Ms. Farah Kabir
Country Director Action Aid, Bangladesh
Farah Kabir has been working with ActionAid Bangladesh as the Country Director since June 2007. Over 20 years of vast experience in the field of development and research has made Farah Kabir a renowned human rights figure at home and abroad with an uncompromising voice against human-rights violation.
As the Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh, Farah Kabir has been engaged in persistent advocacy with many organizations and institutions regarding support and commitment to the marginalized and disadvantaged population. She has taken up new initiatives for communities, and women leadership through ActionAid. She has worked with 150 girls for 9 years by building Happy Home, a safe home for these girls. Post Rana Plaza disaster, Farah Kabir was one of the few rights activists who took up a position for the affected workers and strongly advocated for corporate company’s accountability towards the affected garment workers.
Farah Kabir, a student of public administration and policy, commenced her career with the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS); she has research experience with a host of publications especially on Women in Politics to her credit. For her significant contribution in women’s rights movement of Bangladesh, Farah Kabir won the prestigious "Nawab Ali Chowdhury National Award 2012". She also led ActionAid to win the UN Sasakawa Award for disaster risk reduction and the Momentum for Change 2013 Lighthouse Activity on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Resilience in Bangladesh. She is the co-editor of two recent publications namely ‘Discourse Analysis as a Tool for Understanding Gender Identity, Representation and Equality’ and ‘Revealing Gender Inequalities and Perceptions in South Asian Countries through Discourse Analysis’.
Ms Kabir worked with British Council for nearly ten years both in Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. She was the Consultant of Participative Democracy of British Council Governance Team in the UK with responsibility to develop Governance programmed in Scotland. Prior to that, she was Assistant Director, Governance of British Council Bangladesh. She is a fellow of the Advocacy Institute, Washington D.C, USA. Presently she is a member of the CSEF Funding Committee of the Board. She is a board member of UCEP.
Farah is engaged in climate change, women rights and governance issues; she has spoken on various occasions, such as climate change adaptation in the UN and the CSO dialogue in the UN, South Asian Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Climate Change by Climate Action Network South Asia in February 2013. She also spoke on Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integration at the UNISDR in Geneva in May 2013.
She is an active member of many professional societies. To name a few, Ms Kabir was a member of the Governance Board of Napier University, Edinburgh Scotland, a member of Board of Trustees for Zero Tolerance, Scotland, a board member of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), advisory panel member of LDC Independent Expert Group on Post 2015 supported by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). She is also working as a Chair of the Global Board of GNDR. She is presently a Board member of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), Member of Education Watch and Member of the Funding Committee of Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).
Farah Kabir has been associated with the media since University life as a newscaster on both National Television and Radio.
As the Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh, Farah Kabir has been engaged in persistent advocacy with many organizations and institutions regarding support and commitment to the marginalized and disadvantaged population. She has taken up new initiatives for communities, and women leadership through ActionAid. She has worked with 150 girls for 9 years by building Happy Home, a safe home for these girls. Post Rana Plaza disaster, Farah Kabir was one of the few rights activists who took up a position for the affected workers and strongly advocated for corporate company’s accountability towards the affected garment workers.
Farah Kabir, a student of public administration and policy, commenced her career with the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS); she has research experience with a host of publications especially on Women in Politics to her credit. For her significant contribution in women’s rights movement of Bangladesh, Farah Kabir won the prestigious "Nawab Ali Chowdhury National Award 2012". She also led ActionAid to win the UN Sasakawa Award for disaster risk reduction and the Momentum for Change 2013 Lighthouse Activity on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Resilience in Bangladesh. She is the co-editor of two recent publications namely ‘Discourse Analysis as a Tool for Understanding Gender Identity, Representation and Equality’ and ‘Revealing Gender Inequalities and Perceptions in South Asian Countries through Discourse Analysis’.
Ms Kabir worked with British Council for nearly ten years both in Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. She was the Consultant of Participative Democracy of British Council Governance Team in the UK with responsibility to develop Governance programmed in Scotland. Prior to that, she was Assistant Director, Governance of British Council Bangladesh. She is a fellow of the Advocacy Institute, Washington D.C, USA. Presently she is a member of the CSEF Funding Committee of the Board. She is a board member of UCEP.
Farah is engaged in climate change, women rights and governance issues; she has spoken on various occasions, such as climate change adaptation in the UN and the CSO dialogue in the UN, South Asian Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Climate Change by Climate Action Network South Asia in February 2013. She also spoke on Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integration at the UNISDR in Geneva in May 2013.
She is an active member of many professional societies. To name a few, Ms Kabir was a member of the Governance Board of Napier University, Edinburgh Scotland, a member of Board of Trustees for Zero Tolerance, Scotland, a board member of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), advisory panel member of LDC Independent Expert Group on Post 2015 supported by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). She is also working as a Chair of the Global Board of GNDR. She is presently a Board member of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), Member of Education Watch and Member of the Funding Committee of Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).
Farah Kabir has been associated with the media since University life as a newscaster on both National Television and Radio.