Ginna Brelsford is the Executive Director of Ayni Education International. Newly appointed, Ms. Brelsford brings over 20 years of experience in government, business and the non-profit world of international development. Ginna has worked in Russia and Latin America and traveled extensively through the developing world.
Here’s what Ginna says about Ayni and her recent experience traveling to Afghanistan on
a three week trip with founder Julia Bolz:
It is with great enthusiasm that I recently accepted the position of Executive Director of Ayni. The mission of Ayni captured my imagination when I thought about the impact education, particularly for girls and women, has on entire families and communities.
I’ve had the privilege of working in the international development world for twenty years. While I’ve used many of the tools to tackle extreme poverty—micro-finance, trade, HIV/AIDS projects—I continue to believe most deeply in the power of education as the crucial link in poverty eradication.
I recently returned from my first trip to Afghanistan to witness the dedication of a school built with Ayni donor support for over 3,000 girls. The contrast of images I first encountered in visiting on the final days of school construction couldn’t have been more stark: literally on one side of a fence girls were sitting in makeshift chairs or on the windswept ground in punishing heat listening to their teacher. Some were under weather-beaten, tattered tents, still on the dirt, in an effort to learn..
Thanks to Ayni supporters, the other side of the fence is the new home for learning for these girls! Extraordinary. That’s what I am looking forward to: joining the Ayni team to make the seemingly impossible possible with best practices in development and education. I can already say thank you to our supporters for the generosity and graciousness as the school was under construction. I look forward to sharing this journey with Afghan schools together.
Ms. Brelsford holds a BA from Brown University and an MA in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
