The character arc of Sakena Yacoobi

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born in Herat, Afghanistan, into a Shia family, in a year the record does not publish. Between then and now sit a move to the United States in the 1970s, a degree in biological sciences in 1977, a masters in public health, work as a professor and health consultant in Michigan, a return to the region in 1990, years with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, eight teacher training guides written in Dari, an institute founded in 1995, eighty underground home schools during the years girls schools were closed, learning centres opened in 2001, a legal clinic in 2015, and four international prizes. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Sakena Yacoobi?

They closed the schools. So she put eighty of them in houses.

She was born in Herat into a Shia family, and moved to the United States in the 1970s. She took a bachelors degree in biological sciences from the University of the Pacific in 1977 and went on to a masters degree in public health at Loma Linda University. She worked as a professor and a health consultant in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, which is a settled, comfortable and entirely reasonable place for that story to end.

In 1990 she went back. She worked with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, published eight teacher training guides in Dari, and served as a delegate to a coordinating body for Afghan relief, working on the education part of a United Nations rehabilitation plan for the country. Writing a teacher training guide in the language the teachers actually speak is an unglamorous thing to do and it is the sort of thing that decides whether a school works.

In 1995 she established the Afghan Institute of Learning, a women-led organisation, to provide teacher training to Afghan women, support children access to education and give health education to families. Its aim is to work from the ground up to bring education and health services to disenfranchised Afghan women, including those in rural areas and poor families in cities.

Then the girls schools were closed across the country by the Taliban. The institute response was to support eighty underground home schools, which educated three thousand girls. Eighty schools, run in people houses, while the official ones were shut.

After 2001 it became the first organisation to open learning centres for Afghan women, and in 2015 it opened a legal clinic providing free legal advice. Alongside the institute she is co-founder and vice president of a Michigan-based non-profit, and runs several private enterprises in Afghanistan including schools, a hospital and a radio station. Her work has been recognised with the 2013 Opus Prize, the 2015 WISE Prize, the 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education and an honorary degree from Princeton.

The moments

Sakena Yacoobi's timeline.

The 1970s

Jun 1972

She moves to America

Milestone, and it changed everything. Herat, and then the United States.

Jun 1977

A degree in biology

Milestone, and it changed everything. A science degree, a long way from home.

The 1980s

Jun 1980

A masters in public health

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Public health, which is what she used afterwards.

Jun 1985

A professorship in Michigan

Everyday, and it changed her direction. A comfortable American career, and she left it.

1 Jun 1989

Stay in Michigan, or go back

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go back to the region, taken, or stay a professor. She wrote eight training guides, founded an institute in 1995, and ran eighty home schools for three thousand girls.

The 1990s

Jun 1990

She goes back

Milestone, and it changed everything. She gave up the professorship and went back.

Jun 1992

Eight guides in Dari

Milestone, and it changed everything. Eight training guides, in the language the teachers speak.

Jun 1993

A delegate on the UN plan

Milestone, and it changed her direction. She worked on the education part of the plan.

Jun 1995

The Afghan Institute of Learning

Milestone, and it changed everything. A women-led institute, founded to train teachers.

Jun 1996

Eighty schools in houses

Milestone, and it changed everything. Eighty schools, in houses, and three thousand girls.

Jun 1998

From the ground up

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Rural women and poor city families, by design.

The 2000s

Jun 2001

The first learning centres

Milestone, and it changed everything. First in the country to open them.

The 2010s

Jun 2013

The Opus Prize

Milestone, and it changed her direction. The first of four international prizes.

Jun 2015

A legal clinic

Milestone, and it changed everything. Free legal advice, added to the schools.

Jun 2016

The McGraw Prize

Milestone, and it changed her direction. An education prize, and an honorary degree.

Jun 2018

Schools, a hospital, a radio station

Milestone, and it changed everything. She also runs a hospital and a radio station.

The institute is still running, and so are the schools, the hospital and the radio station. What she set moving is the plainest answer anybody gave to a national closure of girls schools, which was to open eighty more in living rooms and teach three thousand girls anyway.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

Hers turned on leaving a professorship in Michigan to go back to a country in the middle of a war. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

Step through

Draw my own line Explore Character Arc

Sakena Yacoobi: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Sakena Yacoobi's character arc?

An Afghan woman who took two degrees in America and became a professor there, gave that up in 1990 to work with refugees, founded an institute to train teachers, and ran eighty home schools when the girls schools were closed.

What is the Afghan Institute of Learning by Sakena Yacoobi?

A women-led organisation she established in 1995 to train Afghan women as teachers, support children access to education and provide health education to families, working from the grassroots with rural and poor urban women.

What did Sakena Yacoobi do when girls schools closed?

Her institute supported eighty underground home schools during the 1990s, providing education for three thousand girls, after the national closure of girls schools. After 2001 it was the first organisation to open learning centres for Afghan women.

What did Sakena Yacoobi study?

A bachelors degree in biological sciences from the University of the Pacific in 1977 and a masters degree in public health from Loma Linda University. She then worked as a professor and health consultant in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

What prizes has Sakena Yacoobi received?

The 2013 Opus Prize, the 2015 WISE Prize, the 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education, and an honorary degree from Princeton University, for her work promoting access to education for women and children.

What else does Sakena Yacoobi run?

She is co-founder and vice president of a Michigan-based non-profit, and runs multiple private enterprises in Afghanistan including schools, a hospital and a radio station, alongside her work with the Afghan Institute of Learning.

Where does this timeline of Sakena Yacoobi's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Sakena Yacoobi isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

More character arcs

Lives that rhyme with her.

Every Character, A to Z

Sources

Sakena Yacoobi, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
The record of the Afghan Institute of Learning, founded 1995.
The Opus Prize 2013, WISE Prize 2015 and Harold W. McGraw Prize 2016 citations.
Her eight Dari-language teacher training guides.