Franco-Afghan writer Chékéba Hachemi fled her country during the Soviet invasion in 1986 and arrived in France at the age of 11.
In 1996, she founded the association Afghanistan Libre (www.afghanistan-libre.org) and has since carried out numerous projects in the fields of education, information, rural development and health – mainly for women and girls.
In 2002, she worked with ELLE magazine to create ROZ, the first Afghan women’s magazine. It is the only monthly magazine to have been continuously published in the country since April 2002, and it addresses subjects that interest Afghan women and help them in their everyday lives. She was involved in the creation of the ELLE Foundation in 2004, and the Elle Active Forum in 2010.
In Europe and the United States, she leads many activities promoting Afghanistan, such as press campaigns, lobbying with companies, politicians, institutions. Inter alia, she has participated in a working group with former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and has been a guest of honour at the ILO (International Labour Organisation), Women's Day in Geneva, and the UNHCR.
She became the first female diplomat of the Afghan transitional government, when in 2002 she was appointed First Secretary of the Afghan embassy to the European Union.
In July 2005, she was appointed by the government in Kabul as the Special Advisor of the Vice-President, and was put in charge of national priority projects.
In March 2007, she was appointed by President Hamid Karzaï as a Minister-Advisor, based in Paris.
In 2009, she resigned from her position, denouncing the corruption of the government.
Since 2009, Chékéba Hachemi has run the consulting company Epoke, as well as CH Consulting. The latter specialises in the study, design and implementation of social projects in the public and private sectors, concerning the place of women in companies, and the philanthropic and CRS approach of large European companies and groups such as: ENGIE, L’Oréal, ELLE, Fondation A (Belgium), the NRJ Group, the television channel Chérie 25, the SOS Group, Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion (FACE), MEDEF, Pierre Gattaz, and HRH the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. In 2019, as a strategic advisor to the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, she participated in the organisation of Stand, Speak, Rise Up! – an international forum with a focus on putting an end to sexual violence in sensitive areas. Stand, Speak, Rise Up! is now a fully-fledged organisation, and Chékéba Hachemi is its treasurer.
PUBLICATIONS
Co-author of the best seller Visage volé, avoir 20 ans à Kaboul (My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban), Éditions Anne Carrière
Co-author of Pour l’amour de Massoud (My Life with Massoud), Éditions XO (Prix Vérité, 2005)
Author of L’Insolente de Kaboul, Éditions Anne Carrière, 2011
Author of Guide des expertes 2012, 2013 et 2014, Éditions Anne Carrière. This “experts’ guide” is an essential tool, listing more than 400 female experts who can enrich debates in the media and elsewhere.
DOCUMENTARIES
Writer, developer and producer of Ma vie de femme d’ailleurs, a series of 7 90-minute documentaries, filmed in 7 different countries, for the television channel Chérie 25. The documentaries were filmed between September 2012 and January 2014.
Member of the editorial team of the television channel Chérie 25, launched in 2012.
Member of the jury for the Femmes en Or à Avoriaz award (until 2017)
Member of the Cercle des Philanthrepreurs
Member of the award selection committee in the Junior category, Arelli-Emergence Foundation
Member of the award selection committee, ENGIE Foundation
Board Member of the SOS Group, social entrepreneurship
Board Member of the ENGIE Foundation
Board Member and Treasurer, Stand Speak Rise Up!
Board Member of Ycroir & Agir, founded by Pierre Gattaz
AWARDS
“Prix Vérité Judges’ Choice award” with Sediqa Massoud, Marie-Françoise Colombani: Pour l’amour de Massoud (My Life with Massoud) – Ed. XO
Femme en or award, 2001
Women for Education Prize, Women’s Economic Forum, 2008
Trofémina, media award, in 2012
Human Rights Prize of the French Republic, 2013
National Order of Merit, 2014
Gold medal, Crans Montana Human Rights Forum, October 2014
RAJA Women’s Award, “Education & Social Action” category, 2016
The Positive Empowerment Award, Positive Planet Foundation, J. Attali, 2017
Lauréat International innovation award 2019, La France s’engage (Social Innovation Foundation)
