Afghan Biographies

Hassan, Pelwasha Palwasha Mrs.


Name Hassan, Pelwasha Palwasha Mrs.
Ethnic backgr. Hazara
Date of birth 1969
Function/Grade Director of the Afghan Women's Educational Center
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Palwasha Hassan was the Minister designate Women's affairs but was not confirmed by Wolesi Jirga on 20100116
Director of the Afghan Women's Educational Center (20211206)

3.Biodata:
Hassan_PalwashaPalwasha Hasan was born in 1969 in Khak-i-Jabar district of Kabul province. After early completion from the Rabia Balkhi High School in Kabul, she obtained a BSc in the Science Programme from a government-run college in Islamabad, Pakistan. She has a Masters in Post-war Recovery Study from York University, UK.

She is the founder of the Afghan Womens Education Centre, a well-established organisation, and a co-founder of the Afghan Womens Network. Currently a Jennings Randolph Afghanistan Fellow at the US Institute of Peace, she served as first Afghan woman head of an international organisation as Country Director for Rights and Democracy in Afghanistan.

She has over 15 years of experience in development and womens rights empowerment in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She served as a representative for civil society organizations in numerous constitutional and peacekeeping negotiations, including the Constitutional Loya Jirga (2004), the Peace Jirga on Afghanistan and Pakistan (2007) and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Forum in Tokyo (2002). She presently works as the project coordinator and consultant for the Canada-based International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights %26 Democracy). She has assisted in creating a Human Rights Network based in Kabul that includes Human Rights Watch, the International Human Rights Law Group, Medica Mondiale and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Moreover, she is a member of the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA)’s Gender Network and is currently working on a breakthrough human rights research and action project in Afghanistan. It is called Human Rights and Peace Research Action Consortium, housed under CARE International in Afghanistan.

Palwasha Hassan, head of the Afghanistan Women and Training Centre, has won the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for her efforts to promote women’s rights, peace and security.(20211206)

She speaks Pashto, Dari, Urdu and English fluently.

Last Modified 2021-12-07
Established 2010-01-09