Journey Of Hope - Fall 2018 Journey of Hope 2018 | Page 5

Why update Central Asia Institute’s
Vision and Mission?
By Asif Chaudhry, Chair of the Board of Directors, and James Thaden, Executive Director
The external environment in which we work has become more
complicated and difficult to service. The intensifying of the war
in Afghanistan and the hardening of U.S.-Pakistan relations pose
new challenges of access to the regions we serve and threaten the
security of our in-country partners, teachers, and students.
The fundraising environment in the U.S. has also changed. As
described on page 24, the recent adjustments made to the U.S.
charitable-giving tax law are adversely impacting individual donor
giving to all nonprofits. Additionally, the U.S. government, and
other western governments, are reducing foreign aid to the regions
in which we work, even as demand for our services is increasing.
Negative attitudes toward Muslims have also impacted our external
fundraising environment.
Facing these very significant headwinds, CAI decided to re-
calibrate its strategy. This resulted in a narrowing and intensifying
of the focus of CAI’s efforts to build upon the solid foundation of
our core competency — educating and promoting the livelihoods
of girls and women in remote regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan,
and Tajikistan.
By adjusting the focus of our efforts to more closely align
with our capacity to source adequate funding for these efforts,
we will optimize the positive, measurable social impact of our
important work.
Q & A WITH THE BOARD CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR:
Beneficiaries and supporters worked closely with CAI to update
the organization’s new vision and mission statements. Ideas were
exchanged, positions were challenged, and hard decisions were made
before settling on the final language. However, we realize not everyone
was privy to all of these discussions. So, we want to take a moment to
share some of the questions that emerged during this process.
Q: Jack Steck — These are big changes Q: Allan Morales — In light of recent
from the 2015 statement, in that any progress made by the Taliban and now
possibility of support for boys’ education ISIS, do you feel confident the government
is clearly missing on purpose. Might that of those countries will not be overrun by
limit CAI in some areas where they might them and no longer allow your programs
otherwise make an impact by including and institutions to continue?
a few boys in the plan?
A:
Girls are still often overlooked
when it comes to access to education and
opportunities for a high-school level or more
advanced education. Males will remain
approximately 30-35 percent of our total
beneficiaries but, the fact is, there are other
sources of opportunity for males. Not so
much for girls. In the long term, parity of
education opportunity for girls and boys is
our goal. Why? Because unlocking the full
potential of girls and women is an essential
ingredient in increasing the quality of life in
remote regions of Central Asia.
FALL 2018
A:
This is an important question.
We grapple with the impact of violence in
Afghanistan each and every day. The safety
of our in-country partners — employees, vol-
unteers, teachers, and students — is our first
concern. However, our partners working on
the front lines don’t want to concede ground
to militants who oppose education.
You are right that the violence in
Afghanistan does not look like it will be
stopping any time soon. Nevertheless,
throughout the entire CAI network we all
fervently believe that education is the sur-
est path to peace. Consequently, our efforts
today are focused on providing capital
projects and education programs in the 56
percent of Afghanistan where the central
government has a high degree of continued
control. In the 30 percent of the country that
is contested, we limit our support to educa-
tional programs with a low public profile —
homeschools, in-home trainings, etc. — to
avoid notice by militants. These programs
are continuously reviewed in terms of their
ongoing viability and security. Finally, in
the 14 percent of Afghanistan where insur-
gents are in complete control, CAI is looking
at ways to provide innovative educational
programs without having physical access to
beneficiaries. We are very seriously evalu-
ating using radio and TV stations to broad-
cast educational programming throughout
Afghanistan; especially in those regions
where access to education is being denied to
girls and women.
Many International NGOs (INGO) and
government foreign-aid providers have
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