ACFID is excited to announce our final keynote speaker of the ACFID Conference 2021, Diana Sayed.
Ms Sayed is the CEO of the AMWCHR, an organisation that advocates for the rights of all Muslim women, through programs, casework, research, publications, and consultancy. AMWCHR is run by Muslim women, for Muslim women. Their work is focused on facilitating spaces for Muslim women to reach self-determination with the recognition that they inherently have agency.
Ms Sayed will speak about the effects of the pandemic on our society and economy, particularly regarding the multiple drivers of poverty, discrimination and marginalisation. Further, she will provide personal insights into the current situation in Afghanistan and the campaign being led here in Australia.
Born to refugee migrant parents, Ms Sayed is an Afghan-Australian lawyer, advocate and campaigner, who has worked in social justice and human rights spaces for over a decade. Much of her work is underpinned by the lived experience of being a visible Muslim woman of colour in Australia, as well as injustices experienced by her friends, family, and colleagues of diverse backgrounds.
Ms Sayed has worked as an international human rights lawyer in both Australia and the United States and is the former Campaigns Manager at Fair Agenda and Senior Crisis Response Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia. However, her work and influence extend far beyond these roles. As a seasoned and impactful public speaker, she has appeared as a regular panellist on The Drum, ABC The World, SBS, Al Jazeera, MSNBC and Q&A. She is a leading Australian voice in response to the current Afghanistan crisis, appearing recently as a panelist on ABC Q+A The Taliban Takeover and Afghanistan’s Future and has also joined Adam Brandt and Janet Rice of the Greens Party on their livestream Solidarity with Afghanistan. Honest and balanced, Ms Sayed provides a clear and daring voice that challenges dominant paradigms, while continually striving to learn from the leaders she works alongside.
Marc Purcell, CEO of ACFID, stated that “Ms Sayed has the fantastic ability to contextualise today’s social issues as protrusions from the backdrops of dominant social systems. We are eager to hear Ms Sayed’s insights on the current Afghanistan situation as well as the work she is leading in Australia alongside her colleagues at AMWCHR”
ACFID is delighted to have Ms Sayed as a keynote speaker at the ACFID 2021 National Conference. To find out more and to register for the conference, visit the ACFID Conference website.
