Sustainable Smiles

12/15/2023

Very excited for our first graduate in the program and for her next steps ahead! Thank you to everyone who supported her through the program!

The Yunus Masters - Special Program for Afghanistan proudly celebrates our third graduate! Ms. Noor Bibi Gauhari has successfully developed a social business plan for producing clean-fuel briquettes from agricultural waste. Investment has been pledged for a pilot SME in northern Afghanistan, planned for launch in 2024. Noor Bibi’s social business initiative will impact farming communities in Afghanistan who will not only be able to turn waste into a valuable product, but by reducing emissions from crop burning, creating local employment, and demonstrably reducing poverty, it will be one further step towards Professor Yunus’ aim of a World of Three Zeros. Congratulations to Noor, and to Sustainable Smiles whose efforts helped raise scholarship funding for YPM-SPA candidates. Way to Go!

Yunus Asian Institute of Technology

11/02/2023

Join our upcoming roundtable on advancing the Yunus Professional Masters—Special Program for Afghanistan at the Yunus Center at AIT. Our goal is to secure vital resources, champion the cause in academic and global communities, and strengthen our team's abilities. Join us to collaborate on providing higher education and social business opportunities for Afghanistan!

📆 Date/Time: November 11, 2023 🕗 8am - 11am New York 🕠 5:30pm - 8:30pm Kabul
🔗 Zoom Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H92KXlWjTFK4O_hMQIMoIw #/registration

08/21/2023

Save the date - Join us on August 30 for our next participatory webinar on "Social business innovations in energy, waste-to-energy, water, sanitation, and sustainable food systems in Afghanistan", conducted in collaboration with the Yunus Center at AIT and the Hollings Center for International Dialogue.

We will hear successful examples from Yunus Thailand and Rizq of social business initiatives that have made an impact on energy, waste-to-energy, and sustainable food systems.

We will also bring together experts from academia, policy, social business, human rights, and the development sector to discuss innovative ways to strengthen community-based management of energy, waste-to-energy, and localized sustainable food systems in Afghanistan through social business. ​

To learn more and register for this event: https://www.sustainablesmiles.com/general-5

06/01/2023

Save the date - Join us June 7 for our next participatory webinar on “enhancing Afghan women’s leadership in technology, science, and entrepreneurship through social business solutions.”

In this webinar we will hear what strategies the Yunus Center AIT, Let's Learn: School Women's Way, American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), Eagle Online Academy, and education experts are using to create more inclusive academic environments so Afghan girls and women can pursue or advance their careers in tech, science, and entrepreneurship.

To register for this event: https://www.sustainablesmiles.com/general-5

04/27/2023

Our Yunus Professional Masters – Special Program for Afghanistan scholarship fund helps Afghan students continue their education to become social entrepreneurs.

We are raising $450 to help cover the accommodation costs for one of our students while they wait to start their work study position at the Yunus Center at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand.

This student will be researching and designing a social business model for bio-bricks as a social enterprise in Afghanistan. She is interested in how bio-bricks, made from agriculture waste can provide environmental, economic, and health benefits as an alternative to firewood and bush cutting.

To make a donation to support this student please visit our website: www.sustainablesmiles.com

Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

03/12/2023

Thank you for participating in our first webinar introducing the Yunus Profressional Masters - Special Program for Afghanistan. In case you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz1rdChU9qQ

02/21/2023

Join the Yunus Center at AIT and Sustainable Smiles on Thursday, March 2 for the first of our webinar series to discuss innovative and empowering ways to support Afghan students continue their higher education.

The free virtual event will contribute a fresh perspective to addressing key social, economic, and environmental issues in Afghanistan through higher education. We will also raise awareness about our responsive approach to the Yunus Professional Masters – Special Program for Afghanistan, which builds students’ practical sustainability and social business competencies through remote development of place-based projects in Afghanistan.

Learn more and register: https://www.sustainablesmiles.com/general-5

09/01/2021

Sustainable Smiles is now launching our GoFundMe campaign! This campaign will support Afghan Scholars and Students at host universities through the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Program. Please click the link for more information.

Afghan Scholars and Students are under extreme threat in Taliban-occupied Af… Sustainable Smiles needs your support for Support Afghan Scholars and Students

08/28/2021

It is with a heavy heart that we have deleted all of our photographs of our partners, students, and projects in Afghanistan. We cannot countenance any information on our page being used to identify any of the wonderful Afghans that have worked with us or that we have supported, or any of their projects that could lead them to harm.

Sustainable Smiles has been working in Afghanistan since 2015, and in that time we have worked with many who want better for Afghanistan and its people. We are currently fundraising to support Afghan Scholars and Students in Afghanistan and urge you to donate to our GoFundMe effort when it is approved and a link is posted.

10/05/2020

The 60 students in the community service learning course at Bamyan University are coordinating different campus greening projects. We would like to congratulate the student groups on finishing their research in the community. They are now finalizing their action plans and preparing for their project implementation in the coming weeks!

08/27/2020

The Community Service Learning Course for the tourism students at Bamyan University, Afghanistan is underway for 2020! This year the curriculum was adapted to comply with two months of online instruction and now the professors and students are back in the classroom. We are looking forward to seeing how the students' projects evolve!