Shabnam Safa

Shabnam Safa is a driven community development practitioner, passionate about cultivating true partnerships between communities and structures of power to create lasting solutions. Having arrived in Australia as a refugee, and inspired by her own experience of forced migration, she is a strong advocate for meaningful engagement and participation of refugees in dealing with the complex challenges of resettlement. Shabnam has founded and led multiple initiatives in Australia and abroad supporting refugees and host communities, particularly focusing on strengths-based leadership and capacity-building approaches. She is part of a small team at Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA), working to establish a holistic community-led refugee sponsorship program in Australia, and chairs the National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group (NRAAG), a refugee-led organisation creating spaces for effective inclusion of voices with lived experience in key decisions, policies, public and media discourse about refugees. Shabnam is also a Karate champion with multiple national and international titles to her name.