Najiba Laima Kasraee is CEO of Laima International Training, a journalist, media consultant, founder and former Director of Academy for

RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

. She is known for her work with the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

as a journalist and as founder of the first languages training for th
BBC Academy
Her work focussed on building training resources for journalists in the language they report in. She has founde
BBC Academy International Languages websites
and news style guides in more than 42 vernacular languages. She is also known for presenting for BBC Afghan service, in radio programmes ''Your Voice'' (2001-2007) and ''The Weekly Debate'' (2001-2007)'','' and on TV in ''Path of Thoughts'' (2014-2019). She has created and presented Pashto children's stories, including the BBC series
Lallo Lallo
'' which ran for 95 episodes''.'' Her interview with Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

in 2001 won a

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

, and was described by

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

as having "a far-reaching effect on Blair's mindset." Najiba is fluent in Pashto, Persian, Russian and English and can speak Hindi and Urdu.

Early years and Education

When Najiba was an 11-year-old child when her father was the Afghan Health minister, Dr Zeary. They were invited by Afghan President Hafizullah Amin, along with many other cabinet ministers, to a housewarming party of his new home, the Taj Beg Palace. On this night, on 27 December 1979, Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The palace was attacked in

Operation Storm-333 Operation Storm-333 (, ) was a military raid executed by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. Special forces and airborne troops stormed the heavily fortified Tajbeg Palace in Kabul and assassinated Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin ...

, and a number of Afghan's were killed, including President Amin, and his two sons. The youngest son was 11-years old and died from shrapnel wounds. Najiba and her family survived the attack, although they were incarcerated in prison for some time directly after the attack. As a young adult Najiba moved from Kabul to Moscow in the Soviet Union, where she gained a master's degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

, and graduated in 1990. In 1991 she moved to London UK with her husband and started work at the

BBC Pashto BBC Pashto () is the Pashto-language station of the BBC World Service. It was launched in August 1981, and reaches out to the over 50-60 million Pashto speakers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the Pashtun diaspora around the world. Nabi ...

Service in London, UK.

Journalism

Najiba Laima Kasraee worked at the

in London from 1992 - 2007. In that time she presented a monthly television news programme for BBC Pashto for over 60 episodes, that ran from 2014-2019. She produced and presented news current affairs programmes in Persian, Pashto, English and Russian. Najiba Laima Kasraee at BBC World Service

Najiba Laima Kasraee at BBC World Service

In Najiba's position of Editor for current affairs, she managed the news coverage of the first Afghan election for the BBC, producing 18 hours of news output. She presented current affairs programmes on key moments in history such as

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and the death of

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

for BBC World Service. She presented and produced special features on women’s mental health, children and youth entertainment programmes. In leadership roles, she was part of the expansion and digitalisation operation of BBC Persian and Pashto Service. Najiba was also a Planning Editor for BBC Central Asian Service. On 9 October 2001, Najiba Laima Kasraee interviewed British Prime Minister

in the Cabinet room,

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

, London for the

Service. Blair promised the international coalition would not walk away from Afghanistan after the immediate conflict with

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

and the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

regime was over. She was later interviewed about her conversation with Blair for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', in which she revealed she had only 30 minutes to prepare for the interview. She said she took the opportunity to tell Blair about her homeland and to ask questions that would have been on the minds of the ordinary Afghan people: "The people who, in their millions, have struggled through two decades of war just to face another conflict." The interview appeared in CBS ''60-Minutes'' programme. The interview won the "2001 Award" at the 2002

Sony Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for

along with her interview with Vice-President of United States

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...

Children's stories and programmes

During the 1990s Afghani civil war, Najiba Kasraee wrote and presented a radio programme for Pashto children, which aired Wednesday's on BBC Pashto Radio. She told the stories along with the little rabbit Kharaki, whose questions and reactions were influenced by Najiba's daughters responses: "I was trying to give them some moments of sparkle and happiness so they could forget, even if temporarily, the bombs, the hunger, the fear, and perhaps lose themselves in a place where good prevailed over evil, where darkness always gave way to sunshine."
Lallo Lallo
' was inspired by the success of Najiba's earlier children's radio programme developed and presented for

. She has written and presented 95 episodes of children's TV programme ''Lallo Lallo'' (Lullaby) for

and

. The series was recorded from 2017 till 2019 and taught "children in Afghanistan, Pakistan – in fact, anywhere else in the world – fairytales in Pashto, about honesty, sharing, being safe in the street, the importance of brushing their teeth and washing their hands and many other things that help educate them about the world around them." She presented the series with character Warakai, the rabbit, who is the daughter of the earlier Kharaki. The stories cover a number of subjects, including the importance of honesty, sharing, coping with war and staying clear of landmines.

Work as a Media Trainer

BBC Academy International Languages

Najiba Laima Kasraee is the founder of

BBC Academy The BBC Academy is an educational arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation which trains current and prospective broadcasting employees in the skills of the Broadcasting industry, in addition to training the corporation's own staff and prospect ...

