Restoring education
Since 2021, Afghan women have been progressively barred from secondary and post-secondary education at home. Passage funds and admits up to 100 women through Canadian universities and colleges.
- Cohort target100women
- Eligible sectorsFourtrades, health, ECE, STEM
- Partner-supportedDonors + mentorsfinancial, educational, professional
- Direct contactafghanprogram@passage.com
A generation of women, locked out of school.
Afghanistan is the only country on earth where women are formally banned from attending school past grade six. The Passage Afghan Program is one small response — a Canadian education for women whose own country has shut them out of school.
Sources: UNESCO, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Human Rights Watch, BBC News.
- 2021Aug
Taliban return to power
Following the withdrawal of international forces, the Taliban take Kabul on August 15, 2021. Women begin to lose access to public life within weeks.
- 2022Mar
Secondary-school ban
Girls beyond grade six are barred from returning to secondary classrooms — a planned reopening is reversed within hours of students arriving at school.
- 2022Dec
University ban
Women are barred from attending public and private universities across Afghanistan. Days later, women are also banned from working at non-governmental organisations.
- 2024Launched
The Passage Afghan Program
Passage launches the Afghan Program in 2024, funding and admitting up to 100 Afghan women through Canadian university and college programs. Final immigration decisions remain with IRCC.
In their own words.
We receive letters directly from women in Afghanistan. Two are reproduced below, unedited and unembellished, with their permission and with their identities withheld.
Both letters are reproduced from the Passage Afghan Program archive. Names and locations are withheld at the request of the writers, in line with safeguarding guidance from the program’s partner organisations.
From Afghanistan, to a Canadian career.
Muhaddesa/to a Canadian hospital
Meet Muhaddesa. She left Afghanistan to study nursing in Canada and is now a graduate, working in a Canadian hospital. Quiet evidence that the program does what it says.
- From
- Afghanistan
- To
- Canada
- Field
- Nursing
- Status
- Graduated & working
Four sectors. One route forward.
Selected applicants train in the same Canadian programs Passage funds across our wider student community. Pick a sector to read the full programs, salaries, and pathway detail.
Healthcare
Personal support workers, practical nurses, lab technologists, and pharmacy assistants — roles Canadian provinces are actively hiring against multi-decade shortages.
Open the Healthcarepage →Skilled Trades
Electrical, plumbing, welding, automotive, and construction-trades programs that lead directly to apprenticeship and Red Seal certification.
Open the Skilled Tradespage →Early Childhood Education
Registered ECE diplomas, ECE assistant certificates, and educational-assistant programs powering Canada’s federal $10/day child-care expansion.
Open the Early Childhood Educationpage →STEM
Software development, cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud, AI/ML, wireless networks, and applied-engineering technology — the most-funded route by request.
Open the STEMpage →
Made possible, together.
The Afghan Program runs on partners — foundations, employers, mentors, and individual donors who share the mission. If any of the descriptions below sounds like you, we’d like to talk.
Mission-aligned
We work with collaborators who share our purpose: providing access to life-changing opportunities for talented individuals locked out of them at home.
Innovative mindset
Passage exists to redefine educational access for international talent. We partner with organisations who treat that as a creative engineering problem, not a slogan.
Experienced with Canada
If you’ve helped international talent successfully transition into Canadian academic or career pathways before, we want to hear from you.
The current cohort is closed.
We open intake in cohorts so we can match every selected applicant to the right program, partner, and funding source. Leave your email and we’ll let you know the moment the next intake opens — with no further marketing.
We will only email you about Afghan Program intake. You can unsubscribe at any time.
If your organisation can offer financial support, mentorship, internships, or a placement pathway for Afghan women in Canada, we want to hear from you directly.
[email protected]Questions about the program.
Still wondering about something specific? Write to [email protected] and our team will respond within one business day.
The current intake is closed. We open intake in cohorts so that every selected applicant can be matched to the right program, partner, and funding source. Use the form above to be notified the moment the next intake opens — we will only email you about Afghan Program intake.