Created on: 12 Aug 2025 | Last modified: 07 Oct 2026
POHA Mentorship Programme
The POHA mentorship programme is currently looking for volunteers in several areas and would be grateful if you would consider getting involved.
Volunteer Mentors
The restrictions placed on their education mean most Afghan women do not have personalised support when they are stuck on a problem or want help understanding concepts. This is the problem we are working to address.
We are seeking mentors who can support university-level Afghan women in one of the following areas:
Subject-Specific Mentors foster their mentee’s interest in their chosen subject by working together initially to create a tailored learning roadmap. Regular meetings are then used for mentees to ask questions about assigned materials, discuss the subject more broadly, and refine the roadmap as her interests and goals develop.
English Teaching Mentors support our mentees in developing their listening and speaking skills through conversational practice during regular meetings, and provide reading and writing assignments to help support their learning.
Scholarship Support Mentors to support our mentees in finding scholarship opportunities abroad, providing guidance on application practices and reviewing their CVs and applications.
Mentors are expected to meet with their mentee once per week for a one-hour Zoom session. Current undergraduate students or individuals beyond the undergraduate level (graduates, Masters, PhD, professors), with strong demonstrable subject knowledge, are eligible for this volunteer role.
Mentor Application Form:
POHA Mentorship Program Application Form – Fill in form
Resource Contributors
We are also building a collection of freely available educational resources that can benefit Afghan women seeking to learn new skills or access new opportunities.
We invite volunteers to contribute resources such as:
Free or open-access textbooks
Educational websites and articles
Video lectures or tutorials (eg. YouTube)
Free online courses (Coursera, edX, etc.)
Revision guides, study notes, or practice materials (non-university content)
Case studies, examples, or practice questions
Useful learning tools and platforms
Contributions can be submitted through the following resources:
Certificate of contribution is provided to all mentor volunteers.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could consider getting involved with us! Every mentor, instructor, and contributor helps us expand access to education and create meaningful opportunities for women.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like any additional information about POHA or these volunteering opportunities. Just email pohaprocess@outlook.com
Living Rent - Sign the Petition on Rent Freeze!
Last week, Living Rent, along with trade union leaders across the country sent an open letter to Shirely Anne Sommerville, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing calling on her to introduce a rent freeze.
Rising rents are deepening poverty and inequality, putting pressure on health and social care and education services, increasing homelessness, and forcing more households into an increasingly unaffordable private rented sector.
In October last year the government passed the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 which gave local authorities powers to introduce rent control areas that limit rent increases to inflation plus 1% up to a maximum of 6%. But it will likely be 2028 before local authorities are able to implement them. In the meantime, landlords have every incentive to push rents up as far and as fast as they can.
We’ve been here before. Four years ago, the Scottish Government introduced an emergency rent freeze to stop tenants being priced out of their homes. With the cost of living once again soaring, when parliament returns from their summer recess the Scottish Government should act now and introduce another rent freeze - with no loopholes or exemptions - until rent control areas are implemented. Tenants can’t afford to wait.
Finally, come along to your branch meeting next week!
Come along to your branch meeting where we’ll be discussing local campaign next steps and planning our actions. Our monthly branch meetings are a great opportunity to get involved with your tenants and community union and branch, meet fellow members and get active. Come along and bring a neighbour.
Ceilidh for Cuba - Friday 9th October
UNISON Scotland Young Members have organised a Ceilidh for Cuba on the 9th October in the QM, Glasgow. Proceeds raised are going towards a Unison container for Cuba. It looks to be a fantastic night!
It’s a big venue so please share widely - 18+ but otherwise all welcome.
Tickets here: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/38725/ceilidh-for-cuba
Rally for Gaza - Saturday 10th October
The mass movement in support of Palestine and against the genocide in Gaza has forced the new Labour Government of Andy Burnham to admit that the protestors were right all along.
This is an important admission given the years in which the former Labour PM Keir Starmer openly supported Israel's cruel blockade of Gaza and smeared the anti-war movement as being anti-Semitic.
In a gesture to the majority in the UK who oppose the continued killing of Palestinians in Gaza and ruthless ethnic cleansing by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, Labour Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a new ban on trade with the illegal settlements and that applications for 'arms and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation' would be refused.
However, it seems that this apparent change in policy has not really had much impact on the UK's economic and military relations with Israel. In fact to date this has not resulted in any ongoing arms exports being cancelled or blocked.
For example, fighter jet parts are still being exported to international spares pools where they can be accessed by Israel. Also, British-made trainer aircraft parts that underpin Israel's deadly F-35 combat aircraft programme are still being exported directly to Israel.
It is naive in the extreme to believe that such trade does not contribute to Israel's ability to sustain its war on Gaza and indeed attack other countries in the region.
Even more telling is the fact that the UK's Ministry of Defence maintains lucrative contracts and ties with Israeli companies despite talk of tightening sanctions. For example, the British Army recently awarded Pearson Engineering in Newcastle with a £10million contract to produce weapons and just before Miliband's statement 300 British soldiers took part in a training exercise facilitated by Israel's largest arms producer Elbit Systems.
Therefore, although the new government has recognised that the previous Labour leadership 'got it wrong' over Gaza we still have to insist that it enforces a comprehensive programme of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions and we must keep protesting and marching until they do.
Please join Stop the War in supporting the national rally in support of Gaza in Edinburgh next Saturday which will assemble at the foot of the Mound at 1pm and then march to the Scottish Parliament.
