The Afghan Project is a collaborative effort of the Oxford School for the Future of Journalism (OXSFJ) and LEARN Afghan to provide girls in Afghanistan the fundamental right to education following the Taliban ban on them accessing secondary and higher education.

LEARN, a non-profit organisation, provides education to girls in Afghanistan who are unable to access schools and gives them access to technological education through community schools in underserved and impoverished areas. In partnership with LEARN, the OXSFJ specifically holds weekly journalism classes to share knowledge and skills to Afghan girls who aspire to be journalists.

Under the scheme, girls aged 13-21 attend weekly online classes in English with OXSFJ’s instructor Sarah Hussain. The first cohort of students engaged in basic journalism lessons and are now writing stories for Harbingers’ Magazine.

Following a successful trial of the project in 2023, this unique partnership has expanded to allow more Afghan girls the opportunity to safely contribute to Harbingers’ Magazine and to have their stories seen and heard by young people across the world.

More than a dozen new students joined the project in 2024 – Sama (16), Nabila (17) Mahnaz (18), Asal (17), Nooshin (18), Atena (14), Somaya (16), Hadiyah (16), Mahwa (15), Lina (17), Aqlima (17), Saliha (17), Zala (17) and Ghutai (21), alongside LEARN tutors.

The OXSFJ and LEARN are also trialling a new idea of training LEARN tutors, with the aim of them sharing knowledge to non-English speaking students on the ground in Afghanistan, to scale up the impact and to help change as many Afghan girls’ lives as possible.

Due to safety and security concerns, given the current circumstances in Afghanistan, only the first names of the students are made public and sensitive information that could put them, their families or LEARN staff at risk, is withheld.