Sakena Yacoobi

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the Founder and CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she founded in 1996 in response to the lack of education and healthcare 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 more than 14 million people—70% of those beneficiaries are female. Under her leadership, AIL continues as an innovative, grassroots organization partnering with communities and asking for ideas and contributions for all of its programs from the community. AIL uses a holistic approach to empower individuals and communities by offering education; teacher training that encourages critical thinking skills; health services and health education; skills training; and human rights; leadership and administrative training. She is also co- founder and Vice President of Creating Hope International (CHI) and has established private facilities in Afghanistan: 4 schools, a hospital and a radio station. Dr. Yacoobi has developed eight teacher training manuals. She has 6 honorary doctorates from institutions, including Princeton University. In 2017,Dr. Yacoobi was named as one of the Sunhak Peace Prize Laureates. Other of her many awards include the 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education, the 2015 WISE Prize for Education and the 2013 recipient of the Opus Prize. She is both a Kravis Prize and Gruber Prize awardee. Dr. Yacoobi is a Skoll Social Entrepreneur, Schwab Social Entrepreneur, Ashoka fellow and has been nominated as one of 1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize.