Sandra Kabir


Sandra Mostafa Kabir is a British philanthropist, Executive Director of BRAC UK, Labour Party politician and councillor for Queensbury.

Early life

Kabir is of mixed descent, born to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother. She was born along with her younger brother and sister in London, England. Her mother was born Church of England but was agnostic.
In 1963, Kabir and her family left London when she was 13 because her father decided to return to East Pakistan where he had left from 22 years previously, at the time he was 45 to 46 years old. Her parents died in Bangladesh.
In 1995, Kabir and her second husband returned to London so their youngest child could have a better level of education.

Career

Since 1976, Kabir has worked in development with donor agencies, international and national non-governmental organizations. She has worked predominantly in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights and women's development and rights.
Kabir began her career in Bangladesh as a Programme Officer for the south west Asia regional office of FPIA, established a national women's NGO, played a leading role in the NGO movement and worked on the boards of several NGOs. She has experience in poverty alleviation and people's empowerment programme design and implementation, fund raising and advocacy, spanning Asia, Africa and the United Kingdom. Kabir worked in the regional office of the Family Planning International Assistance, an agency disbursing United States Agency for International Development. After the Ronald Reagan administration decided to withdraw funding for abortion, USAID exerted pressure on Bangladeshi and international organisations receiving USAID fund to segregate menstrual regulation and medically induced abortion from other services. Kabir joined Concerned Women for Family Planning, which received funding from FPIA but also eventually came under pressure from USAID.
In 1979, she played a major role in the creation of El Taller, a worldwide NGO movement initially based in Spain and then in Tunisia. In 1980, Kabir established the Bangladesh Women's Health Coalition. whose clinics provide menstrual regulation.
In 1995, Kabir moved to the United Kingdom where she worked in senior capacities with Interact Worldwide, Reproductive Health Alliance and ICOMP. In 2006, she established BRAC UK a member of the world-renowned NGO, BRAC. BRAC UK works both locally and internationally and has gained recognition for its work on money management and international development education in East London.
Since 1997, Kabir has been involved in community-based activities in East London.
Kabir has been on Bangladesh and UK government delegations to international UN conferences, is on the board of several NGOs in the UK and is a school governor. She is on the board of the Tower Hamlets CVS, the Attlee Foundation, the Diaspora Volunteering Alliance and others.
On 24 January 2011, the founding leaders of BRAC UK – Professor Patrick Vaughan and Sandra Kabir – both announced that they would be retiring in early 2011.

Politics

In 1994, Kabir joined the Labour Party. She was an elected councillor for Queensbury ward in Brent London Borough Council from 2002 to 2006 before being re-elected in 2010 and 2014. As a councilor, Kabir's particular areas of interest are health, women's issues and citizenship. She is also a school governor and a member of several Council committees.

Awards

In 1988, Kabir was awarded the international STIMEZO Prize, for her contribution to making abortion safe worldwide.

Personal life

Kabir is widowed, has three children and two grandchildren.
In 1967, at the age of 17, Kabir got married and had son and daughter before getting divorced in 1976.
In February 1972, her mother died of appendicitis, and in 1979, her father died.
In 1979, Kabir met her second husband whom she married in 1980, and they have a daughter. In October 1997, Kabir's second husband died of a liver disease.
Kabir's brother lives in Brisbane, Australia. Her sister is a journalist and lives in Bangladesh. Kabir lives in London, England with her eldest son, Saeqah Kabir, who works for a property company.

Books