 Madame President, ladies, gentlemen and colleagues, it is an absolute pleasure to present to you Miss Shaabone Basij Rosig. Shaabone is globally recognised as an educator, activist and advocate for education for women, not only in her native Afghanistan, but throughout the developing world. Her steadfast determination to find solutions to the manifold challenges of providing education for girls in Afghanistan has won her worldwide recognition and respect. She is the co-founder and president of Sola, a Pashto word meaning peace, that stands for School of Leadership in Afghanistan, a non-profit organisation focused on and dedicated to provision of quality education for young Afghan women in Afghanistan and abroad regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Shaabone often begins her speeches with a stark reminder that she is one of the lucky 6% of the Afghan women whose education has gone beyond the high school. Her poignant and inspirational personal journey began at the age of 6 living in Kabul with a seemingly unremarkable desire to go to school. But in the Taliban-governed Kabul of 1996, not only were women forbidden to work, but young girls were also banned from going to school. Any woman who appeared anywhere in public had to dress in the full burqa and be accompanied by a close male relative. It would be easy to assume that given the dire consequences of defying this rule, most Afghan families would have given up on the education of their daughters, but not Shaabone's parents who were unwavering in recognising the value of education. Every day they dressed Shaabone as a boy ostensibly to escort her older fully clad sister. And the two would hide their books in grocery bags and sneak off to one of a few secret homeschools that had sprung up in and around Kabul. Each day they would undertake the 90-minute round trip, altering their route to the school and careful not to raise anyone's suspicions, knowing that punishment for pupils, parents and teachers who disobeyed the Taliban would be at best flogging and at worst beheading. It was not till near early 2002 that Shaabone's formal schooling began in Kabul. However, the devastation wreaked on the country's infrastructure meant that the majority of children like Shaabone would be taught in makeshift tents, while a lucky few enjoyed studying inside a school building. As her class representative, Shaabone managed to persuade the headmistress to allow her to set up a system of rotation so that all the children could access the facilities of their school in turn, an early example of her talent for diplomacy and negotiation. At the age of 14, Shaabone sat a placement test for the US-sponsored YES Youth Exchange and Study programme. Although she had only just begun learning English, she was accepted at a high school in Alaska in Wisconsin. At the conclusion of the YES programme, Shaabone applied to the prestigious Middlebury College in Vermont. And not only was she accepted, but she was also awarded a scholarship. She graduated magna cum laude in 2011 in international and gender studies. While at Middlebury College, she received the Madeleine Cunin Public Service Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service to Others, followed by a $10,000 Davis Peace Prize, which she used to provide six new water wells in and around Kabul, including one at her old school. This was a clear testimony to her belief that alumni can play a vital role in the future of their institutions, and that nation building often needs to start at the most basic level. Shaabone understands that the education of girls and women also has a profound knock-on effect on the economic development of communities, and in particular on the health and welfare of a society as a whole. Shaabone Basis-Rossach's impressive international advocacy for girls education has attracted praise from around the world, including from Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, and Hillary Clinton. She has acquired an impressive media presence that ranges from a TED talk to extensive interviews with, amongst others, CNN, BBC's Newsnight, and numerous column inches devoted to her in prestigious journals across the globe, and particularly in US and the UK. Moreover, she has been the recipient of a number of significant achievement awards, the latest of which is the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit Impact Award. Through her tireless informed campaigns always conducted with disalming serenity, Shaabone urges us all to invest in the development of education programs for girls across the developing world, never losing sight of the article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to education. Shaabone Basis-Rossach is an ideal person to join our community as we celebrate our centenary. As SOA scholars and students endeavour to study and research issues such as democracy, development and social change across wide regions of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, we welcome individuals such as Shaabone who can guide and enrich our understanding of these regions with their practical experience and vision for change. More than a thousand years ago, Ferdossi, the great poet of Shaabone's and my homeland, wrote, Tavanolbwad, Harchedonolbwad, Zeddonysh Delepeir, Bournawbwad. Acquiring knowledge is empowering, and learning will keep the heart forever young. It is my privilege now, Madame President, to present to you Miss Shaabone Basis-Rossach for the award of Doctor of Laws and to invite her to address the Assembly.