Aid Afghanistan for Education (AAE)

Programs

Aid Afghanistan for Education provides educational materials, social services, and online schooling for youth and especially girls who are prohibited from attending school in Afghanistan. It also provides teacher training programs. Since its creation, over 7,000 female students have attended schools connected with AAE. ¹

Partners

Aid Afghanistan for Education partners with several organizations focused on education and gender issues. The Afghanistan National Institute of Music promotes music education for Afghan youth. Girls Not Brides works to end child marriage. Girls’ Globe is a media platform for feminists. The Mother International Institute of Education for Afghan Girls offers online education to girls excluded from education. The Alliance for Education of Women in Afghanistan supports advocacy for girls’ education. ³

Financials

In 2024, Aid Afghanistan for Education reported total revenues of $35,595 derived entirely from contributions. Expenses totaled $127,006, resulting in a net income of -$91,411. Notable expenses included executive compensation of $44,917, accounting for 35.4 percent of expenditures. Net assets stood at $11,421, with total assets of $16,424 and total liabilities of $5,003. From the fiscal year of 2023 to 2024, the organization saw a 69.6 percent drop in total revenues and a corresponding drop in total grants and contributions. ⁴

In 2023, GlobalGiving reported a $120,035 grant to Aid Afghanistan for Education. ⁵  GlobalGiving, a global crowdfunding platform, is also connected to AAFE through Hassina Sherjan, who is a GlobalGiving Community Voices fellow, and the logos of the two organizations are almost identical. ⁶

People

As of September 2025, Hassina Sherjan, founder of Aid Afghanistan for Education, leads the group as its chief executive officer.  ⁷  She co-authored “Toughing It Out in Afghanistan” in 2011 and has contributed op-eds to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other outlets. Sherjan advises Samuel Hall’s board, is a global ambassador for The International Alliance for Women, and represents Afghanistan for Women Entrepreneurship Day. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and an Honorary Doctor of Law from Queen’s University, Canada, and was a 2023 GlobalGiving Community Voices fellow. ⁸

Mark Kryzer, chair of the board for AAE as of September 2025, previously worked as country representative for the Asia Foundation in Afghanistan for 15 years. He began his career with the U.S. Department of State as a foreign service officer at embassies in Kabul and Islamabad during the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War. With over 30 years of program management, he collaborated with USAID, DFID, AusAID, the European Union, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the governments of the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and Germany on initiatives in civil society, anti-corruption, and women’s empowerment. ^{8  9}