Shabnam Nasimi, a social and political activist, writer and commentator, rooted in women’s rights and feminist foreign policy.
Currently available for consulting engagements, speaking inquiries and commissioned projects.
Shabnam Nasimi was appointed Policy Advisor to the Minister of Afghan Resettlement (Victoria Atkins MP) in November 2021 and to the Minister for Refugees (Lord Harrington), with her breadth and depth of expertise and strong track record advising governments, international organisations and think tanks.
As Policy Advisor, she has worked to support PM Boris Johnsons plans dubbed ‘Operation Warm Welcome’ including the successful integration of the Afghans who stood side by side with the UK in conflict, their families and those at highest risk who have been evacuated.
She is the founder and Executive Director of the Conservative Friends of Afghanistan, a political, business and diplomatic forum aimed at building a more meaningful and stronger relationship between the UK and Afghanistan.
Shabnam arrived in the UK at the age of eight with her family, fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Her father, Dr. Nooralhaq Nasimi founded and has been running the award-winning charity Afghanistan & Central Asian Association since 2001 to support the integration of refugee and migrant communities in the UK. She is best known as one of the leading British Afghan Conservative campaigners, having immersed herself in British politics. She stood in the 2021 local elections as a council candidate in Cranford ward, Hounslow, doubling the Conservative vote in the area.
She is on the Women in Dev steering committee, which is a network of women in international development that harness the momentum of women's movement and demand accountability from global institutions. She is also on the Advisory Board for Mina’s List, which seeks to build just and peaceful societies around the world by advancing women's leadership in politics and peace.
Her professional experience has included working in Afghanistan from 2013 to 2016 to deliver a UKAid funded project of getting more girls into education, working to counter-terrorism in the UK within the Home Office and advocating for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
She is also a leading commentator in international media, appearing regularly on news and current affairs programmes to discuss Afghanistan, the rights of girls and women, international development and other related issues. She has been instrumental in raising awareness of the humanitarian and development situation in Afghanistan and conflict zones.
She re-established the Afghanistan All Party Parliamentary Group in September 2020, which provides a forum to discuss all aspects of Afghanistan's development, security and humanitarian situation to improve HMG's policies toward the country.
She has advised FCDO, the EU Special Envoy Afghanistan and other private companies, government agencies and NGOs on Afghanistan - and is an ardent campaigner for women’s rights, an Ambassador for the 50:50 Parliament campaign.
Shabnam's writing has been featured widely in the British press, including The Times, the Telegraph, iNews, The Hill, and Foreign Policy, among others.
In March 2022, she made the ‘Women in Westminster: The 100’ list to celebrate the her outstanding achievements in public life.