Update: Scholarships for Afghan Women Appeal

It could be said that Durham is officially part of the 'civilian surge' in Afghanistan. As a good global citizen, we are participating in arguably the most meaningful way possible: by educating and empowering the young Afghan women. The only long-term solution for Afghanistan is the establishment of civil society, and educated women are absolutely crucial to this.

As colleagues are aware, we are in themidst of a short campaign to raise funds to bring anywhere from 5-10 young women each year (for five years) from Kabul University to Durham to read for their postgraduate degrees.One of our alumni,ProfHamidullah Amin, is the Chancellor of Kabul University and is working with Sharne Procter in the International Office to ensure that we enrol the brightest of his female graduates. The first cohort will arrive for the 2010-11 academic year and will reside in the all-women's wing of St Mary's College.

Our initiative has captured the ear and imagination of Gordon and Sarah Brown, who invited the Vice-Chancellor, Anoush Ehteshami, and DARO Director TimMcInnis to visit 10 Downing Street to brief senior policy advisors, DFID officials, and women executives in the non-profit sector. We expect to receive some (non-financial) support from No.10 in our networking and fundraising.

To date we have raised £425,000 which represents thousands of gifts from friends, alumni and staff, for which the University is truly grateful. Gifts range from £3 to £80,000. Our minimum target is £625,000, so we still have some distance to travel. No gift is too small to be incredibly meaningful.