After reporting for years for National Public Radio in the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East, as well as her base in Paris, Sarah Chayes is taking a break from radio to make a direct contribution to reconstructing a post-conflict society. She is helping run an Afghan non-governmental, non-profit organization, Afghans for Civil Society. Based in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, its primary mission is to bring to Afghanistan some of the intellectual resources necessary for formulating constructive public policy. It is also sponsoring community-to-community projects, such as a sister-school initiative and the rebuilding of houses destroyed during the recent conflict.

From 1996, Ms. Chayes was Paris reporter for National Public Radio. Her work during the Kosovo crisis earned her the 1999 Foreign Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi awards, together with other members of the NPR team. She has also reported from Algeria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Serbia and Bosnia, as well as covering the International War Crimes Tribunal, and the European Union. Before that, Ms. Chayes free-lanced from Paris for a variety of radio and print outlets, including Monitor Radio, Radio Deutsche Welle, and The Christian Science Monitor. She began her radio career in 1991 at Monitor Radio's Boston, MA headquarters.

Ms. Chayes graduated in History from Harvard University in 1984, earning the Radcliffe College History Prize for best senior thesis written by a woman. She served in the Peace Corps in Morocco, then returned to Harvard to earn a master's degree in History and Middle Eastern Studies, specializing in the medieval Islamic period. She was born in Washington DC, in 1962. She has three sisters and one brother.

Sarah Chayes and Afghan Independent Radio Links

Afghans for Civil Society: www.afghansforcivilsociety.org
ACS seeks to bring about a democratic alternative for Afghanistan that opposes violence and extremism and promotes the rebirth of civil society.