Summia Tora

About Summia Tora

Summia Tora is the founder of Dosti Network, an organization dedicated to empowering Afghans both within Afghanistan and those living as refugees with crucial resources and education. As an Afghan refugee who has personally experienced displacement, Summia possesses an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by displaced individuals, which fuels her drive to actively engage in refugee resettlement and advocate for access to education for students affected by conflict and displacement.

In response to the fall of the Afghan government in 2021 Dosti Network launched a global effort to connect Afghans with essential resources for resettlement worldwide and to provide support to those remaining in Afghanistan. Summia has worked with organizations such as the World Bank, New America, Malala Fund, United Nations, and Schmidt Futures. Through this work, she has consistently championed the transformative power of education and advocated for refugees, women, and girls in crisis context. Prior to the fall of the Afghan republic, her academic work centered on understanding peace perspectives within Afghanistan and documenting the viewpoints of individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

Summia’s achievement include being the first Rhodes Scholar from Afghanistan and obtaining master's degrees in public policy and an MSc international human rights law from the University of Oxford. She holds BA in economics and peace & global studies from Earlham College, where she was a Davis UWC Scholar. She is also a graduate of UWC USA. 

Summia is currently pursuing a JD at Yale Law School. She is an Echoing Green fellow, listed in the BBC’s 100 Women, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and a recipient of the Central European University Open Society Prize. Her work been featured in renowned media outlets such as the New York Times, BBC, Forbes, The Economist, The Intercept and NPR.