Photo by Global Centre for Pluralism
Media Source: National Post (Canada)
Date: 26 November 2025
In the far northeast of Afghanistan, among the soaring mountains of Badakhshan province, a quiet transformation is taking place. Here, in a region where history runs deep through stone and soil, the New Life Trust Organization (NLTO), named this year as a Global Pluralism Award laureate by Canada’s Global Centre for Pl
In the far northeast of Afghanistan, among the soaring mountains of Badakhshan province, a quiet transformation is taking place. Here, in a region where history runs deep through stone and soil, the New Life Trust Organization (NLTO), named this year as a Global Pluralism Award laureate by Canada’s Global Centre for Pluralism, works to find careful, culturally rooted ways to bring women together through reviving crafts that were once a proud symbol of the country’s cultural pluralism. Marwa and Aishwa are students-turned-teachers of New Life Trust’s initiative to revive Afghanistan’s centuries-old traditions of metalwork and gem artistry. The organization’s work, weaving training for a profession with building trust and belonging, is what made New Life Trust one of the 10 Global Pluralism Award laureates. NLTO was recognised for its powerful expression of connection and resilience in one of the world’s most challenging contexts, explain Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism, and Mohammad Ulla Yahyapoor, Executive Director of the New Life Trust Organization, in this recent op-ed.