's International Languages. She identified the need to train

journalists in the languages they reported in. The initiative led to training resources in more tha
42 vernacular languages
for BBC journalists, and available to the wider world. At the core of each languages training offer is an explanation of journalistic ethics and values, such as accuracy, impartiality and accountability, and how-to-guides for reflecting these values in the language used. In addition many languages contain training content and interviews about news journalism, multimedia content production, tv and radio and social media. The eleven year project covered more than 42 BBC World Service languages in online content and in style guides. Najiba presented an episode of the ''

Podcast'
"Women in journalism: challenges and career development"
in which she interviewed four female journalists from the BBC World Service about the challenges of being a woman in the newsroom and offer tips for women wanting to develop a career in journalism. In her work for

she organised 7 world-wide conferences with BBC International partners. These advanced training in issues such as impartiality in language, fighting against fake news and creating content for a younger audience. She has been a keynote speaker at several international journalism events on original thinking and creativity, understanding audience growth and the fall of traditional radio and TV. Najiba was part of th
BBC GWiN
(Global Women in News) coaching and mentorship programme, run for and by women working in BBC News. Through involvement in GWiN events and being a mentor, she assisted women in more junior news roles to find their voice and build their careers.

Laima International Training

In 2019 Najiba established London based media training consultanc
Laima International Training
with the mission teaching journalistic practices, media skills and business leadership. Laima International Training's mission is "to teach journalists and associated media staff not only the latest technological innovations but also key skills such as verification, originality and good storytelling."

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

In December 2020 Najiba started working with RFE/RL to provide journalism training and career development to colleagues across the organisation. She held the position of Director of the Academy at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty during which time she pioneered an online learning programme that would be a place for strategic organisation wide training in journalism and media skills. She has tripled the number of hours spent in face-to-face and live online training across 27 newsrooms.

Speaking

Interview Appearances

"Facing a soldier who had the mission to kill her"
In 2009, on the 30th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Najiba recounted how at the age of 11 years old, she was present in the Afghan Presidential Palace of Taj Beg the night President

Hafizullah Amin Hafizullah Amin (Dari/; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist head of state, who served in that position for a little over three months, from September 1979 until his assassination. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and ...

was killed. In the interview she spoke to Rustam Tursunkulov, the then Soviet Army's Special Forces Commander that carried out orders as part of

. The soldier who had been commanded to kill everything that moves asked for Najiba's forgiveness. The interview made up a two-part series for ''Witness'' on

and was available on BBC Russia. ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, also referred to as ''the classic Outlook'' an e-mail client and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook for Windows, also referred to as ''the ...

'', in a
episode for the World Service's 80th birthday
for

broadcast on 29 February 2012, Najiba discussed her experience of witnessing the assassination of President

.
"My Life in the Ghosts of Bush"
''

Between the Ears ''Between the Ears'' is a programme on BBC Radio 3 that airs brief documentary features in experimental formats. A season of ''Between the Ears'' programmes is produced roughly twice a year, and when the programmes are in season they are broadcas ...

,''

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. Talking about her time at

Service, broadcast December 2012. ''The Fifth Floor'' for

, in a
episode broadcast 21 November 2015
In conversation about film '

He Named Me Malala ''He Named Me Malala'' is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim. The film presents the young Pakistani female activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who has spoken out for the rights of girls, especia ...

', Najiba Kasraee discusses the historic significance of

Malalai of Maiwand Malalai of Maiwand ( ), also known as Malala (), or Malalai Anna (, meaning ''Malalai the "Grandmother"'') is a national folk hero of Afghanistan who rallied Afghan fighters during the Battle of Maiwand which was part of the Second Anglo-Afghan ...

''.'' ''Over to You'' for

, in a
episode broadcast 20 March 2017
Najiba Kasraee appeared in the position of Editor of the BBC Academy International Language websites, to explain the reasons why training material for journalists has been made available in multiple languages. On BBC World Service programme ''The Fifth Floor,'' episod
"Naming names on the fifth floor"
Najiba discussed the issues and cultural sensitivities around the Korean language that have impacted building the BBC Korean service and style guide. Broadcast 12 December 2017. ''The Fifth Floor'' for

episode broadcast 12 January 2018
in which Najiba discusses her Pashto language children's programme ''Lallo Lallo.'' ''The Fifth Floor'' for

episode broadcast 14 September 2018
Najiba read an excerpt from the Pashto translation of ''

Sea Prayer ''Sea Prayer'' is an illustrated novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis and the death of Alan Kurdi. It was first created as a virtual reality experience in 2017, and was published as a book in 20 ...

'' by

Khaled Hosseini Khaled Hosseini or Khalid Husseini (; Pashto/Persian: , ; born March 4, 1965) is an Afghan-American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician. His debut novel '' The Kite Runner'' (2003) was a critical and commercial success; ...

''.'' She wrote the translation of the book into Pashto.

Public speaking and conferences

20 November 2013,
Independent Journalism: Language and Impartiality
in Hong Kong. 2 day conference hosted by

, BBC Chinese and School of Communication,

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a public Liberal arts education, liberal arts university with a Christian ethics, Christian education heritage in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university was established as Hong Kong Baptist ...

. 7 August 2014, Keynote speaker at

Jinan University Jinan University ( ; JNU, zh, 暨南大学) is a national public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is managed by the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The university is part of the Double First-Class ...

, China. 1 March 2018,

Kadir Has University Kadir Has University (), often abbreviated as KHAS, is a private non-profit university in Fatih, Istanbul, established in 1997 by Kadir Has, the late Turkish industrialist and philanthropist.

, in Istanbul. Keynote speaker on "The Importance of Correct Language in News".

Translation work

Najiba edited the translation of

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

, The Book of King, the long epic poem written by the Persian poet

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

between c. 977 and 1010. She also translated ''

'' by

into Pashto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasraee, Najiba Leima BBC people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)