Radio Begum is an Afghan radio station made by women, for women. It was created on 8 March 2021 to coincide with International Women's Day by Afghan entrepreneur and journalist Hamida Aman, and is run by Begum Organization for Women (called BOW) which had been founded on 8 December 2020. It broadcasts live and continuously on Facebook, to Kabul and more rural surroundings, covering approximately three quarters of the country. On 8 March 2024 its sister broadcaster Begum TV was launched in Paris with a grant from Malala Fund,^[1] to provide video courses covering the Afghan school curriculum from 7th to 12th Grade by satellite.^[2]

The station was launched on 8 March 2021 to coincide with International Women's Day, in the context of the possible return to power of the Taliban, which when previously in power had suppressed women's education. Begum means princess or a woman of high status or responsibility.

In 2023 the radio station is heard daily by approximately 600,000 households thanks to its six transmitters and has permission to use another four.^[3] According to its founder, Radio Begum is the number one radio station in Afghanistan.^[4]

The director is Saba Chanan.^[5]

The station offers courses for middle and high school students who have been deprived of education since the return of the Taliban to power on 15 August 2021.^[6] Programs are offered in the two official languages of the country: in Dari in the morning and in Pashto in the afternoon.

Radio Begum continues to broadcast, but according to its director, Saba Chanan, it must only focus on education, offer topics aimed at women, and have a separate space for women.^[5] It no longer broadcasts Afghan or foreign music but only religious music that glorifies the prophet and God.^[5]

• Outline of Afghanistan

• 2024 documentary: Afghanistan: Radio Begum, la voix des résistantes (in French), Arte Reportage, Producer: Solène Chalvon-Fioriti