Heela Yoon

Overview

Heela Yoon, born in Afghanistan on February 19, 1999, currently living in the United Kingdom as a refugee. She is the founder of Afghan Youth Ambassadors for Peace Organization (AYAPO), a grassroots NGO working in the Eastern provinces of Afghanistan. She has worked with GNWP as a peacebuilding fellow focusing on localizing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Before joining GNWP, she worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Afghanistan as a program coordinator for UNFPA. 

Heela graduated from Kabul University with a bachelor’s in political science and a bachelor’s in business finance from the American University of Afghanistan. She completed her master’s in international trade and finance from Leeds Beckett University as a Chevening Scholar. She is currently a research consultant with Amnesty International, focusing on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, and works as a trainee with Oxfam Great Britain.

Quotations

“Social change takes time, especially when tackling big issues like violent extremism and gender inequality in Afghanistan.”