Overview

"This book is a collection of writings by multiple members of the UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship for Afghanistan (AF), covering the period since the inception of the Fellowship in 2003, till the present day. The imperative to share this story became even more critical in the wake of the events of August 2021 in Afghanistan, and the return of the Taliban to power. It seemed essential to document the unique 15-year Hiroshima Fellowship, and to learn from the challenges and accomplishments of an Afghan-driven international development effort, before the recollections were lost. Part of the UNITAR Afghan Fellowship Legacy Projects (AFLP) the book has brought together authors from among the 500 alumni, mentors, faculty members, partners, and UNITAR staff, who took part and here share their experiences and analysis of the Fellowship over the years - its unique structure, its philosophy and modus operandi, its particular emphasis on building, and sustaining, a community of professionals and international mentors. Each chapter tells a what, why, and how story, lessons learned, impressions or reminisces of the Fellows' learning and projects during many training cycles. The collection examines the diversity of Afghanistan through the Fellows' personal stories - their transformations, dreams, and concerns for themselves and for their country. It details the journeys of the mentors, resource persons and international partners, whose lives were transformed by proximity with the Afghans and their aspirations. It also sheds light on the Fellowship's special connections with Hiroshima and Japan. This is a compelling human story, of different people coming together from around the world to solve problems and initiate solutions together - regardless of language, cultural barriers, and technological challenges. It is a story which can upend the current discourses about Afghanistan and shed some light on the oft-repeated question of the recent past - ""Was it all a waste?"" This is a critical reflection for future development and humanitarian interventions."

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Nassrine Azimi coordinates the UNITAR Afghan Fellowship Legacy Projects (AFLP). She is co-founder and coordinator of the Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative (GLH), a global campaign to disseminate and plant worldwide seeds and saplings of trees that survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima) and chair of the EDEN (Emerging and Developing Economies Network) Seminars. At the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) where she is currently a senior advisor, Dr. Azimi established the Institute's Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific in 2003. Prior to that she was UNITAR's coordinator of environmental training programs, deputy to the executive director, chief of the Institute's New York Office, and for 12 years head of UNITAR's Board of Trustees' secretariat in Geneva, throughout the Institute's restructuring and revival.Currently a visiting professor at Hiroshima Shudo University and adjunct professor at Doshisha Women's College in Kyoto, Azimi was visiting scholar at New York's Columbia University (2003) and at the University of California in Los Angeles/UCLA (2016-2018), a member of the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB-COOP), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, and an advisory committee member for the Hiroshima Peace Media Center (HPMC) in Japan. She has a BA in political science from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, an MA in international relations from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies, a second MA in urban studies from the School of Architecture, University of Geneva, and a doctorate in cultural studies from the Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University. Azimi has published extensively on UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding, post-conflict reconstruction, environmental and cultural governance, and Asia. She co-wrote the 'Last Boat to Yokohama' on the life and work of women's rights activist Beate Sirota Gordon in 2015, and her latest book, 'The United States and Cultural Heritage Protection in Japan (1945-1952)' was released by Amsterdam University Press in 2019. Humaira Khan-Kamal joined UNITAR in 1996, as a UNITAR Special Fellow, Training Associate, and from 2012 to 2016 as Senior Advisor to the UNITAR Fellowship for Afghanistan. In her first assignment at UNITAR she was directly involved in developing the UNITAR New York Office Work Program for Government Officials based in New York, leading the research, development, planning, and coordination of several training programs in specific thematic areas. These included courses on international trade, public-private partnerships for sustainable development, and policy issues in information and communication technologies, as well as workshops on basics in technology for senior policy makers and negotiators. With the opening of the UNITAR Hiroshima Office in 2003, Khan-Kamal took a leadership role in the overall design, launch, and management of the Fellowship project on post-conflict reconstruction and training in Afghanistan and served as program leader till 2011. Following that, as Senior Advisor, she remained involved in strategic planning and curriculum development of the program, in addition to delivering specific modules of training. Khan-Kamal was a Government of Japan scholar to the Lahore University of Management Sciences where she earned her master's in business administration. Her post-graduate work was focused on non-profit management and community empowerment projects. Prior to her work with UNITAR she worked with a non-profit project to set up the national cancer care hospital in Pakistan - Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center. She is currently working as CEO of a health-care company in the United States.Khan-Kamal is one of the co-founders and coordinators of the Afghan Fellowship Legacy Projects (AFLP), created to distill the lessons learnt from the UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship for Afghanistan and channel the experiences and, knowledge of this worldwide community towards future innovative and sustainable international development assistance initiatives.

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