Nargis Nehan

“The Role and Impact of Civil Society in Exile” (October 2024–February 2025)

Nargis Nehan is a human rights defender and public servant who has dedicated her life to empowering women and youth and advocating for good governance in Afghanistan. While serving as Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum from 2017 to 2019, she became known as “Kabul’s Iron Woman” for her efforts to battle entrenched corruption and advocate for reform. Previously, she served as director general of the treasury in the Ministry of Finance and senior advisor to the Ministry of Education. She is the founder of Equality for Peace and Democracy, a civil society organization dedicated to building grassroots civic participation among women and youth across the country. After the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Nehan founded Farageer (previously known as Canada’s Feminist Forum for Afghanistan), a transnational platform advocating for women’s rights and the restoration of democracy in Afghanistan. During her fellowship, she is conducting a comparative analysis of the experience of key civil societies living in exile, examining their challenges, strategies, and best practices in building democracy from afar. This analysis will inform a report on how Afghan civil society in exile can best advocate for democracy in their country of origin.