Atia Anwer Zoon

Atia Anwer Zoon

Atia Anwer Zoon is currently working as Director of KIIR Women Wing where her work focuses on capacity building and skill development of women on Peacebuilding, Leadership and Mediation. KIIR Women Wing has been established as a subsidiary by Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) which is a non-profit organisation working on peace, mediation and reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir for the past 25 years. She has 15 years of experience in community and inter-regional level mediation. As a leading women mediator and peacebuilding expert, working in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) - the Pakistani-administered side of Jammu and Kashmir - she has facilitated dialogues and worked on bridge-building between women from grassroots communities living in the rural and remote areas, and women in academia and policy-making within AJK. In her research titled “Voices Unheard, Stories Untold: The Plight of Women in Neelum Valley-AJK” she has documented the impact of conflict on women living on the Line of Control (LoC). An important focus of her work is mental health and trauma healing. Over the years, through trauma healing workshops and counselling, she has worked on building the resilience of youth living in the refugee camps and communities bearing the direct brunt of conflict in the LoC areas. Through her extensive work at the community level, she has established Women Peace Circles (WPCs) in all districts of AJK which are unique community structures creating learning platforms and engagement opportunities for women leaders from grassroots.