Former Minister of Media in Yemen

Dr Nadia A. Al Sakkaf (@nadiasakkaf) is one of the renowned independent Yemeni female leaders in the media and development sectors as well as in the democratic and political transition processes of Yemen in the last ten years. Post availing a PhD in Political Sciences from Reading University in the UK, Al-Sakkaf works now as a political and developmental researcher, specialising in gender policies in Yemen.

In 2015 she established and chaired the High Relief Committee as the Yemeni government’s main body responsible for supervising and coordinating humanitarian aid to Yemen. She was the first Yemeni female Minister of Information in the Government of competencies in 2014 and before that she participated in a number of high-level political committees on Yemeni transition period under the Gulf initiative.

She was the Chief Editor of the Yemen Times Media Establishment for about 10 years since 2005, and in 2009 co-founded Yemen 21 Century Forum, a developmental non-governmental organisation specialised in women’s and youth empowerment as well as media freedoms and professionalism. During her career, Dr. Al-Sakkaf won many international and local awards, such as the Business for Peace Award from the Business for Peace Foundation in Oslo, Norway, the Free Media Pioneers Award from the International Press Institute in Vienna- Austria, and she was the first recipient of Gebran Tueni Award for courageous and independent editors and publishers presented from the WAN-IFRA and Annahar Foundation. She was also recognised by the BBC as one of 100 Women who changed the world. She was also chosen by the World Economic Forum as one of 2015 distinguished Young Global Leaders.

Al-Sakkaf published extensively in the fields of politics, media, and development. She has many policy, research papers, and book chapters, and has authored two books on Yemeni women’s empowerment. She also published a book collection on the experiences of Yemeni women as electoral candidates available in Arabic and English. Some of her work can be found in her research page and LinkedIn profile. Her TED Talk Yemen through my eyes, is one of the most known videos on Yemen as it was translated to 34 languages and had over half a million views. She is a member of several local and international platforms such as the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, Women Without Borders, and Women’s Islamic initiative in Spirituality and Equality.