The AfSU Building Diaspora Capabilities Conference
Our flagship conference on Afghanistan's diaspora will aim to explore how we can come together to create a stronger, and more integrated, diaspora community. Scroll down to find out more about our aims, and how you can get involved.
Conference RegistrationOur Aims
The conference's aim is to investigate, from a youth-led perspective, how the diaspora can become more integrated, and subsequently feel more able to support one another. Whether this is through academic, pastoral, or cultural means, the conference aims to explore how the diaspora community can grow together as a more united body of people.
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1.
Awareness
To raise awareness about the diaspora community and the generational traumas faced by families across the community.
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2.
Education
To provide explanations and rationalize positions held within the diaspora community, and to foster inter-generational knowledge sharing and advice.
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3.
Networks
To recommend methods of institutionalizing support for Afghanistan’s diaspora and creating supportive, grassroot, networks.
Our Methods
We use two distinct methods to help encourage both learning and audience participation throughout the conference. This helps ensure our guests feel involved and can actively shape what they would like their diaspora community to look like.
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1
Keynote Speeches
Our keynote speeches are designed to provide you with an overall perspective on the conference's aims, and to enhance your basic understanding so you are able to understand later panels. We have two keynote speeches, one on each day, which aim to cover and highlight key findings from the conference.
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2
Panel Discussions
Panel discussions involve a moderator, and typically 4-5 speakers sitting in a panel format. The moderator will ask questions, which speakers will then respond to with their answers. We then leave time at the end of the session for an audience Q&A, before the session ends.
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3
Roundtable Discussions
To encourage audience participation, and to give you a voice in shaping your community, roundtable discussions are held to allow participants to have open conversations and provide their opinions. These discussions will involve two moderators, and every participating in small group breakouts and collective responses where debate is encouraged.
Conference Schedule
The conference will last for one day and will be hosted in person at King's College London's Strand Campus in the United Kingdom.
It will fall on Saturday, 15th February 2024 (Day 1), between 9am-4pm. The Conference Dinner will be held at UCL in the evening, between 6-8pm.
Please find the schedule for the conference below.
Welcome Speech and Housekeeping
The Welcome Address will be given by Tahmena Joyan, Co-Chair, Afghanistan Student Union (AfSU). Tahmena will outline the aim of the conference, its methods, the schedule for the day, and expectations.
The Welcome Address will last for 10 minutes before we move on to the Keynote Speech.
Keynote Speech: Building Diaspora Capability
Our Keynote Speech will feature a leader in Afghanistan's diaspora community, and their thoughts and views on how we can build diaspora capability, as well as explain what this means in practice.
This panel aims to address the gender specific barriers our diaspora faces, and strategies through which we can build the confidence and leadership of women in the diaspora. Through this discussion, we hope to explore the ways in which we can promote equal opportunity for women, and how to overcome cultural and institutional barriers for academic and professional growth.
Our speakers will focus on answering the following questions:
What understandings exist of current barriers that exist across cultural and professional spaces in our diaspora?
What roles do: (i) younger people, and (ii) intergenerational knowledge exchange, play in redefining gender norms within the diaspora?
What are the main cultural and institutional barriers that prevent women in the diaspora from achieving their full potential in academic and professional spaces?
How can diaspora-led organisations/spaces facilitate greater gender inclusion?
Panel Discussion: Lessons from our global diaspora
This panel aims to bring together different community leaders across countries to describe their journeys in mobilising their respective diaspora communities. Our speakers will focus on sharing how they overcame challenges in mobilising the community, and how they have been able to advocate for the diaspora’s interests through the use of governmental, academic and corporate institutions.
Our speakers will be focusing on answering the following questions:
What has been the aim of your organisation, and how has your work impacted the diaspora community?
How did you mobilise members of your diaspora to support your organisation’s cause?
How has your diaspora used institutions to advance its interests?
What are the key lessons you have learnt that have allowed your organisation to greater develop the diaspora?
