Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan
Building Peace, One School at a Time
Board of Directors
Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal is a native of Afghanistan, a Muslim and an American citizen. He was born and raised in Afghanistan and served as the Minister of Agriculture and as a Deputy Foreign Minister. He is the founder of P.E.C.A. Dr. Lakanwal has served as a Board Member of the Council of Asian-Pacific Minnesotans. In 1997, Dr. Lakanwal was presented with the Exemplary Practices Award from the American Society for Public Administration. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Omar Bonderud Award given by the Human Rights Commission of the City of Bloomington. In 2005, Lakanwal was presented with the International Leadership Institute's Immigrant Achievement Award. In 2009, Lakanwal received the Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity's Winds of Change Award as well as the St. Paul Foundation's Facing Race Ambassador Award for leadership in creating an anti-racist community. For more information on Dr. Lakanwal, please visit the “Founder/Exec Dir” tab.
Mark Anderson (Treasurer) is currently a Relationship Manager in US Bank. He has been the treasurer of PECA for the past 2 1/2 years. He lives in South Minneapolis with his wife Sarah and their new daughter Laura. He is dedicated to promoting the mission of PECA as a board member. Mark is a head coach baseball for the Minneapolis youth baseball association, is a loyal Twins and Gophers fan. Mark came to us from the Bloomington Rotary Club, a long term supporter of P.E.C.A. He is unfortunately not able to keep this up because of scheduling conflicts.
David Moe (President) has a BA from St. Olaf College Northfield MN. He worked at Abbott Northwestern Hospital for 22 years as a Mental Health Counselor in inpatient psychiatry and has been a Financial Advisor since 1992 helping individuals and families make good financial decisions. Dave is well known in Minnesota for his long term activism and volunteer work on issues related to peace, Instant Runoff Voting and Single Payer Universal Health Care. He is a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and actively involved in the Peace with Justice Committee. Dave is married to Nancy Moe with 2 children from a previous marriage - Daniel 24 and Lindsey 26. Dave’s interests include politics, international travel, baseball, biking, swimming, films and weekends at lake cabin in Wisconsin
Nancy Moe (Secretary) is born in Minneapolis and holds an Associate Degree in
Electronics from Northwestern Electronics Institute Minneapolis. She is currently working at
Johnson Controls Inc., and this will be her 27th year. Nancy is well known in the community for her long term advocacy on issues of peace, Instant Runoff Vote and single payer universal Healthcare.
She is a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and is actively involved in the Outreach Committee. She is married to Dave Moe and has one child from a previous marriage - Joshua. Both Nancy and Dave became proud grandparents in 2009. Her interests include cooking, gardening, sewing, films, travel and weekends at lake cabin in Wisconsin.
Santwana Dasgupta (Volunteer Executive Director) is an American of East Indian origin. She got involved in the Peace and Social Justice movement by joining the group Peace in the Precincts, a program of Friends for a Non-Violent World. After working for various organizations in the technology sector and volunteering extensively in her spare time, she took on a part-time job as a Program Co-coordinator for Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition and as a volunteer Development Director for Friends for a Non-Violent World.
She visited Afghanistan for the first time in 2006 and was moved both by the devastation caused by decades of war and by the valiant efforts of the Afghans to rebuild their country. She started as a volunteer with P.E.C.A, became a board member in 2007 and is now honored to serve P.E.C.A as the Volunteer Executive Director.
She visited Afghanistan each year since 2006 to move the work of P.E.C.A forward, and then got the support of her family to move to Kabul for two years and work directly from the ground. She took a position with the Higher Education Project, an USAID funded program, and teaches leadership and management classes to the Education Faculty of 22 Universities and Institutes of Higher Learning across Afghanistan. She also works with an all women’s group at the Kabul Education University to develop their leadership and management skills.
