UNO’s recent $2.2 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) allows its Center for Afghanistan Studies, along with the School of Communication, to help two Afghan universities develop new Communication Studies departments.
Sher Jan Admadzai, Director of UNO’s Center for Afghanistan Studies, says that although other universities will be involved in the $92 million USAID grant, UNO has a distinct advantage because of its longstanding relationship with Afghanistan.
"We have a local presence in Afghanistan. The successful thing we have compared to other universities, they don’t have offices in Kabul. We have our local staff contractors who work on our projects on a project basis whenever we need to have them.”
Ahmadzai says the UNO faculty will focus on helping Kabul University and Balkh University develop the curricula for their new departments.
He says UNO faculty and administrators will do more in-person training at the two universities as well as interact via Skype and other forms of social media.
For more information, the Center’s number is 402-554-2376