Afghan Voices: Minaa Rayan

Description

Afghanistan is complex, diverse, and changing. In ‘Afghan Voices’ we invite Afghans from a variety of perspectives to reflect on the past twenty years—from the US invasion in 2001 to the Taliban takeover in 2021. In doing so, they link their own personal stories to questions about Afghanistan’s past and future.

Minaa Rayan is a humanitarian and development practitioner, currently doing an MA in Policy Economics at the Center for Development Economies, Williams College, Massachusetts.

“I grew up in Afghanistan where I completed high school and did a BSc. in Physics and spent the last 5-6 years working for international organizations and the UN in the field of programme evaluation and community engagement.

I began my career at Save the Children, where I worked in the evaluation unit of a community-based education project, aimed at enchasing school enrollment and transition to secondary school.

Later on, I moved to Action Against Hunger, where I worked to bring the organization and beneficiaries closer through downward accountability mechanisms, especially around the time of drought in Ghor and Helamand.

For the last two years, I worked for UNICEF and contributed to the evaluation of several programmes in education, health, nutrition and child protection sectors. The findings of those evaluations were used to guide the policies of the government and partner organizations.

I have had formal and informal membership of some social groups including Ayel Social Association, Afghan Evaluation Society and ICOMSA.
I am a friend and colleague to many brilliant Afghan girls and women and an aunt to three brilliant children, which I think explains part of my passion to work for child- and women-centered programmes.

To sum up, I lose sleep over issues of inequality, poverty and inefficiency.”