Dounya Chennah
Creative Director ⋅ Writer ⋅ Speaker ⋅ Social Psychology Researcher.
Dounya has always been curious about the stories we live by and the contexts that shape who we are. Her journey has taken her across places and disciplines, from her native city Algiers to Paris to London, volunteering and advocating for children’s rights, working in digital marketing and creative direction, and most recently, pursuing her deep passion for psychology studies at The Open University. Her lifelong mission to contribute to advancing adoption understanding unites her personal experience as an adoptee with her intellectual growth and research interests. Dounya has been married for fourteen years and lives with her husband and their son. She finds meaning and happiness in motherhood, in learning and writing. When she has a spare time, she finds joy in cooking for her loved ones, meaningful conversations, working out and, last but not least, sun-seeking along the Mediterranean coast, embracing the dolce far niente of her childhood.
“If we focus on the tree, we might miss the forest - this is my guiding philosophy.”
Dounya Chennah
Children’s Support and Adoption
At sixteen, while volunteering with Souk, an association in her native Algiers, Dounya visited children’s institutions. She asked : does it have to be this way ? And what could be done to bring about long-lasting change to the lives of these children ? The experience left a lasting mark and shaped her life pursuit.
On a pursuit of clarity
Building the foundations for Adoption systemic understanding
2011- 2025
Looking for answers, in her early twenties, Dounya took a course on Child Protection via HarvardX, which opened her eyes to the complexity of the global “wicked problems” surrounding children’s rights. The course marked the beginning of over a decade of independent, multidisciplinary research, sparked also by her experience as an adoptee. Looking at adoption from a wider lense and its interscetion with social, historical, political, and cultural systems.
This journey laid the foundation for developing her work in this area in the years to come. Her current formal study in Psychology is the latest step in this persuit.
Hope for children Campaign
2019 - 2020
Committed to the cause in 2019, while living in London, Dounya launched the Stronger Together campaign, a limited-edition T-shirt line through her creative label Tees & Love to support the British charity Hope and Homes for Children and their groundbreaking work around the world in protecting children's right to a family. The campaign raised funds and awareness for family-based care, sparking conversations about belonging and institutionalisation.
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she organised a digital fundraising campaign that collected thousands of pounds to support the same charity, helping vulnerable families at risk of separation.
Adoption in Context - Center
Research, Education and Collaboration Center
Most recently, she highlighted her dedication to the cause by founding Adoption Context, the centre for research and education about adoption in its wider social, cultural and legal context. The centre’s aim is to foster a more informed and nurturing society that upholds the rights and wellbeing of the entire adoption triad, through research, collaboration and education.
Mental Health
and Wellbeing
Dounya is the host and producer of Connected Roots & Routes. a podcast that emerged from her curiosity about what lies beneath our emotional experiences and what it truly means to be human in connection with the world around us.
Creating a space for curiosity, self-discovery, and connection through reflective storytelling, expert insight, and grounded voices
Podcast Connected Roots and Routes
DOUNYA CONNECTS SEASON 1
In February 2025, she released the pilot episode of her podcast, sharing the beginning of her story: one of hope, love, and courage. The incredible feedback she received motivated her to commit to a full seven-episode series. Guided by the belief that behind our individual experiences, we are all connected through the same fundamental human emotional needs, the season invites listeners to step back and connect to who they truly are, tracing the invisible roots that shape us and the powerful routes we take to move forward.
Craft and Heritage
Dounya’s appreciation for beauty and craftsmanship has always been deeply connected to her sense of heritage. Born in Algiers and raised between cultures, she grew up surrounded by the colours, textures, and light of the Mediterranean, an aesthetic that would later inspire her creative project, Zinazzurra.
Zinazzurra
Zinazzurra 2022 - 2024
The platform brought together independent artisans, designers, and makers to share pieces and objects that spoke of freedom and sunlight. As the world shifted and global supply chains grew more fragile, Dounya took the decision to pause Zinazzurra. Currently she focuses on building her other projects. In time, the project may re-emerge in a new form.
