Noor Akbar

Noor Akbar is a Research Associate in the project Tolerance in Muslim Politics: Political Theory beyond the ‘West’. He has been working in local and international non-profit organizations for seven years in various capacities and across a range of thematic areas, such as conflict resolution and human rights. He holds master degree in Human Rights from Roehampton University London. In addition, he has studied at Gothenburg University, Sweden, Tromso University, Norway in 2010 and University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Noor has assisted in the management of an 18-month research project entitled “Towards Understanding the Pukhtoon Jirga” with two Fulbright scholars in the Pukhtoon belt of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has conducted research thesis on the topic, “Women's Rights in FATA Pakistan: A Critical Review of NGOs' Communication Strategies for Project Implementation” for the fulfillment of a master's degree in Human Rights (published as a monograph). The research study analysed the communication strategies and different methods of project implementation that NGOs developed for women’s rights projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. As well as having personally interviewed fifty local elders, Noor also interviewed personnel from four NGOs with experience of working in the FATA. He has also worked with a London-based charity as Community Project Coordinator in Brent Mediation Project. The project was about community mediation and conflict resolution in the London Borough of Brent, which is 54.7% BME and is recognized as the most ethnically diverse local authority in the country.
Apart from his experience working for organizations in the field of peace and conflict resolution, Noor has also worked for human rights and development organizations in Pakistan and Afghanistan where he served in different human rights projects. He worked on a 30-month project funded by the EU on “Capacity-building & Social Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in NWFP, Pakistan. The project was aimed at supporting the social and economic re-integration of victims of torture and building the capacity of State authorities and local NGOs active in the field of rehabilitation. On child rights, he has worked with a UNICEF-funded diversion project where he trained UNICEF’s implementing partners in Restorative Justice, aimed to be incorporated in the juvenile justice system in Pakistan. With Oxfam GB Noor worked on the “We Can End” campaign, which was focused on ending violence against women and honour killing in five countries of South Asia, including Pakistan.
Noor is an experienced facilitator, having organized and participated in various national and international workshops, seminars and conferences. He is member of the Human Dignity & Humiliation Studies Global Coordinating Team, and of the Research Team. Human DHS is a global network of experienced researcher, scholars and practitioners
(http://www.humiliationstudies.org/)