Panel Discussion: Using professional spaces as arenas for building diaspora capability
This panel aims to investigate the role that professional spaces play in building diaspora capability. Across the diaspora, there are a number of individuals who work for prominent organisations within the corporate world. This panel aims to understand how we can leverage these companies such that they are able to support the socioeconomic progression of our diaspora community.
Our speakers will be answering the following questions:
How do corporate spaces currently provide the ability, if at all, to progress the socioeconomic statuses of various marginalised and underrepresented groups?
How do diaspora organisations collaborate with corporate spaces to allow for greater opportunity for younger diaspora members in accessing these organisations?
How can these organisations support existing diaspora-led institutions in addressing socioeconomic inequalities that exist within our community?
This roundtable discussion aims to encourage participants to take in what they have learnt over the course of the conference, and to provide their opinions and views on why we should build diaspora capability.
This event will feature Adin Rasheedi and Tahmena Joyan as its moderators. They will ask the audience questions, and then steer the conversation based on audience responses to foster constructive debates and knowledge sharing. Participants will have a chance to hear from one another, and form mini groups during the event. The moderators will interact with participants and help foster dialogue.
This event will be held in Bush House Lecture Theatre 1, a state of the art Harvard style lecture theatre with microphones on the desks which participants will be able to utilise during the discussions. The key questions we hope to answer are:
Whose responsibility is it to build diaspora capability?
How can young leaders within the diaspora be identified, mentored, and empowered?
What is the importance of trust, respect, and coordination across diaspora activities?
What forms the foundation of any successful diaspora community?
Conference Schedule
The conference will last for one day and will be hosted in person at King's College London's Strand Campus in the United Kingdom.
It will fall on Saturday, 15th February 2024 (Day 1), between 9am-4pm. The Conference Dinner will be held at UCL in the evening, between 6-8pm.
Please find the schedule for the conference below.
Conference Schedule
9:20am-9:30am Welcome Address
The Welcome Address will be given by Tahmena Joyan, Co-Chair, Afghanistan Student Union (AfSU). Tahmena will outline the aim of the conference, its methods, the schedule for the day, and expectations.
The Welcome Address will last for 10 minutes before we move on to the Keynote Speech.
9:30am-9:50am Keynote Speech: Building Diaspora Capability
Our Keynote Speech will feature a leader in Afghanistan’s diaspora community, and their thoughts and views on how we can build diaspora capability, as well as explain what this means in practice.
9:50am-10:50am Panel Discussion: Overcoming gender-specific barriers across the diaspora
This panel aims to address the gender specific barriers our diaspora faces, and strategies through which we can build the confidence and leadership of women in the diaspora. Through this discussion, we hope to explore the ways in which we can promote equal opportunity for women, and how to overcome cultural and institutional barriers for academic and professional growth.
Our speakers will focus on answering the following questions:
What understandings exist of current barriers that exist across cultural and professional spaces in our diaspora?
What roles do: (i) younger people, and (ii) intergenerational knowledge exchange, play in redefining gender norms within the diaspora?
What are the main cultural and institutional barriers that prevent women in the diaspora from achieving their full potential in academic and professional spaces?
How can diaspora-led organisations/spaces facilitate greater gender inclusion?
11:00am-12:00pm Panel Discussion: Lessons from our global diaspora
This panel aims to bring together different community leaders across countries to describe their journeys in mobilising their respective diaspora communities. Our speakers will focus on sharing how they overcame challenges in mobilising the community, and how they have been able to advocate for the diaspora’s interests through the use of governmental, academic and corporate institutions.
Our speakers will be focusing on answering the following questions:
What has been the aim of your organisation, and how has your work impacted the diaspora community?
How did you mobilise members of your diaspora to support your organisation’s cause?
How has your diaspora used institutions to advance its interests?
What are the key lessons you have learnt that have allowed your organisation to greater develop the diaspora?
