understand information, manage finances, access services, navigate institutions and participate more fully in society.
What a School Means in a Conflict Zone
Early on in her career, Anh learned the critical importance of providing access to quality education for children living amid conflict and instability. In 2013, Anh took an assignment working on health and education in Afghanistan.
“ When you work on education in a conflict environment, it is a life-saving program. It keeps kids safe. Schools become safe spaces, providing children with normality and routine, which is really grounding for children living in conflict. And once they learn, you can’ t take that away from them. What is more sustainable than education? Once you teach a kid to read, you can’ t take that away.”— Anh Pham
The Ripple
The impact of this work extends far beyond test scores and graduation rates. Parents who once hesitated to send their daughters to school now encourage them to stay and succeed. Teachers who once worked with few resources become leaders in their communities. And villages that once had little access to education begin to build cultures where learning is expected, valued and passed from one generation to the next. Anh has seen those changes firsthand. Years ago, while working in Cambodia, she helped design a workforce development program for young people. As is often the case in the Foreign Service, she moved on to another post before seeing its long-term results.
That conviction is what Anh brought to CAI in 2025, when she became Director of International Programs, overseeing our education and women ' s economic empowerment portfolio. Her priority here is deceptively simple: making sure the more than 14,000 primary-level students CAI serves in Afghanistan and Pakistan are truly learning to read, write and do math.
Learning So That You Can Thrive
Anh also leads CAI ' s Women ' s Entrepreneurship Programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, which she views as the next step in the journey beyond foundational learning.
" There is learning for learning ' s sake, and there is learning so that you can thrive," she says. " Entrepreneurship programs help women put education into practice. Financial literacy, for example, gives them the confidence and skills to earn an income, build a business and become more independent."
She has seen that resilience firsthand. " My mom was always the one who managed the family budget. I don ' t know how my parents raised five children on so little. Women are incredibly resourceful. They find ways to stretch every dollar and make things work. When they ' re given formal financial and business training, they can accomplish extraordinary things."
It is a simple idea, and one that guides much of CAI ' s work: education creates opportunity, and opportunity creates choices. Together, they can change the trajectory of a life. A 4th grade student holds up her artwork in Badakhshan, Afghanistan
2026-2027 JOURNEY OF HOPE | 5