Shaista Gohir OBE Given a Life Peerage

Founder of Nisa Global Foundation, Shaista Gohir OBE, becomes Crossbench Peer

It is with great pleasure that we share the news that our Founder and Co-Chair, Shaista Gohir OBE, has been invited to sit in the House of Lords as a Crossbench peer. Shaista's selection was based on an independent, competitive process followed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, who assess the merits of all candidates based on set criteria and then make recommendations to the Prime Minister. We are very proud that the Commission found Shaista to have the skills and expertise necessary to act as a non-party political peer.

Birmingham based Shaista, who is of Pakistani heritage, is a leading campaigner of women's rights and is highly regarded within the charity sector due to the magnitude of her achievements within the field which span almost two decades, both nationally and internationally. Serving at different times as Executive Director and Chair of the multi award-winning charity Muslim Women's Network UK, Shaista has grown MWNUK from a small community interest community to a well-respected national charity that makes real change to the lives of victims of abuse and discrimination. She also acts as a Non-Executive Director of the University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust and is the Women’s Voices Lead at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Shaista has also worked with the international advisory group MUSAWAH, as well as for Save The Children and Oxfam, and was awarded the MBE for services to Muslim People and to Community Relations and OBE for Gender Equality and Women's Rights.

The broad range of roles and projects Shaista has been involved in, and her achievements therein, are all evidence of her passion to address all inequalities and injustices. Most importantly, her passion is accompanied with a determined plan of action to effect change and indeed, it is this strategic vision that Shaista possesses that led to the creation of Nisa Global Foundation (NGF).

NGF Co-Chair Nazmin Akthar said:
“Shaista has many admirable qualities and the most praiseworthy of them all is her ability to identify practical and realistic solutions to a problem, no matter what the issue at hand. Pragmatic and astute, she also understands that it is not always possible to eradicate problems in one go and that a number of steps and methods may be needed. This is of course precisely how NGF was established; concerns around the international Muslim charity sector were identified, research was conducted by Shaista to understand the full extent of the issues and to identify the solutions which need to be pursued and a road-map for change was put together. These are precisely the skills and qualities that we feel should be in a crossbench peer if we want to see real changes in British society and also globally. As much as we are proud of Shaista of this incredible achievement, we are also pleased that we will be able to see her talents being used for good at an even greater scale than before."

Nisa Global Foundation is a UK based international charity that focuses on enabling women and girls to change their world by funding health, education, livelihoods and gender-based abuse projects. Although the vast majority of its initiatives involve working with women led groups in developing countries at a local level, we also accept applications for UK based projects. As well as working to achieve our core charitable objectives, NGF aims to rebuild trust in the international Muslim charity sector and promote good governance within the same.

NGF Co-Chair Shaista Gohir OBE added:
“It is an immense honour to have been invited to sit as a crossbench peer and I am also very conscious of the responsibilities that come with this honour. I do not see this new role as a reward for my service, though I am of course grateful that my work has been recognised in this way, but rather a new duty which I intend to fulfil with utmost sincerity and dedication for the betterment of others. Over the last two decades I have built up expertise on a range of issues, from health and education to domestic abuse and marriage and divorce laws, and I look forward to sharing my knowledge and insights with peers across the House. At the same time, I also look forward to using new learnings to support the implementation of laws and policies that reduce inequalities for all, especially the most vulnerable in society who tend to be women and children."

1. For further information, please get in touch with us by email: info@nisaglobalfoundation.org
2. Nisa Global Foundation is a Muslim women led, international grant-giving charity that supports Muslim women and girls with the aim of eradicating poverty, promoting health and education, and supporting victims of abuse
3. Further information regarding NGF's work can be found at our website: www.nisaglobalfoundation.org. We are also on Twitter (@nisaglobalfdn), Instagram (@nisaglobalfoundation), Facebook and LinkedIn (Nisa Global Foundation)