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Dr. Sakena Yacoobi

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Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and health care that the Afghan people were facing after decades of war and strife. Since its founding, AIL has either directly or indirectly impacted the lives of millions of Afghans. Under her leadership, AIL continues as an innovative organization working at the grassroots level helping communities and individuals.

She is also co- founder, President  and CEO of Creating Hope International (CHI) which acts as fiscal sponsor for AIL.  Sakena has established private facilities in Afghanistan: 4 schools, a hospital and TV and radio stations.
Dr. Yacoobi has 6 honorary doctorates from institutions, including Princeton University. Dr. Yacoobi was honored in 2017 with the Sunhak Peace Prize and in 2016 as the Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education awardee, the 2015 WISE Prize for Education Laureate and the 2013 recipient of the Opus Prize.  She is both a Kravis Prize and  Gruber Prize awardee. Sakena is a Skoll Social Entrepreneur, Schwab Social Entrepreneur, Ashoka fellow and was nominated as one of 1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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She serves on a number of boards and panels including, New Global Citizens, the Advisory Council for the Center for Social Impact Learning at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and is a former board member for the Global Fund for Women. She is an advisor to the Fetzer Institute, and is a member of the US - Afghan Women’s Council. Before founding AIL, Dr. Yacoobi was a professor at D’Etre University in Detroit, MI and was Coordinator of the Women’s Programs for the International Rescue Committee in the Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar, Pakistan.

​For Sakena's full biography see link below.


Sakena's Biography

Sakena's Resume

Video:  The Spiritual Journey of Sakena Yacoobi

"She is hopeless. I cannot save her.  You cannot save her. She must save herself. That is why I give her skills, I give her training, I give her education and I give her love and courage."  
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"I pray for the day when the world sees more than the war - when they see the other side of Afghanistan. My vision for Afghanistan is of a free country, a society where everybody is educated.

Every single girl must be educated in Afghanistan - that is my dream. I don’t have a small dream. My vision is big, has been big and is going to remain big.  I think that there is going to be a day that this country will rise up, and I am looking for that day.” 
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Sakena is an internationally acclaimed speaker
If you would like Sakena to speak at your event please contact  Peace is Loud, the organization that handles speaking engagements for her.  
Merchant Services
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​Afghan Institute of Learning
c/o CHI, PO Box 1058, Dearborn,  ​ Michigan 48121 USA

Tel: 313-278-5806  
sakena@afghaninstituteoflearning.org

Webperson: chi@creatinghope.org


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