIL’s education and health programs since 1996. Sakena and AIL have received international recognition for their efforts on behalf of Afghan women and children.

Born in Herat, Afghanista

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