Dear Applicants,
Thank you to the 479 individuals who expressed interest in joining the Afghan Female Student Team for ISDI’s upcoming debate competitions, an initiative jointly organized by the Harvard Debate Council and the University of Kentucky’s Tournament of Champions (TOC).
We are pleased to announce that 32 candidates have been selected. These candidates demonstrate English proficiency at the C1 and C2 level, have prior debate experience, and meet the age requirement to compete in 3 ISDI’s online debate competitions in the High School Division in late 2026 and early 2027. Please see the attached list.
To prepare for the tournament, we plan to hold weekly training sessions on weekends, expected to begin in late July 2026. We will coordinate with you via a WhatsApp group (the link to join will be sent to you by email on July 21, 2026).
After the training period, we will select 2-3 teams from the 32 candidates to represent Afghan female students in the competition.
We also thank the applicants who were not selected for their enthusiasm. If you would still like to learn debate, we will offer a training opportunity.
– Please join this WhatsApp group: “Debate for All Afghan Girls”: https://lnkd.in/gxfP2YHX
– When joining the WhatsApp group above, please include the name you use when applying for the Afghan Female Student Debate Team, so our administrator can review and approve your request.
Our aim is to help Afghan female students participate and raise their voices on the global stage by providing opportunities to compete in prestigious international debate tournaments. This visibility can help attract worldwide support for Afghan women’s education, with a practical emphasis on expanding online learning in the near term.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Harvard Debate Council and the University of Kentucky’s TOC for their kind support.
Sincerely,
Empowering Afghan Girls & Young Women Through Debate
(an initiative founded by Vietnam Public Forum Academy)
and Afghans for Progressive Thinking (APT)
