Naila Rafique

Naila Rafique is a Senior Program Officer on Freedom House’s Asia Programs team. Just prior to joining Freedom House, Naila worked at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), where she led democracy and governance programming in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. At IFES, Naila supported programs focused on elections support in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, writing training curricula on women’s empowerment and leadership, trainings during the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting efforts to increase the democratic participation of historically marginalized groups in Asia, including women with disabilities, youth and ethnic and religious minorities. Naila earned her Master of Public Policy at American University and a Bachelor’s in Global Affairs with Honors from George Mason University.