Nilab Mobarez '16 EMPA heads Afghan Red Crescent Society
Nilab Mobarez '16 EMPA has been appointed secretary general of
the Afghan Red
Crescent Society. Founded in 1934, the Afghan Red Crescent
Society is the Afghan affiliate for the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies — the world's largest humanitarian network. The
Afghan Red Crescent Society performs a large range of humanitarian duties in
Afghanistan, including disaster management, health services, and youth
development. In her role as secretary general, Mobarez is responsible for
managing the organization’s headquarters, 34 provincial offices, and 2,000
staff members.
Mobarez’s position as secretary general comes on the heels of a long
and distinguished career in medicine, public policy, government, education, and
non-profit administration. From 2007 to 2015, she served as the national
spokesperson for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. Prior to
that, she spent more than 20 years as a surgeon and as an associate professor
with Kabul Medical University, after earning her MD from the same institution
in 1984. In addition, she played a vital role, as the CEO of a French NGO, in
building a teaching hospital for pediatric surgery in Kabul, and she is the
founder and/or board member of multiple nonprofit organizations.
Mobarez’s remarkable accomplishments become even more impressive
considering the difficulties she faced in her home nation of Afghanistan. From
1989 to 2001, after civil war and the eventual rise of the Taliban, she was
forced to immigrate to France as a refugee. In November of 2001, however, after
the fall of the Taliban, she returned to her country to take an active part in
its rebuilding. In 2004, she was one of three female candidates running for the
office of vice candidate in the first direct Afghan Presidential Elections and she
was a member of the Loya Jirga — an elected body that helped usher in democracy
in post-2001 Afghanistan.
Aside from these humanitarian achievements, Mobarez also has a
successful track record as an author with a long list of publications, which
includes three co-authored books — Femmes
Afghanes, Expedition Paris-Kabul, and Afghanistan,
La Mémoire Retrouvée — and several articles about medical issues in
Afghanistan. In 2014, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship, which supported
her pursuit of the executive master’s degree in public administration (and
certificates in conflict resolution and in leadership of international and
nonprofit organizations) at Maxwell.
06/27/17