Azra Jafari is an Afghan politician and women rights advocate who became the first female mayor in Afghanistan appointed by President Hamid Karzai in December 2008. She became the mayor of Nili, a town in Daykundi Province of Afghanistan. She belongs to the 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.

Career

Azra 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 till then the only female mayor in Afghanistan. She was appointed as the mayor of Nili town.

Publications

Jafari has been involved in the writing of two books since returning to Afghanistan. She contributed to The Making of the New Constitution of Afghanistan, which is about the political system and processes in Afghanistan and was published in 2003. Her other book, I am a Working Woman, talks about employment law and the rights of Afghan women in the labour market, and was published in 2008.

Awards

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