Maham Ali

Maham Ali is a communications specialist based in Islamabad, Pakistan who has been working in the development sector for the last 10 years. Maham started her career as the coordinator of the largest learning festival for children in Pakistan, the Children’s Literature Festival, and went on to become its first Chief Executive Officer. After CLF, Maham joined the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority as a Media and Public Relations Consultant. In her role as such, she worked with various national media houses to develop reporting policies and strategies aimed at strengthening ethical and sensitive journalism and reporting, with special regard to gender and harassment issues. Maham is also the founding member of the first modern, contemporary and interactive Science Centre of the country in Karachi, The Dawood Foundation’s MagnifiScience Centre which is designed to provide hands-on learning experiences to people of all ages and backgrounds. Apart from her professional work, Maham is known for raising her voice for various issues in her personal capacity.  Maham has always been vocal against extremism and radicalisation and is one of the first people to start a campaign to financially support those affected by terrorism. From being a young student leader during the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan to fundraising for the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the victims of the 2009 floods in Pakistan, the family of Mashal Khan, a young student who was lynched to death by his class fellows, the parents of Qandeel Baloch, a social media star who was killed by her brother in an honour killing and supporting the survivors of Army Public School, the child abuse survivors of Kasur, female students from Swat, religious minorities accused of blasphemy, and many other similar initiatives, Maham also assists and provides moral, financial and logistical support in cases of domestic violence and abuse, coordinating with survivors and their families and with relevant state authorities to ensure their safety and ability to be removed from abusive environments.