Hasina Jalal

Hasina Jalal has obtained her undergraduate degree in economics with a minor in political science from the Jamia Millia Islamia University in India. She has a Master of Business Administration from the American University of Afghanistan and a Master’s degree in Women's and Gender Studies from the University of Northern Iowa as a Fulbright scholar. She has also studied at the Georgetown and Kabul universities.

Jalal has founded and managed several civil society organizations and women’s national and regional networks in Afghanistan and at the South Asian regional level. She is the Founding Director of the National Association of Afghanistan Civil Society and has co-founded the first alliance of South Asian women on women's economic, social, and cultural rights in Sri Lanka. 

Jalal’s efforts and activism for gender equality, human rights, women empowerment, and democracy in Afghanistan have been recognized by several regional and international awards and honors. In 2014, she was elected by public vote to receive the "N-Peace Award" from the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Office and the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor on the University for Peace.  

Jalal has also worked in the government of Afghanistan as the Director of Donor Coordination and Program Management Directorate at the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and as a Policy Expert and Research Team Leader at the Administrative Office of the President of Afghanistan. Jalal has taught microeconomics and macroeconomics courses in several Kabul-based universities. She is fluent in Persian, Pashto, English, Turkish, and Hindi/Urdu, and somewhat fluent in Arabic and Uzbek languages.

At the University of Pittsburgh, Jalal will be pursuing her PhD in Public and International Affairs and she will be also working with the Center for Governance and Markets as a core member of the Afghanistan Project team.