StayIN – Education is here to stay!

Experiences from a workshop for young Afghan women in Kabul

By Muneera Aman and Kai Pflug

In November 2023, MMO/StayIN conducted a workshop on time management and critical thinking in Kabul. The participants were 25 young Afghan women aged approximately 18 to 28, and the workshop was moderated by Zuhal Sherzad of MMO and presented by Kai Pflug of StayIN Germany. Muneera Aman was one of the organizers and workshop participants. In this post, Muneera and Kai exchange some of their experiences in conducting the workshop. Call it a mutual interview, if you want …

Kai:

Muneera, the MMO team asked me to do this workshop while I was in Kabul. Why do you think such workshops are important for young women in Afghanistan today?

Muneera:

From my perspective, this kind of workshop helps girls a lot. First of all, in this situation, it is hard to conduct this kind of workshop for girls. We need to make sure of the security issue and that the workshop helps them learn something. Conducting this type of workshop helps girls improve their soft skills. For instance, now females have more free time daily, and they don’t want to waste it without learning. I believe this will help them be more confident in sharing their opinions on such a topic with their friends or family. People think that this kind of workshop on the topic of soft skills would not help anyone, but these topics not only help individuals to build their confidence in these skills but also to share them with others.

Kai:

What was your general impression of the workshop?

Muneera:

In general, I couldn’t believe that so many girls would show up for the workshop, but it made me happy to see so many talented girls join the workshop and learn something. It motivates me to do more for girls when they are searching for education. The contribution of the girls in the workshop was overwhelming, and I liked how you covered the topics and brought up some critical thinking questions to give them some space to speak.

Muneera:

How was your impression seeing a group of Afghan girls join such a program in that situation?

Kai:

Generally, it was very positive – the girls were all very attentive, eager to learn, asked good questions, and made me feel appreciated. It is much more inspiring for a presenter to have this kind of audience than a group of bored middle-aged corporate clients (though to be fair, these clients pay me for my work, so I should not be too negative about them πŸ˜Š). Overall, I am amazed at how optimistic and motivated these girls are given the very difficult situation of these girls. This applies even more to the organizers of the workshop – girls in exactly the same difficult situation who do not only care about their own education but also of that of their fellow girls. 

Muneera:

Was there any specific strategy that you employed to connect with the participants?

Kai:

 I don’t think I employed a strategy that was extremely specific to connect with the participants in this workshop – partly because I am still in the process of understanding their mindset and background. However, there are several ways (maybe strategies is too big a word) I typically use in workshops such as this one. First of all, I try to give examples from my own experience and working style, as otherwise some of the advice can seem rather abstract and dull. Second, I try to use humor, though I am well aware that my sense of humor is a bit weird and may not be well adapted to the audience (sometimes I suspect I employ humor more for my own sake than for that of the audience). Third, I deliberately try to speak a bit more slowly (and loudly) than I might with an audience of native speakers, as I am worried the English of some of the participants may not be that good.

Kai:

As a male presenter from a Western cultural background, I am sure the way I conducted the workshop was not ideal for participants. What could I improve if I do such a workshop again with a similar audience and topic?

Muneera:

From my point of view, as an Afghan, I like to see a collaborative environment in such workshops. For instance, in many workshops, we begin with the introduction of participants to build a connection with them. The introduction of all the participants would not take more than 15 minutes, and it helped them learn about each other and the presenter. I suggest that, as a Western male presenter, you have to build trust and show friendliness. As I know, it is hard, but it will help you attract the audience’s attention so they can share their opinions and ideas comfortably.

Kai:

Thank you very much for pointing this out – you are right that I neglected this aspect, probably because in my paid work doing workshops for and with companies these trust-building issues are regarded as less important and may even be regarded as a waste of time by my clients. But now that I know, I will give more space to this in future workshops.

Kai:

From your own perspective, was there anything particularly interesting that you learned from the workshop – and also, was there something that you felt was rather useless?

Muneera:

Sure, I learned good things from the workshop. The topics were covered perfectly, and the reactions of many participants were good. I liked being in the workshop; some parts were familiar to me from university, but for some participants, these topics were new, and it attracted them a lot. Moreover, I liked listening to time management topics and critical thinking. Furthermore, I didn’t remember the exact scenario, but there was an example about ice cream that asked the participants to critically think, and that was good to give them a clear understanding of the concept. I am thinking of that moment, but there is no part where I felt it was useless or not worth hearing.

Kai:

Yes, that is a rather nice example explaining the difference between causation and correlation. In summer, there are more shark attacks in the USA and there is a much higher consumption of ice cream. But of course, a critical thinker will consider whether one causes the other or not – is it really that sharks prefer to attack people who have just eaten ice cream? The real explanation is that in summer, there are both more people swimming (thus allowing sharks to attack them) and more people eating ice cream – so both phenomena have the same root cause (warmer weather in summer), rather than one causing the other.

Kai:

At the end of the workshop, every participant was given a certificate attesting to their workshop attendance. That surprised me a bit. Are such certificates important for the attendants of such workshops?

Yes, it is essential to give certificates to the participants in Afghanistan. I don’t know about Western programs and how they deal with it, but here it is an important part of a program or workshop. Firstly, to appreciate their presence in the program. As in this time when it is hard to go out and speak loudly about girls’ education, this kind of certificate appreciates their bravery and encourages them to join more such programs. Moreover, the second reason might be proof of attending such a workshop and adding that to their curriculum vitae. 

Kai: 

Given the overall positive feedback, we are now thinking of doing more such workshops. In your personal opinion, which three or four topics would be the most important ones to cover in future workshops?

Muneera:

There are many topics we could cover in future workshops, such as grant writing, email writing, and essay writing. I know this is a massive area, but writing an email professionally is important. Moreover, project management is how we can manage a project in our daily professional or personal lives.

Muneera, Kai:

Thank you!

Originally posted 2024-03-16 17:45:47.