Fawzia Koofi, Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of the National Assembly of Afghanistan, presented a public talk titled, “Discussing Afghanistan’s Future,” Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 4:30 pm in 016 Robertson Hall on the Princeton University campus.  Discussants also included Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, LISD Director, and Robert Finn, LISD Senior Research Associate and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. The event was free and open to the public. It was co-sponsored by LISD and the Woodrow Wilson School.

A leading voice and role model for gender equity in Afghanistan, Koofi is also a leading campaigner against corruption and for governance reform.  She is one of the youngest members of the Afghan parliament.  Koofi represents Badakshan province and was elected as the second Deputy Speaker by the members of the Wolesi Jirga, Afghanistan’s Lower House of Parliament. Since 2002, she has been working with UNICEF Afghanistan as a Project Officer for Child Protection. She has also been an English language lecturer at Faizabad Medical University in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. She is fluent in Dari, Pashto, English and Urdu.