Azra Jafari

Azra Jafari
عذرا جعفری
Azra Jafari, Nili mayor, addressing the audience in 2012
Mayor of Nili, Afghanistan
In office December 2008 – January 2014
President	Hamid Karzai
Governor	Qurban Ali Oruzgani
Personal details
Born	Azra 1978 Afghanistan
Nationality	Afghan
Residence	Nili, Afghanistan, Daykundi
Occupation	Mayor, writer
Religion	Shia Islam
Award(s)	Meeto Memorial Award for Young South Asians 2011

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Azra Jafari (Persian: عذرا جعفری‎‎) was appointed as the first female mayor in Afghanistan by President Hamid Karzai in December 2008. She became the mayor of Nili, a town in Daykundi Province of Afghanistan. Jafari is also a writer, and has published two books so far. She belongs to the minority Hazara ethnic group.

Personal life

Jafari completed her high school in Iran while living there as a refugee and continued her education at Midwifery school in Kabul 2005. After the removal of the Taliban in late 2001 and the establishment of the new western-backed Karzai administration, she returned and participated in the Emergency Loya Jirga in Kabul. She has one daughter who was born in 2005.

Career

Jafari was editor-in-chief of Afghan social and cultural magazine Farhang in 1998. Later, she established an elementary school for Afghan refugees in Iran while she was working as Officer in Charge in Refugees' Cultural Center. In 2001, Jafari joined Emergency Loya Jirga in Kabul. In December 2008, she was appointed as the first and only female mayor in Afghanistan. She was appointed as the mayor of Nili town

Publications

Jafari is a writer as well she has written two books since she has been back to Afghanistan. She contributed in the first book The Making of the New Constitution of Afghanistan which is about political system and processes in Afghanistan and was published in 2003. The second which talks about employment law and the rights of Afghan women in labour market is entitled I am a Working Woman. She is the sole author of the book, which was published in 2008.

Awards

Jafari has been awarded the Meeto Memorial Award at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts for her work and commitment to social development.

External links

• Women's rights worsened Reuters
• A Talk with the first female mayor DW-World
• First female mayor in Afghanistan Zamaaneh
• First female mayor has been appointed BBC Persian
• Interview with the first female mayor
• Eight women around the world