Education and Leadership › Women’s Academy › Health, Rights and Wellbeing › Legal Rights and Empowerment › Course Materials
Knowing your basic rights and the legal ways to defend them is part of civic literacy. In an impartial and educational way, this course introduces the principles of international human rights, labour rights, important personal documents, simple contracts and ways of obtaining legal advice. The content is not political and does not constitute personal legal advice.
Course page on the learning system
Course details
| Level | Beginner |
| Estimated duration | 8 hours of study and practice |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Language of instruction | Farsi-e-Dari (with key English terms) |
| Fee | Free |
| Assessment | A quiz after each section and a final exam; pass mark 70%; certificate after approval by the Academy |
After this course you will be able to
- Explain the main principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Understand the importance of personal documents (ID card, educational certificates, contracts) and how to keep them safe
- Know the basic rights of workers and employees based on international labour standards
- Read a simple contract by asking the right questions
- Know where to go for reliable legal advice
Course outline
- What are human rights
- The Universal Declaration
- Rights and responsibilities
- Important documents
- Safe storage and backup copies
- Digital documents
- Employment contracts
- Working hours and wages
- A safe workplace
- Reading a contract
- Questions to ask before signing
- Keeping records
- Reliable legal advice
- Record-keeping
- Protecting yourself
Week-by-week learning path
With about 30 to 45 minutes of study and practice a day, you will complete this course in 6 weeks:
| Week | Topic | Weekly output |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Foundations of rights | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 2 | Personal documents | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 3 | Labour rights | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 4 | Contracts | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 5 | Getting help | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 6 | Final project and final exam | Completed project and a score of 70% or higher |
Final project
A “personal legal readiness file” (without sensitive information): a list of important documents and a safe place to keep them, a summary in your own words of five principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a review of a sample contract with a list of questions to ask before signing.
Project assessment criteria:
- Correct understanding of the principles
- Safe storage of documents
- Care in reading the contract
- Impartiality and avoiding personal legal advice
Key terms in this course
Human rights
Human dignity
Equality before the law
Contract
Identity document
Labour rights
Legal advice
Documentation
Assessment and certificate
- After each section: a short quiz (70% recommended before moving on)
- Practical exercises in each lesson: for learning; send your questions using the Questions button.
- End of course: final exam (pass mark 70%) and submission of the final project
- Digital certificate after review and approval by the Academy: Request a certificate
Teaching method
Each lesson includes learning objectives, explanations with real examples and images, key terms in Farsi-e-Dari and English, common mistakes, a practical exercise, a self-test and a summary. In every lesson you can ask the teacher questions using the Questions button. The courses are impartial, free and open to all young people.
Get ready now
- Make a secure backup of your important documents (the 3-2-1 rule, lesson 2.3)
- Read the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in your own language
- Note down your general questions for the course
Free and reliable resources
These resources were selected by the Academy team; most of them are in English. See also the Translate option in Chrome. Large files (books, exercise files, videos) will be placed in the Academy’s official Google Drive folder when the course goes live and linked from this page.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations), the official text of the Declaration in several languages
- International Labour Organization (ILO), resources on labour rights, employment and entrepreneurship
- UN Women, resources on gender equality and women’s empowerment
- OpenLearn – The Open University, hundreds of free short courses with a certificate of participation
Note: This course is educational and does not replace a specialist’s legal advice on a personal matter.
Help and questions
Questions about this course: [email protected] · All courses: Online Learning Centre · Active course: Computer and Internet Basics
Women’s Academy, Afghanistan Youth Parliament · Free and open to all young people