Amira Yahyaoui is a Tunisian human rights advocate and founder of Al Bawsala. For over a decade, Ms. Yahyaoui was an active member of the Tunisian anti-censorship and freedom of speech movement, which aimed to end the restrictive policies of then President Ben Ali. Following the revolution in early 2011, she founded the Tunisian organization Al Bawsala.
Al Bawsala is a public policy and accountability NGO working on promoting human rights and good governance in Tunisia. Through its project Marsad.tn (marsad=monitor in Arabic), Al Bawsala monitors the work of the parliament, the budget and municipalities using new technologies to make the information collected accessible to citizens. Al Bawsala also advocates for better governance and citizen inclusion through lobbying and technical assistance to legislators and government officials.
Al Bawsala is considered one of the most influential NGOs in Tunisia. The organization has been recognized numerous times, including winning the 2012 OpenGov award for transparency and in 2013 the World Summit Award for its work as a parliamentary watchdog.
Ms. Yahyaoui won the Vital Voices global trailblazer award as "Women Transforming the Middle East and North Africa", the Norwegian Linderbraeke Award for Human Rights and the French award on conflict prevention. She has been ranked by Arabian Business magazine as one of the most powerful Arab women and by Jeune Afrique as one the most influential African women. Ms. Yahyaoui is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a Yale World Fellow 2014.