13:00pm-14:15pm Panel Discussion: Using professional spaces as arenas for building diaspora capability
This panel aims to investigate the role that professional spaces play in building diaspora capability. Across the diaspora, there are a number of individuals who work for prominent organisations within the corporate world. This panel aims to understand how we can leverage these companies such that they are able to support the socioeconomic progression of our diaspora community.
Our speakers will be answering the following questions:
How do corporate spaces currently provide the ability, if at all, to progress the socioeconomic statuses of various marginalised and underrepresented groups?
How do diaspora organisations collaborate with corporate spaces to allow for greater opportunity for younger diaspora members in accessing these organisations?
How can these organisations support existing diaspora-led institutions in addressing socioeconomic inequalities that exist within our community?
14:20pm-16:00pm Roundtable Discussion: What are the foundations of building diaspora capability?
This roundtable discussion aims to encourage participants to take in what they have learnt over the course of the conference, and to provide their opinions and views on why we should build diaspora capability.
This event will feature Adin Rasheedi and Tahmena Joyan as its moderators. They will ask the audience questions, and then steer the conversation based on audience responses to foster constructive debates and knowledge sharing. Participants will have a chance to hear from one another, and form mini groups during the event. The moderators will interact with participants and help foster dialogue.
This event will be held in Bush House Lecture Theatre 1, a state of the art Harvard style lecture theatre with microphones on the desks which participants will be able to utilise during the discussions. The key questions we hope to answer are:
Whose responsibility is it to build diaspora capability?
How can young leaders within the diaspora be identified, mentored, and empowered?
What is the importance of trust, respect, and coordination across diaspora activities?
What forms the foundation of any successful diaspora community?
Conference Dinner Schedule
6pm Guest Registration
6:15pm Welcome Speech
6:30pm Live Performance
7pm Dinner
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to our frequently asked questions below. You can visit our contact us page to reach out if you have any questions, otherwise do check back in on this webpage to stay updated.
I'm interested in participating, how do I do this?
FOR GUESTS:
Guests will be able to register to attend the conference beginning on the 10th January, 2024 at 9am. Registration will close promptly on the 10th February, 2024 at 5pm.
There are different registration processes dependent on if you are a student, or professional.
Students at a UK-based university or college:
You must sign up to attend via student.afsu.org. You will receive a confirmation email confirming your attendance via mail within 24 hours of completing the form.
Professionals and University Alumni:
If you are NOT a current UK-based university student, you must fill out the form on external.afsu.org. We have a limited number of spaces for professional participants.
Upon submitting your application to attend, our support staff will review the information you have provided and make a decision on your application in gathered fields. We will notify applicants of outcomes as soon as we can.
There is no fee to attend the conference. There is a fee to attend the Conference Dinner. Details on the payment of this fee will be sent to participants who opt-in.
Can anyone attend your conference?
Yes! Anyone with an interest in our events and platforms for discourse can attend. We recommend following us on our social media platforms @afgstudentunion to stay up to date with our events and progress, or follow our progress via our website.
Is there a fee to attend?
There is no fee to attend the conference. There is a fee to attend the Conference Dinner. We will announce information on how to pay this when details have been released.
Can my parents attend?
While most the conference is aimed at students/professionals, we do encourage parents to attend, as much of the content may be relevant and some discussions will focus on how parents can support their children during education, and what it means to be part of the diaspora community. This gives parents an insight into what you are involved in at university, but also gives them a taster as to what conferences on the diaspora involve and the direction in which their community is headed in.
If you feel your parents would benefit from getting involved and learning more about what university life involves, and how they can support you better, please do ask them to get involved! Parents can sign up using the external registration link, and we welcome them to access all areas of the conference.
Questions?
Feel free to reach out to us. We have a friendly and helpful team that will be able to direct your query to the relevant team.
Join AfSU
Are you interested in joining Team AfSU? Click on the link below to find out more about the application process.
Conference Social
Guest Registration
Welcome Speech
Live Performance
Dinner