PROVIDING A WORLD OF VOLUNTEERS TO AFGHAN WOMEN LEADERS 

Mentor Program Update: The Mentor Program is currently seeking women judges, prosecutors, and law professors to mentor their Afghan counterparts, helping them develop mastery in international law, women’s rights law, comparative criminal law, and understanding of complex English legal texts. We are also looking for dentist and doctor mentors, experienced language instructors in German, Polish, or French, and certified ESL/EFL instructors. 

The Mentor Program helps build the capacity of Afghan women leaders by offering live, long-distance, one-on-one mentoring relationships with certified ESL/EFL instructors and international professionals in their fields. The mentor and mentee meet weekly via free computer-to-computer phone and instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Zoom, and Signal. 

Our mentors have supported the careers of dozens of Afghan women professionals. One example is an Afghan woman senator who sought assistance understanding the legal and political terminology of pertinent international treaties and aid for her legislative efforts to increase the country’s penalty for rape. We have paired mentors with Afghan women attorneys who represent women in family law cases and with human rights/women’s rights attorneys who trained thousands of Afghan women on voting rights and educated judges and police officers on domestic violence laws. Other examples include US professors who mentored Afghan assistant law professors and lecturers, an English professor with experience translating medical textbooks who mentored an Afghan doctor in English medical terminology, and several US medical doctors who provided career mentoring to Afghan doctors.

Many mentees have, with their mentors’ guidance, increased their field expertise and English fluency sufficiently to obtain work in international organizations and scholarships for international post graduate education in their fields. Many mentees now hold LLMs and some are pursuing PhDs or JDs. Others had been elected to high positions, obtained government posts, or been promoted to leadership roles in international organizations. Our mentees have worked for prominent organizations including the UN, Oxfam, IDLO, the Max Planck Foundation, major universities, and the Republic government’s judicial system. 

To apply for the Mentor Program, please email the Volunteer Application as an attachment along with your resume to Gayle at gaylez@aiwr.org.