A Force for Reform: Rahmatullah Hamraz, MAIDP'19, and the Fight for Global Change

When given the choice to stay in the U.S. or return to war-torn Afghanistan, the choice was clear for Obama Foundation Scholar and Harris graduate Rahmatullah Hamraz. Return to his home country where most of his family still resided and where his newly obtained Master of Arts in International Development and Policy (MAIDP) could have a profound impact.

The fact that he even had the choice to make is a testament to Hamraz’s initiative, resiliency, and, he readily admits, no lack of good fortune. Most people in his shoes would not have made it beyond the borders of the Afghan town in which he was born, let alone to America to study with some of the most promising young leaders from around the world.

Hamraz came to America in 2018 at the age of 33, joining 24 other men and women in the inaugural class of Obama Scholars for a unique one-year academic and leadership development program at Harris Public Policy. The impact of that opportunity and the choice to return to his home country upon graduation may soon be realized. Just prior to publication of this article, Hamraz, with the help of several fellow MAIDP graduates, established a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of peace and democracy in Afghanistan and the region.

The epic journey that brought Hamraz to this point started long before he entered Harris. It was a journey that was anything but certain as he encountered several detours along the way that threatened to derail his progress.

Born in 1986, amid the Afghan-Soviet war, Hamraz experienced the impact of conflict at a young age. The entire male side of his family, including his father and uncles, were among the Mujahideen fighting against Russian forces that had occupied his country since 1979. However, his family knew that education was “undeniably the key to a better future” and enrolled young Hamraz in school.

The epic journey that brought Hamraz to this point started long before he entered Harris.

In addition to having the good fortune of being born into a family that put a high priority on education, Hamraz attended a school that was not shut down by the Taliban when it came into power in the mid-1990s. Of course, everything changed for Hamraz on September 11, 2001. He was 13 and in 8th grade at the time of the attacks and subsequent U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban government.

“Before that event, I had no interest with politics and no idea about what was going on in the world. But afterward, I would listen to the BBC and Voice of America. I was following the Bonn Conference and was interested in learning about the people appointed as ministers in the new government,” Hamraz recalled. "I learned there were two ways to become a minister at that time: being a warlord or having high educational qualification and good relations with the world. That led me to work hard in school and read other magazines and books.”

The financial hardship of his family in the wake of 9/11 meant that his education would periodically be put on hold so he could work alongside his father in the fields. He continued reading and studying even when he wasn’t in school. He also maintained his educational edge through tutoring primary school students. The hard work paid off in the form of a scholarship to Panjab University in India.

His time in India was rewarding, though financially difficult at times. He disclosed selling his blood on at least two occasions to make money. Despite these struggles, he credits his time in India with opening his eyes and mind to different religions and cultures.

"Before going to India, I had the idea that I can live only with Muslims, but in India, I learned how to adjust to people of different backgrounds," he noted.

Upon receiving his BA in Economics, he returned to Afghanistan where he spent time with a vocational institute and NGO before joining the Ministry of Finance in 2012 as a translator. From there, at the urging of one of the Ministry’s financial oversight committees, he went to work for the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP). As a senior monitoring and evaluation officer, he traveled to 138 districts in the country, conducting community discussions to identify the underlying causes of intergroup hostility and armed insurgency within the country.

Hamraz came to America in 2018 at the age of 33, joining 24 other men and women in the inaugural class of Obama Scholars for a unique one-year academic and leadership development program at Harris.

What he found was that although religion and ideology contributed to anti-government behavior and intergroup conflict, the lack of education, resources, and employment were in fact their leading drivers. Armed with that insight, as an MBA candidate at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), Hamraz developed a program called Backyard Chickens, which planned to distribute hens to families to facilitate employment creation, poverty elimination, and women's economic empowerment. The program earned the prestigious Maqsudi Social Entrepreneurship Award, given to AUAF MBA students who create sustainable, positive solutions to the country’s most challenging problems.

At this point, Hamraz knew there was a dire need for policy experts in his country. He had been looking for policy programs that could prepare him for such a role. After applying for many scholarships, he won the Obama Foundation Scholarship and admission to the MAIDP program at the University of Chicago.

“It was unbelievable. You can't be more proud than being one of the world 25 emerging leaders and most talented youths selected by a prestigious organization like the Obama Foundation. It is already bringing changes in my life, but it will undoubtedly bring more,” said Hamraz.

The Master of Arts in International Development and Policy is a one-year degree program that provides an introduction to policy design and analysis with particular emphasis on international development and policy. It applies evidence-based analytical approaches, cutting-edge tools, and practical policy innovation to address the world’s most pressing problems.

A rigorous, data-driven approach will be critical in addressing Afghanistan’s myriad challenges, which, according to Hamraz, include crumbling infrastructure, crime, corruption, poverty, and lack of educational resources. And the government has been ill-equipped to address these challenges because it does not have systems and processes in place to enact effective reforms.

There are a growing number of leaders who are more system-oriented, including Ahmad Nader Nadery, the chairman of the Afghanistan Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission. Hamraz is now working under Nadery as the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for Administrative Reforms, overseeing administrative reforms and building systems for targeting reforms within the government.

“Nadery wants to bring people with strong educations, analytical skills, and understanding of public policymaking to the system to work with him. He wants to build systems and find the best people who will fight to advance progress on civil service and other reforms of Afghanistan,” Hamraz noted. 

It will require many more young leaders like Hamraz to bring peace and prosperity to a country that has been in a constant state of war or recovery from conflict for the last 40 years. Not content to wait for the government to solve all of Afghanistan’s problems, Hamraz enlisted some of the young leaders he met through Harris to start his own non-governmental organization. 

The National Center for Peace and Democracy (NCPDO) is a national, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to the promotion of peace and democracy in Afghanistan and the region.  The center is based on the idea that the current situation inside and outside Afghanistan can be addressed through development programs implemented in the communities, or data-driven policy analysis leading to overall improvement.

“Our approach is to conduct assessments and policy analysis to reveal the most urgent needs in the community and highlight gaps in current and past actions, and then implement development programs and projects,” said Hamraz, who shared his nascent idea while at Harris with fellow Obama Scholar Mario Mazic, MAIDP’19, from Croatia.

Not content to wait for the government to solve all of Afghanistan’s problems, Hamraz enlisted some of the young leaders he met through Harris to start his own non-governmental organization. 

Hamraz is founder and Mazic is cofounder of the Center, which includes Harris 2019 MAIDP graduates Kimberly Brown, from the United States; Nelly Wakim Awad, from Lebanon; and Edem Dorothy Ossai, from Nigeria, as board members.

“We have the experiences of peace-building efforts in Columbia, democracy promotion in Balkan and Europe, economic development and social justice in US and Africa, and peace-building and fight against corruption in Afghanistan,” said Hamraz. “By bringing all these experiences together, we aim to find sustainable pathways for the context of Afghanistan. Additionally, we strive to foster a culture of real organization on the bases of volunteerism, integrity, transparency and accountability.”

Of course, it is this type of coalition of young leaders coming together to effect change on a global scale that best represents the purpose and potential of Harris School of Public Policy and the International Development and Policy program. The school is extremely excited to see the impact this dream team of former students will undoubtedly achieve.