Fawzia Koofi, a former Vice President of the National Assembly and a Member of the Wolesi Jirga for Badakhshan until 2021, is a prominent Afghan parliamentary lawmaker and author with an international reputation as an advocate for the rights of women and children, democracy, and moderate Islam. Koofi was elected as the first woman Second Deputy Speaker of the Afghan parliament and also held the position of Chairperson of Afghanistan's Women, Civil Society and Human Rights Commission. She has been a key figure in the dialogues on the struggles and abuse of Afghan women, and she has educated the international community on the potential consequences of the withdrawal of international security forces. Furthermore, Koofi was part of the Afghan delegation in peace negotiations with the Taliban, both in Doha, Qatar and at home. She has survived several assassination attempts, testament to the threats advocates of reform face.

Koofi launched her political career in 2001 with a "Back To School" campaign to promote women's rights to education in Afghanistan. By 2002, she had taken up the role of a Child Protection Officer with UNICEF. In 2005, she was elected as a parliamentary representative for Badakhshan province, her home region in the rural mountains of northern Afghanistan. In the years following, Koofi has been involved in drafting and promoting the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) legislation in Afghanistan and supported the #WhereIsMyName campaign to include women's names on Afghan identity cards. She was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009 and was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women in 2013.

Through the WPHF Funding Window for Women Human Rights Defenders, Koofi traveled to Geneva in June 2022 to request the Human Rights Council to hold an urgent debate on the women’s and girls’ rights crisis in Afghanistan. This debate took place due to her advocacy efforts in collaboration with other Afghan women leaders. Three months later, in September, she also received travel assistance from WPHF to brief the UN Security Council in New York on the situation in Afghanistan. Despite an attempt to run for President of Afghanistan in 2014, she was disqualified due to a change in the registration date by the election commission. Koofi continues her advocacy work and has spoken at various international forums, including Chatham House in 2012. She also appeared on BBC HARDtalk in 2022 to discuss the topic "Do Afghans still have hope?".

In addition to her political and advocacy work, Koofi is also known for her literary contribution. She authored "The Favored Daughter: One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future" which was published in 2012. As an Afghan feminist and one of the noted 21st-century Afghan women politicians, her activism remains primarily focused on women's rights and feminism in Afghanistan.

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