Womenâs Learning Partnership
for Rights, Development, and Peace4343 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 201
Bethesda, MD 20814
Tel: (301) 654-2774; Fax: (301) 654-2775
Email: wlp@learningpartnership.org;

 Web: www.learningpartnerhip.org

Mahnaz Afkhami is Founder and President of Womenâs Learning Partnership (WLP), Executive Director of Foundation for Iranian Studies and former Minister of State for Womenâs Affairs in Iran.  Born in Kerman, Iran, she founded the Association of Iranian University Women and served as secretary general of the Women's Organization of Iran prior to the Islamic revolution.

In exile in the United States, Ms. Afkhami is a leading advocate of womenâs rights for more than three decades having founded and headed several international non-governmental organizations focused on advancing the status of women.  Most recently, she was President of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute.  She serves on the boards and steering committees of a number of international organizations including the Commission on Globalization, The Global Fund for Women, International League for Human Rights, Womenâs Human Rights Net, Womenâs Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, World Movement for Democracy, and the Youth Employment Summit. She created the concept and mobilized support for the establishment of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Women and Development (APCWD) and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).  She served as a member of Iran's High Council of Family Planning and Welfare, the board of trustees of Kerman University, and the board of trustees of Farah University for Women. Additionally, Ms. Afkhami has led numerous task forces on democratization, leadership, and womenâs human rights in the Global South including multinational delegations to the UN Human Rights Conference in Vienna (1993) and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995). 

Ms. Afkhami has lectured and published extensively on the international womenâs movement, womenâs human rights, women in leadership, women and technology, and women, civil society, and democracy. Among Ms. Afkhamiâs publications, which have been widely translated and internationally distributed, are Women and the Law in Iran (Foundation for Iranian Studies, 1993), In the Eye of the Storm: Women in Postrevolutionary Iran (Syracuse University Press, 1994), Women in Exile (University Press of Virginia, 1994), Faith and Freedom: Women's Human Rights In the Muslim World (Syracuse University Press, 1995), Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Womenâs Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies (Sisterhood Is Global Institute, 1996), Muslim Women and the Politics of Participation (Syracuse University Press, 1997), Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Muslim Societies (Sisterhood Is Global Institute, 1998), and Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women (Womenâs Learning Partnership, 2001).