In 2014, in an impoverished village in Afghanistan’s Ghor Province, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) established a community-based education classroom for the village’s second graders under the Community Based Education Enhancement Program (CBEEP). If it weren’t for the DFATD-funded class, these children would go without an education because the government school is nearly four miles away, too far for such young children to walk to school, not just because of the distance, but mainly due to concerns for their safety.

CRS has been implementing community-based educational programming in Afghanistan since 2003, and has served more than 26,000 students to date.

The CRS community-based education model proves that if given the opportunity, boys and girls will attend school in rural parts of Afghanistan. This is particularly true for girls, whose enrollment rates increase from 17 percent in government schools to close to 70 percent in community-based education classes.

Photo by Nikki Gamer/Catholic Relief Services