AELSO Academy wins the Smith Student Outreach Award 2020 & an Overall Update of this Initiative
AELSO Academy is a unique initiative launched by the Afghanistan Economic & Legal Studies Organization (AELSO) for promoting free market, individual freedom, human rights, rule of law, and other free society values in Afghanistan. It includes series of seminars, trainings, conferences, webinars, round-table discussions, as well as video and radio programs. Each program carries 1-4 credits and upon successful completion of 20 credits, the individual will become a graduate of the Academy and will have acquired the skills and have demonstrated dedication to become an advocate for human rights and other free society values in his/her respective community.
We would like to highlight a few eminent points regarding the AELSO Academy project:
- Instilling Free Society Values in Youths;
Since the establishment of this project more than 8500 individuals mainly university students have benefited from our conferences on education of human rights, individual freedom, market economy, rule of law and other free society values.
Reducing Poverty:
With having more than 60% of population below poverty line, and one of the effective policies to fight poverty is promoting the idea of entrepreneurship among individuals in the country. With that goal in mind, so far we have trained and equipped more than 2,000 individuals mainly youths and university students with the soft skills they require for starting their own business and succeeding in today’s competitive market. Currently a high number of these individuals are actively contributing to fight poverty by enabling their families and surrounding communities.
- Compatibility of Free Society Values with Islam:
Afghanistan is a country with having a highly conservative society and people that are strictly preserving their classic traditions and opposing every new idea before understanding it properly. This makes difficult for every new idea to enter the society. To soothe the way for libertarian ideas into the country and reduce resistance against that, we organized series of views exchange programs to discuss about the compatibility of free society values with Islam and ways we can strengthen mutual understanding among these ideas. As of now, more than 1,100 individuals including prominent religious scholars have benefited from such programs.
- Virtual Presence:
With realizing our beneficiaries needs & wants, and in order to diversify our presence and break the geographical boundaries for promoting democratic and free society values, we planned to be accessible virtually. So far, approximately 200,000 individuals from mainly Persian speaking countries such as Iran & Tajikistan have been benefited from our educational videos produced by our professional team. In addition, more than 1,000 individuals have been introduced to peace, prosperity and other free society values via webinars organized by us in different span of time mainly during the lock-down.
- Media Coverage:
The AELSO Academy project witnessed complete media coverage by prominent national and international broadcasting media channels such as Tolo TV, ATN, RTA and well known radio stations as well as many printed media outlets. This means the indirect beneficiaries of the project is way beyond than its direct beneficiaries which is a plus point for the project.
- Awards and Appreciations:
As the result of having outstanding performances in its all programs particularly the AELSO Academy project, The Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO) has been awarded the Smith Student Outreach Award in 2020 virtual Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner which is being organized annually by Atlas Network in New York. This award is a highly prestigious award for organizations working for students’ empowerment and educational programs. Despite that, we have received many plaques from Kabul University, Rana University, Bakhtar University as well as many other major universities and academic institutions in the country. All of them appreciated our efforts and offered their volunteers supports for our upcoming programs.
“The Smith Student Outreach Award is not only an award for the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO); but it is a positive energy, courage and more hopes for our works in promotion of free society values in Afghanistan while there is a lot of challenges and obstacles for our works. The AELSO Academy project is now one of our sustainable project for students and we are sure that the alumni and members of this academy will change Afghanistan toward prosperity, liberty and tolerance,” Said M. Khalid Ramizy, CEO of AELSO.
- Feedbacks from our beneficiaries:
The AELSO Academy project is highly welcomed by the participants. Almost all of the participants of the program are asking for such programs to be expanded to every corner of the country. Most of them are even offering their time and resources voluntarily. We believe there is a high need and enthusiasm for implementing such projects in a continuous manner in order to promote peace, tolerance, and other free society values in the country. We firmly believe that the implementation of such projects will directly contribute for creating a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO) is committed to continue its efforts in educating Afghan nation the ideas of liberty, peace, tolerance and how to lead Afghanistan toward prosperity, where every citizen enjoy living with peace and liberty. We are grateful from our all donors and supporters who are parts of such initiatives.
You can read more about the AELSO Academy project activities in here.
