Profile of Sima Wali

Sima Wali, is President and CEO of Refugee Women in Development (RefWID), Inc. an international non-profit institution focusing on women in conflict, post-conflict reintegration and human rights. Wali is a native of Afghanistan. Her personal experience as a product of war inspires her work for uprooted women and human rights.

Wali served as one of three women delegates to the U.N. Peace Talks on Afghanistan held in Bonn during November-December 2001. In Bonn, she was instrumental in creating the Ministry of Women's Affairs, nominating Afghan women to serve in the Interim Government of Afghanistan and ensuring that gender-sensitive language was incorporated in the Peace Agreement. Wali served as chief organizer of the Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy in Brussels in December 2001.

Wali was instrumental in the creation of the Policy Council on Afghan Women, a coalition of NGOs, working to advance the status of women in Afghanistan and to ensure that Afghan women are equal beneficiaries of U.S. development assistance funds.

Wali has pioneered in developing program models aimed at empowering women affected by conflict, rebuilding post-conflict democratic civil society institutions, and advocating for human rights protection of women and their male counterparts. Wali has led several missions to Pakistan and Afghanistan to assess Afghan's women's human rights and concerns. She has assisted in providing capacity building training to hundreds of Afghan-led community-based practitioners in refugee settings in Pakistan and inside Afghanistan.

Her testimonials before the U.S. Congress and the U.N. have led to the appropriation of funds supporting Afghan women's participation in the new Afghan democracy. Wali is the recipient of several awards: Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Fund Award, Ms. Foundation Gloria Steinem Women of Vision Award, the Women's Donor Network, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the National Conference for College Women Graduate Leaders. Her writings have been published in prestigious journals and books. She has been honored by the Smith College with honorary doctorate degree and Shenandoah University. Wali has a Masters in International Affairs.

• Weblinks
• Refugee Women in Development
• UN speech, International Women's Day 2002
• Speech ?The Politics of Abandonment?, Doctors without Borders