The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership
Awarded to Founder of the
Afghan Institute of Learning

Claremont McKenna College and the Kravis Leadership Institute announced today the selection of Sakena Yacoobi, founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning, to receive the fourth annual Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership.
The Kravis Prize, which carries a $250,000 award designated to the honoree organization, recognizes extraordinary leadership in the nonprofit sector. Dr. Yacoobi was selected for her outstanding record of providing an estimated 350,000 women and children with access to education and health care each year.
The Kravis Prize will be presented to Dr. Yacoobi at ceremonies on March 31 in New York City.
Established in 2006, The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership recognizes and celebrates extraordinary accomplishment and bold, visionary leadership in the nonprofit sector. The Kravis Prize is administered by Claremont McKenna College (CMC), the Kravis Leadership Institute (KLI), and Marie-Jos?e and Henry R. Kravis. Mrs. Kravis, an economist, is a Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute; Mr. Kravis, founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is an alumnus and Trustee of Claremont McKenna College.
"It is important to understand that entrepreneurial spirit and leadership are just as vital to achievement in the not-for-profit world as they are in the private sector," said Mr. Kravis. "We are pleased and proud to recognize and celebrate the significant and inspirational work being done by Dr. Yacoobi and the Afghan Institute of Learning." Sakena Yacoobi and the Afghan Institute of Learning Sakena Yacoobi has spent the last 28 years providing education, training, and health care services to women and children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of her enduring contributions is focusing attention on the issue and importance of girls' education in Afghanistan. Dr. Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995 while working in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. AIL's first program initiative was to establish learning centers in the refugee camps in response to the women's requests for educational opportunities for themselves and their children.
AIL currently operates 41 women's learning/education centers, five health centers, and three mobile health clinics. Seventy percent of AIL's 450 staff members are Afghan women. Under Dr. Yacoobi's leadership, AIL has become one of the largest nonprofit organizations in Afghanistan and currently serves more than 350,000 women and children each year.
Dr. Yacoobi's achievements demonstrate significant courage and persistence in the face of extensive obstacles to educating girls and women in Afghanistan. During the Taliban's rule, for example, the education of girls was prohibited. Dr. Yacoobi and the staff of AIL risked great personal harm in operating 80 underground home schools for 3,000 girls during the 1990s.
AIL's innovative and effective approaches serve as a model in the sector, and its interactive teaching methods have been replicated by many nonprofit organizations in Afghanistan as well as by government and educational institutions. AIL also provides training and technical assistance to small, local Afghan community-based organizations to help build the capacity of Afghanistan's civil society sector and increase the enrollment of female students.
To learn more about the important work undertaken by Dr. Yacoobi and AIL, please visit http://afghaninstituteoflearning.org/. The Henry R. Kravis Prize The Kravis Prize Selection Committee, chaired by Marie-Jos?e Kravis, includes: Harry McMahon, CMC alumnus and chair of the Claremont McKenna College Board of Trustees, and vice chairman, Merrill Lynch & Co.; Sudha Murty, chairperson, Infosys Foundation; Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in economics and the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor at Harvard University; Lord Jacob Rothschild, chairman, Rothschild Investment Trust Capital Partners; and James D. Wolfensohn, chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, L.L.C., and former president, The World Bank.
The Organizing Committee, led by Mr. Kravis, includes: Mr. McMahon; Peter Barker, member of the CMC Board of Trustees and retired partner, Goldman Sachs & Co.; Pamela Gann, president, Claremont McKenna College; and Scott Miller, chief executive officer, Six Sigma Academy, Aspen, Colo.
The Prize is awarded annually based on nominations that are received from a group of confidential nominators. These nominators are selected on the basis of the breadth and depth of their knowledge of the nonprofit sector. Nominators are chosen internationally and from a variety of fields.
Past recipients of The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership are: Roy Prosterman, the inaugural recipient (2006), founder of the Rural Development Institute; Fazle Abed (2007), founder of BRAC; and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) (2008).