AFGHANISTAN: At UVa, Afghan Women Learn Ins, Outs of Democracy

A program hosted by the University of Virginia is teaching Afghan women about the nuts and bolts of American democracy, in the hopes that they'll bolster democracy in their home country.

The three-week program includes a mix of job-shadowing and speakers. It's aimed at women who are in leadership roles in Afghanistan, but not at the absolute top of government.

“I think right now [the creation of functioning democracy] is going to have to start with kind of the middle, those people like we have now. … The top of the government is not always square, and I think the people [at] the very bottom, are just trying to get by,” said Daman Irby, director of operations at UVa's Center for Politics.

“So … it'll take some of everybody, but I think it'll take people like this, people in the system who … do have influence, to try to begin to effect change,” he said.

That change will not come overnight, Irby said.

“[Participants have an opportunity to effect change] more so than a lot of other people in Afghan society, if only for the fact that they're already in these very top-down bureaucratic positions,” said Sepideah Mohsenian, education exchange coordinator with Relief International. “They already have that going for them. They're not in the process of working to get there. They already have a say and a voice in a very real way. And it's not just top-down. We only have one member of a nongovernmental organization this term, but hopefully next term we'll have more. We're teaching these skills and exposing these people to various top-down and bottom-up organizing methods.”

Karima Salik is director of women's affairs for the city of Kabul. She has worked in government for more than two decades.

“We saw the development in your country,” she said. “It was fruitful. We had a lot of time to exchange ideas, to exchange what we have in Afghanistan and what you have here.”

The women are job shadowing at the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, the Rutherford Institute and the Virginia Organizing Project, where organizers hope participants will see the inner workings of the rule of law and civic engagement in this country.

Participants enjoy the historic sites they get to visit, but are mostly focused on learning, Mohsenian said. “I think, just because of where they've come from — these aren't teenagers, they're not college students, they're ministers in Afghanistan — they're really here to learn, and to listen to people.”

The women have met or will meet with staff from Children, Youth and Family Services, Hope Community Center and the Albemarle County Public Schools, among others, and are hearing from a wide variety of speakers. Speakers include VirginiaAttorney GeneralKen Cuccinelli, a federal judge and a state Supreme Court justice.

“We hear from a speaker that gives us some kind of idea what it is, then we come and see it … here and work with it,” participant Zuhra Rahimi said.

Wazhma Abdul Rahimzai, who works for the Women & Children Legal Research Foundation in Afghanistan, said that she had found the program useful and hopes to take ideas she has learned back to Afghanistan.

She said educating young people will be the key to Afghanistan's future.

“They have the capacity to learn, to exchange experiences, to work for Afghanistan,” she said.

The rule of law is still “sketchy” even in Kabul, where it is perhaps strongest, according to Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institute. Property disputes are among the most problematic issues, he wrote in an email.

“Often shura [council] justice is better or more attainable than formal justice. Where even that is absent, the Taliban have an opening,” he wrote.

John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said the women have been interested and engaged while at the Rutherford Institute.

Some of the women are exploring the idea of creating a group similar to the Rutherford Institute in their home country, and of creating simple brochures to explain Afghans' rights to them.

“Most people in Afghanistan don't know their rights, not that Americans all know their rights,” Irby said. “But most people in Afghanistan are clueless as to the constitution. Many might not even know it exists.”

Rahimi said she was here for cultural exchange more than to change the Afghan system.

Still, after she finishes up with college (she's a law student while working for the Ministry of Justice), she'd like to help make the code of laws in Afghanistan more orderly.

“Democracy is a great way to run a country, and there are all different versions of democracy,” said Meg Heubeck, director of instruction at the Center for Politics. “They have to find out what is going to work for them.”

Rahimzai said she thinks that democracy, as it develops in Afghanistan, will have to evolve to co-exist with the region's deep-seated culture and with Islam. She's been impressed by the way religions get along in the United States.

A grant from the U.S. State Department is underwriting the program, which is a joint effort of the Center for Politics and Relief International, an aid group. Most of the women work for government ministries in fields including law, women's affairs and education. Several of them are in senior posts, while one of the participants works for a nongovernmental organization in Afghanistan. The center will host one more group this summer, plus two in summer 2012.

Organizers aren't simply portraying America as a land where everything works, they said.

“We're talking about things that we still need to work on: civil rights, acceptance of Islam and Muslims in this country,” Heubeck said. “You know, the fact that it's still a process and we're still not perfect.”

Staff from the center also are inviting participants to their homes, to let them see how everyday Americans live.

Rahimzai said she's been impressed by Americans' sense of civic engagement.

“The people like to do for each other, even if the state is not working for them. It's very encouraging that we should never give up. We can do for each other. And we should do for each other,” she said.

Security will be the key, both Irby and Rahimi said. Mohsenian referred to it as institution building with troops on the ground.

“I hope one day the rule of law will be implemented in Afghanistan,” Rahimi said. “And … people should start practicing on themselves.”

The women also are recruiting Americans to visit Afghanistan in October, Mohsenian said, when they'll be hosted by the Afghan Bureau for Reconstruction and Development.

Whitehead described his impression of the group as ready for America to leave Afghanistan, but not anti-American.

Rahimi said she hopes Americans finish what they have started in Afghanistan.

“We appreciate what Americans are doing in Afghanistan, and we salute … the mothers [whose] sons are dying in Afghanistan,” Rahimi said. “We request from American society that they should not forget and leave us alone in this battle.”