We bring experience and values.

Who we are

Yousra Semmache
Founder, Lead Consultant

  • Yousra Semmache is an advocacy expert with a significant experience in humanitarian and development issues.

    She has worked for several years at country and regional levels in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, covering Iraq, the Syria regional refugee crisis, the occupied Palestinian territory, Ukraine and Yemen.

    Yousra combines her management experience in emergency responses with years of strategising policy engagement at the global level, in particular in the UK and Denmark.

    She specialises in child rights, humanitarian policy, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), education, refugees, youth engagement and gender equality.

    Yousra holds a MSc in International Public Policy from University College London (UCL).

  • Born in Algeria, Yousra was forced to migrate to France at the beginning of the Algerian Civil War. Her experience of displacement and growing up amongst refugee and migrant children brought her a keen awareness of the issue of children in conflict and fuels her passion to advocate for their rights.

    Multilingual (French and Arabic), Yousra has lived in 7 countries and is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

    She’s a yoga student, climber and world traveller.

  • An experienced and compelling spokesperson, Yousra had 30+ interviews (including print, live TV and radio) published in major media including ABC, AFP, AP, BBC, CNN, DW, France 24, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, RFI, Times Radio and TRT.

How we work

Pursue our passion.

We believe we cannot be an effective advocate if we are not passionate about social issues and making an impact. We care about what we do, and it is what makes our work inspiring.

Foster meaningful relationships.

Influencing policymakers is all about building trustful partnerships and connecting with people. We bring a strong network in policy to our clients and help secure strategic relationships.

Prioritise wellbeing.

Our work is often about improving the wellbeing of people affected by crises. We lead by example by ensuring our work is realistic whilst staying effective and ambitious.

Strive for quality.

For humanitarian organisations working under pressure and in challenging environments, we make sure this does not affect the quality of your work and provide deliverables with high impact. We pay attention to details and our content is evidence-based.

Fulfil commitments.

We have an active commitment to the communities we serve as part of our work. When a challenge arises, we take a flexible, collaborative, and creative approach to find a solution, but stay committed to achieving the goals we set.

Why you should invest in advocacy

Working in humanitarian and development spaces, the problems we face are complex. The climate crisis, conflicts, displacement, poverty, hunger and inequality are structural issues that cannot be resolved by programming alone. Advocacy can feel like a “long shot” solution, but when it’s done in an effective and structured manner, the impact of your work is long-lasting.

This is where Chams Advocacy can help you. We analyse systems and work with you to develop the skills and strategies you will need to change them. Whether advocacy is new to you or it is already a core part of your work , we can bring the support that fits your needs and increase your capacities for change at scale.

Samples of work

Below are examples of projects conducted by our Lead Consultant:

  • As the Advocacy, Media and Communications Director for Save the Children in Yemen in 2020, Yousra advocated for increased funding and access, raised visibility of the crisis whilst COVID-19 dominated news headlines, and campaigned for greater accountability for human rights violations, including through the renewal of the Group of Eminent Experts’ mandate at the 46th Human Rights Council session.

  • Working in the world’s biggest - yet forgotten - humanitarian crises, Yousra has always integrated media as part her advocacy.She has managed multimedia content production in challenging environments and provided key information that have contributed to award-winning media pieces. Under her leadership as Advocacy, Media and Communications Director for Save the Children in Yemen in 2020, the NGO held the largest share of voice for this crisis that year.

  • In her role as regional humanitarian advocacy manager for Save the Children in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Yousra worked across contexts to provide technical support on issues such as protection, education and humanitarian affairs. Leading advocacy for the Regional Refugee Syria crisis, she worked in coalition to successfully influence the Brussels international conferences on Syria in 2017 and 2018, securing key commitments on protection, education and livelihoods for Syria’s children and their families. Working on the issue of durable solutions and preventing forced returns to Syria, she supported a campaign in Lebanon using innovative technology such as Virtual Reality and media engagement to raise awareness of the lack of safety in Syria.

  • Yousra has extensively worked on engagement of adolescents and youth in decision-making about their futures in Syria and Yemen. She supported Save the Children’s Bawsala Youth Civic Engagement programme in the Middle East, strengthening capacity and creating opportunities for youth-led organisations to access decision-makers by organising dialogues, ensuring inclusive, meaningful and safe representation of youth at global and regional events, and sharing youth-led products with advocacy and media targets.

  • Yousra played a key role in raising awareness on the impact of conflict and violence on children’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in the Middle East. She authored reports based on research in Iraq and Syria, including An Unbearable Reality, Picking Up the Pieces and Five Years of Fear and Loss. As the Advocacy Advisor with the MHPSS Collaborative in 2021-22, she advocated for greater funding and policies for children, youth and family Mental Health and Psychosocial Support at global level.

  • As the advocacy lead for Save the Children in Iraq in 2016, Yousra had to rapidly carry out a thorough analysis of the context based on lessons learnt, assessments, research and evidence to develop and implement the country office’s advocacy strategy. Identifying in advance the key messages and strategic approach allowed the organisation to be better prepared in response to the Mosul emergency and the advocacy she led resulted in more visibility of issues affecting children in Iraq and an increased prioritisation of children’s protection from key stakeholders.

  • Over 2014-2015, Yousra was a key contributor to advocacy resulting in a bigger prioritisation of education in emergencies at the Oslo Summit on Education and the World Humanitarian Summit consultations.