Authors

About us / Authors / Authors

Nadia Djeffal

Country : Algeria
Theme : Political sciences, Public Policy Making, European Neighbourhood Politicy
Brief : Nadia holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy Making and a Bachelor's Degree in Political sciences from the Université d'Alger 3 – Algeria. She is currenlty completing her PhD in Political Science. Her main research focuses on the European Neighbourhood Politicy towards the South States. She is a member of the Algerian Business Women Network since its creation in January 2016. It aims at strengthening the role of civil society (especially women) in the economic development.

Hassan Abbas

Country : Syria

Ryiad Salameh

Country : Palestine

Mohsen AbuRamdan

Country : Palestine

Jamil Hilal

Country : Palestine
Theme : Sociology
Brief : He is an independent sociologist and has been associated as a senior research fellow to to number of Palestiaina research organizations, including  Birzeit University, Institute of Palestine Studies (IPS), Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), and the Palestinian Institution for the Study of Democracy (Muwatin) amomg others. Hilal previously served as lecturer at the University of Durham, and University College, London and was a senior research fellow at Oxford University  for an academic year. Hilal has published a number of books in Arabic and English (some translated into Spanish and Italian). He has  contributed numerous articles and studies  to a number of  international (including UNESCO, ILO, UNDP, ESCWA) and regional bodies and associations in Arabic and English.

Reem Abdelhaliem Mahmoud

Country : Egypt
Theme : Economics & Political, Science
Brief : Reem holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Faculty of Economics & Political Science - Cairo University., where she currently gives lectures on Rights-based Budgeting and Principles of Economics. In addition, she works as the Senior Economist at TAKWEEN for integrated development of Urban Areas for an Oxfam-AU Washington project. She also works as an economic consultant at the Social and Economic Justice Input at Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. She published several papers on pro-poor public expenditure, inflation, social justice, austerity measures, minimum wage in Egypt.

Wael Mohamed Ibrahim Hussein

Country : Egypt
Theme : Economy, Political Sciences
Brief : Wael Gamal is an Egyptian commentator, senior economic journalist and activist, currently the Managing Editor of Al Shorouk Daily Newspaper in Egypt. He graduated in 1993 from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences of Cairo University, where he received a Post-Graduate Diploma in political sciences. His academic background is in both political science and finance and has over 16 years of experience in journalism with local and international media (print and broadcasting). He has worked as an economic journalist for several renowned Egyptian newspapers, as well as an economic reporter for BBC Arabic Service and Thomson Reuters. He has also contributed to the launch of Al- Borsa Al-Youm, business daily supplement of the Financial Al-Alam Al-Youm and CNBC Arabia bureau in Cairo, and Al Shorouk daily independent Egyptian newspaper. In 2001, he was granted a Chevening Scholarship from the British Government to complete his investment and finance postgraduate Diploma from Middlesex University in London. He is a certified media trainer in the Middle East with the BBC and Thomson Reuters. Mr. Gamal writes a weekly column in Al Shorouk and has produced several research papers in media affairs and political economy. Besides, Wael was one of the leading founding members of the Anti Globalization Egyptian Group AGEG in mid-nineties and Drop Egypt's Debt Campaign in 2011.

Salma Hussein

Country : Egypt
Theme : Public Policy
Brief : Salma holds a Master's of Public Policy, with a focus on media from the American University in Cairo, and a B.Sc in Economics and Political Science from Cairo University – Egypt. Since 2015, she withholds the position of a Researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. She has been a main trainer for mid-career journalists, political parties and CSOs for approximately 20 years. She is also an Opinion writer for Al-Shorouk newspaper since 2009. Her previous experience includes working as an economic Editor, economic Reporter and a Producer and TV presenter.

Gihan Abou Zeid

Country : Egypt
Theme : Social justice, Culture, women’s political participation, Gender mainstreaming
Brief :

Gender and Human Rights Researcher, specialized in social justice, culture, women’s political participation, gender mainstreaming.

Mona azzat abdelmeguid hassan

Country : Egypt
Theme : workers and union organizations / Labor market developments / Informal and platform economies / Financial inclusion / Social protection
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012 Arab Watch 2014 :Social Protection in the Arab World: the Crisis of the State Exposed

Viviane Akiki

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Political Economy
Brief :

Economic Journalist, Researcher in Public Policies, freelance Translator and Editor. She holds a BA in Journalism and a MA in Political Sciences and International Affairs from the Lebanese University. She is interested in several issues related to Political Economy and Economic Geography.

Howaida Roman

Country : Egypt
Theme : Politics
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012

Mai Saleh

Country : Egypt
Theme : Violence and gender - women's economic and social rights
Brief :

Consultant of gender and institutional support specialized in Violence and gender - women's economic and social rights

Mohsen Hilal

Country : Egypt

Dr. Dalia Hyzam

Country : Yemen
Theme : Public Health; Nutrition; Maternal, Child, Adolescent, and Health Care of Elderly; and Gender related issues.
Brief :

Researcher and Academic; she is a pharmacist by background. She holds a master’s degree in Feminist Studies and Development; a Ph.D. in Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Care. She is currently working as a consultant in Feminist Studies and a lecturer in reproductive health at the Women’s Center for Research and Training - University of Aden. She is a member of the advisory board of the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights (YOHR). She also has published scientific papers in high impact factor journals.

Mahinour El-Badrawi

Country : Egypt
Theme : political science, International Law and International Relations
Brief : Mahinour El-Badrawi works as a researcher at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESRs). She has a Bachelor degree in political science with a specialization in International Law and International Relations from the American University in Cairo-AUC. She is currently an LLM student in International Human Rights Law at AUC. At ECESR, Mahinour works as an officer of the International Financial Institutions Monitoring and Foreign Debt Program. She authors human rights violations related to social and economic rights. Within her focus on IFIs, she has been conducting state policy analysis in order to study and understand the borrowing policies of the Egyptian state and its effects on the economic and social rights of the citizens.

Roberto Bissio

Country : Uruguay
Theme : Sustainable Development
Brief :

Roberto Bissio, from Uruguay, coordinates the secretariat of Social Watch, a network of citizen organizations that monitor how their governments implement their international commitments.

He is co-editor of Global Policy Watch and a member of the Civil society Reflection Group on Sustainable Development. He was a member of the civil society advisory group to the UNDP administrator and regularly writes on development issues as a columnist.


Yousry Moustafa

Country : Egypt
Theme : environmental science
Brief : Freelance Consultant Yousry worked as senior advisor at the GIZ Project for strengthening the role of the National Population Council in Egypt. He has work experience with many NGOs as staff member, board member and consultant . He also served as a human rights consultant for Ford Foundation, MENA region office. He has published several studies and research papers on human rights, citizenship, democracy, and identity politics in the Arab region. Yoursy holds a Master's degree in environmental science from the Zagazig University of Egypt.

Jana Dhaybi

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Political and social affairs and issues related to detainees, women, refugees and migrants
Brief :

Jana is a Lebanese researcher and journalist, she is currently working as a reporter for the online newspaper Al-Modon, as well as a correspondent for Al-Jazeera Net in Lebanon, and she collaborates with the French Press Agency AFP. In addition to the daily field news follow-up, she focuses in her journalistic work on completing in-depth investigations into political and social affairs and issues related to security matters, detainees, women, refugees and migrants.

Number of her articles and research papers were published in Arab magazines, websites and newspapers. In 2018, she was awarded in the category of written journalism, the "Media Excellence Award" for covering issues related to gender-based violence presented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF). She had trainings and workshops related to journalism, and conflict-sensitive journalism. She has also received a certificate from the American University in Egypt as part of the "Leadership Accelerator program:Women in News". Jana is currently a Phd student at the Institute of Oriental Literatures at Saint Joseph University.

Magda Ghonem

Country : Egypt
Theme : Socio-economist
Brief :

Magda Ghonem is an International Development Consultant and Evaluator.

Farah Al Shami

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Social justice and social protection, Tax justice, Informal and precarious work
Brief :

Farah Al Shami is a Research at the Arab Reform Initiative. Her work focuses on Arab Youth Trajectories in Contexts of Conflict; Social Protection in the Post-Covid19 Era in the Arab Region; and the Role of New Labour Movements in Transitions in Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and Algeria; among others.


Prior to working at ARI, she was a Program/s Officer and Junior Researcher at the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), the United Nations-Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA), and the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Her previous research work covered a wide array of economic development, political economy and political sociology topics in the Arab region: from Tax Justice, Informal Labour, Gender Policies and Public-Private Partnerships, to Inequalities, the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Transnational Social Movements, Governance and Civil Society. She holds a Masters’ degree in Policy Economics and Economic Development from Williams College (MA-USA), a Masters’ Degree in Economics from AUB, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Lebanese American University.

Saker Elnour

Country : Egypt
Theme : Poverty Dynamics, Public Policy, Gender and Work,, Agri-food system Dynamics;, Environmentalism of the poor, socio-ecological system
Brief : Saker El nour currently Associate Researcher at the UMR 201 Développement et Sociétés (Paris 1, IRD), Institute of Research for Development. Saker does research in Egypt, Lebanon, Arab World about Poverty Dynamics, Public Policy, Gender and Work, Agri-food system Dynamics; Environmentalism of the poor and socio-ecological system. Their most recent publication is• “Dam, rice and state: environmental racism against Nile Delta peasants”

Omar Ghannam

Country : Egypt
Theme : Political economy, tax justice, economic history, debt
Brief :

Omar Ghannam is an Egyptian political economy researcher interested in the issues of tax justice, debt, and social and political relations. His research is concentrated in providing a different vision of neoliberalism in interpreting and addressing the problems of launching local resources, providing public services and democratic accumulation in the economy.

Ibtissem Jbebli

Country : Tunisia
Theme : field of combating racial discrimination and protecting minorities
Brief :

Ms. Jbebli is a human rights activist in the field of anti-discrimination and protection of minorities, she is a certified lawyer with the "Minority Rights Group Internationa MRG", that has a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and she plays a role as an observer in African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. She is also a trainer in the field of alternative penalties, and she recently provided a training course for lawyers in the state of Nabeul in Tunisia. Ms. Jbeli holds a trainer certificate in interactive training techniques, and she also has a political experience, as she was a member of the Tunisian Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and worked to create a nucleus for the network of parliamentarians for human rights in Tunisia, and she presented several legislative initiatives that are related to children's rights, including a draft law to amend Chapter Seven of the Personal Status Code.

Mohamed ELAGATI

Country : Egypt
Theme : civil society, social movements, political reform
Brief : Mohamed El Agati is the director of the Arab Forum for Alternative Studies (AFA) and social sciences researcher., published several papers and edited books on civil society, social movements, and political reform in the Arab region. He holds an MA in Political Development from Cairo university

Nadim Farajalla

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Environment and Climate Change
Brief :

DR. Farajallah is the Director, Climate Change and Environment Program, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut specialized in Environment and Climate Change


Riham Bahi

Country : Egypt
Theme : international relations, global governance, Middle East politics, Euro-Mediterranean relations, feminism, Higher education reform.
Brief :
Riham Bahi is an Associate Professor of international relations at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.  Dr. Bahi earned her PhD in International and Public Affairs from Northeastern University in Boston, where she also received her MA in International Relations and Comparative Politics.  Dr. Bahi is the academic coordinator of the Euro-Mediterranean program at Cairo University.  She is also member of the executive committee of the Anti-Harassment Unit at Cairo University.  Dr. Bahi is a member of the Future Studies and Risk Management Council, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. She serves as Associate Editor for Review of Economics and Political Science (the quarterly journal of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, published by Emerald). Her expertise includes the following fields: 
- program development
- project management 
- capacity building in higher education
- capacity building for citizenship and gender for youth
- curriculum development
- internationalization of higher education institutions
- intercultural dialogues
- teaching
Dr. Bahi has received many awards and honors, including a Fulbright Pre-Doctoral award, teaching expert credentials from the Center for Effective University Teaching at Northeastern University, and Cairo University International Publishing Award in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 
Her research interests include international relations, global governance, Middle East politics, Euro-Mediterranean relations, Egypt and U.S. Foreign Policy, Iran-Arab Gulf states relations, feminism, Higher education reform

Hala Murad

Country : Jordan
Theme : Environment , climate change, green growth
Brief :

An activist in the field of human rights and environment, interested as well in fields related to sustainable development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in educational sciences and  a master’s degree in socio-ecological science &  her thesis on climate change and and its impact on local community on Jordan valley,  the Executive Director of the Dibeen Association for Environmental Development, Facilitator Expert in the International Working Group for Multi-Level Advocacy on Land Rights with Habitat International Coalition, expert in climate change  advocacy through the human right approach 

Amine Ghali

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Democracy, Human Rights and Transitional Justice
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Amin Ghali is the Director of Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center, he contributes to the fields of democracy and reform in the Arab region. Currently, he works on the democratic transition in Tunisia focuses specifically on the issues of political and institutional reform, elections and transitional justice. Prior to his work at Al-Kawakibi Center (since 2008), he held number of positions in international and regional NGOs. He also lectures in a number of Tunisian and foreign universities. In parallel, he was a member of a number of national committees and bodies related to the democratic transition. Amin Ghali holds a Master’s degree in Development Law from René Descartes University in France and a Professorship in Business Administration from the University of Houston, Texas, in the United States.

Hasan Abdel Ati

Country : Sudan
Theme : Development
Brief : بكلاريوس بدرجة الشرف فى الجغرافيا من جامعة الخرطوم، ماجستير التخطيط الاقليمى و دكتوراة فى تخطيط التنمية الريفية من جامعة ويلز بالمملكة المتحدة استاذ مشارك سابق بجامعة الخرطوم، مستشار لبرنامج الأمم المتحدة الانمائى، و استاذ زائر بجامعات جوبا، سوانزى (ويلز) و بيرقن (النرويج). حاليا مدير أدج للاستشارات و البحوث بالخرطوم و التى من خلالها يتعاون مع منظمات الأمم المتحدو ة البنك الدولى والمنظمات الدولية غير الحكومية محرر لأاكثر من 8 كتب العديد من المقالات المشورة فى مجالات التنمية و البييئة و السكان و المجتمع المدنى أمين عام المنتدى المدنى القومى (السودان) و عضو شبكة المنظمات العربية غير الحكومية للتنمية

Diana Kallas

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Inequality, economic justice, public finance, socioeconomic reforms, political economy, political capture
Brief :

Diana Kallas is Oxfam in MENA’s senior inequality policy advisor, with over a decade of experience advising ministries, INGOs and civil society organizations on labor rights and social and economic reforms in Lebanon and the Arab region. 

Samah Hussein Abd Elrahim Abd Elghaffar

Country : Sudan
Theme : Political Science and Strategic Studies, peace, security and conflict studies, economic development
Brief : Samah Abd Elghaffar is the Chairperson of Group for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science and Strategic Studies and a Master degree in Political Science from the University of Khartoum. Currently she has been proceeding in her PhD studies. Her research interests cover a wide range of areas i.e. peace, security and conflict studies, economic development, oil in Sudan, local development. In 2005, she contributed to a program on Alternative Economic Policies, at University of Khartoum, in cooperation with Freidrich Ebert Foundation. Samah is taking up a coordination role in a national campaign on the implications of Sudan's accession to the WTO.

Ghita El Berrad

Country : Morocco
Theme : Politics, Women's rights and empowerment, Migration , Human rights
Brief :

Programs' manager at the Pioneers of Change for Development and Culture association, Oujda (Oriental Region of Morocco), Elected in the municipality of 'Oujda

Ali Abdel Aziz Salih

Country : Sudan

Abbas Abou Zeid

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Elections, democracy, capacity development
Brief :

He holds a doctorate in electoral democracy and its implementation mechanisms, specializing in electoral affairs, university professor


He worked as a training coordinator in the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections for the process of monitoring the parliamentary elections 2009, and the municipal elections 2010, contributed to the monitoring and management of the process of monitoring all types of elections in Lebanon (parliamentary, municipal, universities, Iraqi community elections) since 1998


Worked with international organizations, including:


The National Democratic Institute: consultant, trainer and observer for the Egyptian Parliamentary Elections 2011, the Algerian Parliamentary 2012, the Moroccan Parliamentary 2007, the Libyan Parliamentary 2012, International Foundation for Democracy: General Coordinator and Adviser on Electoral Affairs for the Middle East and North Africa 2014-2018, Carter Center: Trainer of Civil Society Organizations for the 2010 Sudanese Parliamentary and Presidential Elections, Tunisian since 2011-2018, The Arab Network for Election Democracy: Observer for the Sudanese parliamentary and presidential elections 2010, the Kuwaiti parliamentary elections 2019-2020, The British Electoral Reform Foundation: consultant, trainer and observer for the 2014 Iraqi elections, Al-Kawakibi Center for Democratic Transitions and the Bahrain Transparency Society: Adviser to the process of monitoring the Bahraini parliamentary elections 2010, Heinrich Boll Foundation and the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections: General Coordinator of the project “Supporting Tunisian Civil Society Organizations in the Preparation of the Election Observation Process” for the 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly elections

Shadin Alfadil

Country : Sudan
Brief : Communication and Advocacy Officer at The Sudanese Development Call Organisation (Nidaa)

Sharaf Almosawi

Country : Bahrain
Theme : Anti-corruption / Election Observation / Sustainable Development Goals
Brief :

Adviser to the Bahrain Transparency Society for Policies and Relations, Member of the Board of Directors of the Arab Network for Election Democracy, expert in election monitoring, Member of the Transparency International Strategies team, and Coordinator of the Arab Network for Integrity and Anti-Corruption, an affiliate of (UNDP).

Slaheddine Jourchi

Country : Tunisia
Theme : journalist and political analyst
Brief : Slaheddine Jourchi is a journalist, writer and human rights activist. He co-founded the Islamic Group “Al Jamaa al islmya” in Tunisia and contributed to the creation the "progressive Islamic group," which made its priorities to engage in religious reform. He worked as editor to several magazines and newspapers. He is the lead coordinator of research work for Arab NGO Network for Development. Since February 2011 he is a member and spokesperson of the national committee for fact-findings on Abuses and violations in Tunisia. The Committee was formed after the revolution.

Mustafa Nasr

Country : Yemen
Theme : Development, economic and social rights
Brief :

Founder and President of the Center for Studies and Economic Media, an independent civil society organization working for a successful and transparent Yemeni economy. The center works on issues of development, economic and social rights, promoting transparency and developing economic media

Souad TRIKI

Country : Tunisia

Jamal Bendahman

Country : Morocco
Theme : Political, Economic and Media Analysis, Human rights issues related to multilingualism, identities and democratic transition.
Brief :

Jamal Bendahmane, an expert in the civil field: a member of the National Dialogue Experts Committee on Civil Society in Morocco, and a member of the Committee of Academic Experts that supervised the formulation of the citizenship platform (the Advisory Council on Human Rights). He supervised many training courses in Morocco and abroad on topics such as (linguistic and cultural rights, mechanisms for combating extremism, identity diversity and foundations of coexistence - participatory management, citizenship values, the right to information...), and several academic and civic writings were published, including in the training field. :Citizenship education. Education on tolerance (concept guide), and (component guide), responsible citizenship, participatory management, educational governance, school and community mobilization, media and the right to information... In the field of monitoring, it was published: Civic participation in crisis management: a study Interactive documentaries on the participation of civil society associations in managing the Corona pandemic, and studies to monitor issues of democratic transition in Morocco, development and linguistic and cultural rights. Identity issues from a human rights perspective...

Jihen Chandoul

Country : Tunisia
Theme : International Public Law
Brief : Jihen holds a MA in International Public Law from the Université de Nanterre and a MA in Economic and Public Policies from Sciences Po – France. She withholds the position of an Advocacy and Capacity Building officer at the Observatoire Tunisien de l'Économie – Tunisia. She has several publications in French, including “Le partenariat de Deauville, à l'origine des politiques économiques en Tunisie” (2015) and “Les garanties juridiques aux investisseurs étrangers: le CIRDI, un jugement neutre ou indépendant?” (2014). She also took part in several conferences on International Trade, Debt, Tax justice and Human Rights.

May Makki

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Aid policy, Socio-economic rights policies, development policy
Brief :

May holds a Masters degree in Global Markets and Development from the University of Glasgow. She graduated with a BA in Political Studies and Anthropology from the American University of Beirut. She is active with Civil Society Organizations and has worked in the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND).

Mohamed Mondher Belghith

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Social policies, inclusive development, migration
Brief :

Mondher Belghith has bachelor’s degree in economics (1976, in Planning- University of Tunis El Manar). He worked in the Tunisian ministry of social affairs in the fields of employment, vocational training, studies, and social protection, then as an advisor at the office of the minister of social affairs until he reached the age of retirement in 2013. He is currently working as independent researcher and external collaborator with the International Labor Office (ILO) and several NGOs concerned with development and economic, social and cultural rights

Saad Salloum

Country : Iraq
Theme : Diversity, anti-discrimination, minority rights
Brief :

"He holds a PhD in International Relations, Professor of International Relations, College of Political Science at Al-Mustansiriya University and has been teaching at the mentioned college since 2007, one of the founders of the Christian-Islamic Dialogue Initiative 2010, the Iraqi Council for Interfaith Dialogue 2013, the National Center for Countering Hate Speech 2018, Institute for Diversity Studies The Religious Foundation in Baghdad 2019, and the Institute for Diversity Journalism in Iraq 2020. He chairs the MASARAT Foundation, an institution specializing in diversity and interfaith dialogue.

He has 19 books on various issues of diversity, most notably: Minorities in Iraq 2012, Creative Diversity in 2013, Policies and Ethnicities in Iraq from the Ottoman Rule to the Present 2014, Unity in Diversity 2015, Yazidis in Iraq 2016, Protection of Religious, Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities in Iraq 2017, Freedom of Religion and Belief for Religious Minorities 2017, Iraqi Media and Issues of Religious Diversity 2018, The End of Diversity in Iraq 2019. Return to Sinjar 2020 Genocide Continues 2022 Identity Dynamics: The End and Resurgence of Diversity in the Middle East (2022). As well as other books on international relations and foreign politics, including the empire of the American mind 2006 and the future of Iraqi-American relations 2008 and other studies published in English, French and Italian.

He was awarded the Stefanus Alliance International / Oslo 2018 award for his efforts in defending issues of freedom of religion in Iraq and the Middle East, the Chaldean Patriarchate Award for his book (Christians in Iraq: Comprehensive History and Current Challenges) 2019, Kamel Shiaa Award for the Culture of Enlightenment for his entire intellectual work Ibn Rushd Prize for Free Thought - Berlin 2022"

Azzam Mahjoub

Country : Tunisia
Theme : human rights, international relations
Brief :

Azzam Mahjoub is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Tunis. He is an international expert on issues on human rights related to development and on regional and international relations. He has been invited to work with various Arab,European and American universities. Professor Mahjoub is the former vice-president of the Arab Society for Economic Research and is currently President of the Association for Research on Develop and Democracy (AR2D) in Tunisia.

Farouk Shafie

Country : Egypt
Theme : Environment
Brief :

Business Development Manager at VeryNile. He holds a BA with a Major in Philosophy and a Minor in Political Science from the American University in Cairo. He is passionate about environmentalism and community-based education. 

Karim Trabelsi

Country : Tunisia

George J. Nasr

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Environment and Sustainable Development
Brief :

George J. Nasr is an engineer, a friend of ANND, and consultant who developed the training guidelines for the Arab Group of Negotiators for the UNFCCC. He is the author of a book, “Planet A: A Practitioner’s Approach to Sustainable Development”, in which he outlines a pathway towards a regenerative economy and greater sustainability.

Abdel Jalil Badawi

Country : Tunisia

Ziad Abdel Samad

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Social and economic rights, Public policies.
Brief :

The Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Based in Beirut, since 1999 ANND brings together 30 NGOs and 9 national networks from 10 Arab countries, active in the protection of social and economic rights. Engaged in many global and regional networks focusing in the Economic and Social public policies and targeting regional and global Institutions. (Social Watch, CSO Reflection Group on Agenda 2030, Coordination Platform on Development Effectiveness, Asia Pacific Research Network and the Reality of Aid). Active in electoral reforms and monitoring at the national and regional levels (Coordinator of the Arab Network for Democratic Elections). Part time instructor in the Lebanese American University (LAU). Member of the Order of Engineers and Architects in Lebanon.

Leila Benzarti

Country : Tunisia
Brief : Arab Watch 2014 :Social Protection in the Arab World: the Crisis of the State Exposed

Joseph Schechla

Country : USA
Theme : Development, advocacy, climate
Brief :

Joseph Schechla is the coordinator of the Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN), which supports member organizations in their development, advocacy, and various struggles to realize the human right to adequate housing and equitable use and democratic control over the land in the Middle East/North Africa and other regions across the globe.

Monji Amami

Country : Tunisia
Theme : labor policies and rights, economic and social rights
Brief : Mongi El Amami is part of the Tunisia Association for Local Democratic Development. He has been responsible for the Research and Documentation Center at the Confederation of Trade Unions in Tunisia. Mongi authors labor policies and rights, economic and social rights, corporate social responsibility, among other related issues.

Olga Jbeili

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Energy, Development and IFIs
Brief :

Olga Jbeili is a Senior Research and Programme Officer at ANND. She is responsible for implementing a project in partnership with Oxfam entitled “Regional CSO Initiative for Equitable Financing in MENA”; its primary objective is to develop a Social Protection Monitor covering 7 countries in the region. In addition, she works on topics related to energy, development economics, financing for development, debt and IFIs among others. She previously worked at the Lebanese Petroleum Administration within the Strategic Planning Unit. She also worked on consultancies for the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) on topics related to MSMEs and formalization with an emphasis on the energy and agriculture sectors. Olga holds a Master of Science in Development Economics from the University of Sussex, U.K.

Abdel Wahab ben Hafideh

Country : Tunisia

Rasha Fattouh

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Economy

Sami Aouadi

Country : Tunisia

Bihter Moschini

Country : Turkey
Theme : Advocacy on economic and social rights
Brief :

Bihter Moschini is a Senior Programs and Research Officer at the Arab NGO Network for Development working on monitoring, reporting and advocacy on economic and social rights, implementation of the Agenda 2030 and EU policies impacts in the region. She holds a masters degree on European Politics and Policies from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven(Belgium) and BSc on International Relations from the Middle East Technical University(Turkey).

Ibtihel Ben Ali

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Environment - sustainable development
Brief :

An environmental activist and consultant in the environment and sustainable development, she has been working since 2018 as an independent consultant at the Tunisian Association for the Protection of Nature and the Environment in Korba. She has worked on several projects aimed at preserving biodiversity, preserving and valuing wetlands, climate change and climate justice, youth capacity building and advocacy.

Chokri ELFIDHA

Country : Tunisia
Brief : Professor of Marketing at ESSEC – University of Tunis President of Association Tunisia Plus He is an Associate Professor of Marketing at ESSEC Business School University of Tunis. Professor Elfidha's research focuses on decision-making and digital marketing. He is senior consultant since 2000 in several companies. Pr. Elfidha is President of Tunisia+ association and treasurer of Tunisian Marketing Association. Head of the Master E-Management & the master Digital Marketing ESSEC (from 2006 until now).

Issam Sbihi

Country : Morocco
Theme : Sociological issues
Brief :

Issam is the executive director of "Espace Assiociatif", he is a researcher in sociological issues and specialized in information systems, communication and development programs

Riad Khalifah

Country : Tunisia

Mustapha Tlili

Country : Tunisia
Brief : Mr. Tlili is the Executive Secretary of ATUC since 2014. Previously, Mr. Tlili was the Regional Director for the Arab countries in the International Trade Union Confederation. The Executive Secretary has held several high level positions such as Executive Director of the Maghreb Trade Union Confederation, Advisor of the General Secretary of Arab Maghreb Union and Director of EuropeAid Project in the South Mediterranean Region. Mr. Tlili was also a Tunisian Diplomat and a Member of the Permanent Mission of Tunisia in Geneva in charge of the relations with the International Labour Organization.

Maysa Baroud

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Public Health and Social Justice
Brief :

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Monjia Al Hadfi

Country : Tunisia
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012

Fayza Yassine

Country : Lebanon - Morocco
Theme : Environmental Politics, Peace and Security, and Refugees and Displacement.
Brief :

Fayza Yassine works on topics related to environmental politics, climate change, and peace and security among others. 

She worked as an Intern at the Arab NGO Network For Development. Her previous work within governmental and non governmental institutions in Morocco covered implementing developmental projects meant to empower marginalized and vulnerable populations. 

She is currently pursuing a masters in International Affairs at the Lebanese American University (Lebanon) and writing her dissertation on the centrality of collective historical trauma in protracted social conflict. She holds a BA in International Relations from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (Morocco).

Hatem Koutrane

Country : Tunisia

Karim ben Kahla

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Governance, public policies, human capital, development
Brief :
Professor Karim Ben Kahla holds a master degree in "Industrial Strategies" and a PhD in organizational theory from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (1996). He is a university professor at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce (Tunis, Tunisia), an associate professor at the Business Science Institute (Geneva) and president of the think-tank "Cercle kheireddine" as well as of the association "Nouvelle Chance" for youth employment. Former Dean of the Higher Institute of Accounting and Business Administration of Tunis (2009-2014) and of the doctoral school of economics, management, accounting and finance of ISCAE and ESCT (Manouba University). His research work focuses on governance, public policy evaluation, foresight, human capital, development, institutional and organizational change, strategy and epistemology of social sciences.
Professor Ben Kahla has participated in a dozen governance evaluation missions in African countries (leading the economic and managerial component in Niger, Egypt, Algeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Uganda, Burkina, Sudan, Mali, etc.) and has been an expert to the African Union, the World Bank, the OECD, the African Development Bank, the ILO, FAO, UNDP, the European Union, etc. 
His expertise has focused on public policy evaluation, development, governance, institutional reforms, the fight against corruption, human capital, educational policies, decentralization, food security, African foresight, etc. 
He has notably contributed to the elaboration of the national objective of sustainable development in governance of Tunisia (UNDP-MDCI); the prospective study on the social contract in Tunisia in 2025 (Tunisian Institute of Strategic Studies), the strategic review of food and nutritional security of Tunisia (FAO, 2018); the national employment strategy in Tunisia (ILO, 2019); the national regional development strategy (GIZ-MDCI, 2019); the governance of decentralization in Tunisia (GIZ, 2020); the evaluation of development planning in Tunisia (MDCI, 2020); the development of guidelines for corporate governance and CSR in Africa (African Union, 2019), etc. . 
Professor Ben Kahla was a member of the college of the national authority in charge of regulating the telecommunications and internet sector in Tunisia (INT) and, as an independent director, he chairs the investment committee of STB-Invest and is a member of the board of directors of SIMPAR (the first real estate investment and promotion company listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange). 
Karim Ben Kahla is also the author of about fifty communications and scientific articles, has directed about fifteen doctoral theses and has chaired or been a member of several commissions for the recruitment of teacher-researchers and for reflection on the economy, human capital, education and higher education in Tunisia.

Rawia Kamalaldin

Country : Sudan
Theme : Public Health
Brief :

Health policy officer and a professional project manager. Currently, she works at the Federal Ministry of Health in the General Directorate of Health Policies and Planning, directly responsible for the reform of the institutional structure of the Ministry. She has worked in several consultancies in the health field, including teaching at the University of Khartoum, and capacity building as a trainer. She holds an Executive master of business administration in Hospital management from the Indian school of business management and administration, a Master of Business Administration (International Management) from the Faculty of post-graduate studies, Sudan University of science and technology, and a B.Sc. Honours second-upper in Medical Microbiology, Faculty of the Medical Laboratory Sciences University of Khartoum.

Ali Nusayri

Country : Yemen
Brief : ARAB WATCH ON ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS 2016 : INFORMAL LABOR

Mahmoud Hamada

Country : Palestine
Theme : Civil society - Human rights violations - Humanitarian and development work
Brief :

A Palestinian refugee, born in Gaza City on November 20, 1968. He now works in the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza City. He has worked over the past years in many international and national institutions and has experience in humanitarian and development work. Specialized in humanitarian assistance and resilience, and has technical skills in the sectors of development, relief, community accountability, and preparation of programs, projects, and policies related to development and humanitarian work.

Ali Saif Abdo Kolaib

Country : Yemen
Brief : رصد الحقوق الاقتصادية والاجتماعية في البمدان العربية 2014

Bakr Turkmani

Country : Palestine

Adel Abdullah Gabiri

Country : Yemen
Brief : First Economic Affairs Officer at UN-ESCWA

Wael Monther

Country : Iraq
Theme : Law - elections - gender - rights
Brief :

Wael Monther is an Assistant Professor of Public Law, and a visiting postgraduate lecturer in a number of law faculties. He holds a PhD in Constitutional Law from Al-Nahrain University - Iraq 2016. Wael is a Member of the Committee of Expert Consultants of the Ain Network for Monitoring Elections, and a Legal advisor (volunteer) to a number of non-governmental organizations

Sidina Ould Khatri Elatigh

Country : Mauritania
Theme : Civil society organizations’ role in development
Brief :

Elatigh is a trainer at the Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Nouakchott, Mauritania. Civil society activist, head of the Mauritanian Network for Social Action. He conducted various researches in the social field and on the civil society organizations’ role in development. He participated in several national and regional economic and social forums.

Qusay Hamrour

Country : Sudan
Theme : Development studies, technology policies, research management
Brief :

Qusay works as a Research Fellow at the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO), which works to support development and industry policies in Africa (based in Tanzania); Between 2020 and 2021 he worked in the management of the Industrial Research and Consulting Center (IRCC), Sudan. In addition, he has worked and is working on sites and projects dealing with sustainable development, renewable energy solutions, general management of technology, and research/academic editing.

Ehsan Babiker

Country : Sudan
Theme : development, human rights
Brief :

Ihsan works as a professor and researcher at the University of Khartoum. She is also active in defending civil, social and economic rights in her country, Sudan. She works as a program officer in the Sudanese Development Appeal Organization, which is a civil society organization working in the field of development and human rights.. through her work in the Appeal Organization Ihsan is involved in programs that include sustainable development programs, the civic engagement program, and programs that aim to empower and integrate local communities and vulnerable groups such as IDPs and refugees.

Nabil Abdo

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Sustainable Development and Organizations
Brief : Nabil holds a Master's degree in Sustainable Development and Organizations from the University of Paris Dauphine – France, and a BA in Economics (minor Political Studies) from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He is a researcher specialized in socioeconomic issues and policies, and has conducted research on development, labour, migration, the informal economy, taxes, gender equality and social justice. He has an extensive experience in research working with many institutions amongst which the International Labour Office and the ANND. In parallel, he is an economics instructor at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

Habib Maalouf

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Environment and Climate Change
Brief :

Mr. Habib Maalouf is an environmental writer and journalist, author of several books and reports on environmental philosophy and climate change. He studies environmental philosophy, contemporary issues, and specialized environmental media at the Lebanese University, Deanship of the Faculty of Mass Communication.

Najib Issa

Country : Lebanon

Walid Al Abara

Country : Yemen
Theme : Humanitarian and legal field
Brief :

Mr. Walid is currently working as Director General of Studies, Research and Translation at the Ministry of Human Rights. Since 2017, he has worked in addition to his work as an official spokesperson for the Ministry of Human Rights.

Zeina Abla

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Economics
Brief :

Zeina Abla has 20 plus years of research experience in development studies across Lebanon and the Arab region. Her research interests include: political economy of development, conflict sensitivity analysis, the global development agendas, gender and labour issues. She served as a consultant for several UN and international organizations. She worked previously in economic research and taught at the Lebanese American University. Zeina has a Master in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Tamara Teebi

Country : Palestine
Theme : Human Rights, Youth
Brief :

Tamara is recipient of the Geneva International Prize for Human Rights as the first Palestinian and Arab woman to receive this award due to her dedication and work in defending human rights in Palestine. She worked as a major legal researcher in monitoring Palestinian courts. She worked on localizing gender and human rights issues in Palestinian laws, and integrating youth priorities into strategies. National, and worked with many international, regional and local institutions as a researcher on human rights, developmental and political issues. Tamara is a member of many human rights, developmental, feminist and youth institutions and bodies, most notably the Youth Advisory Committee (YAP), the Arab Women Legal Network, the Forum for Innovation in Gender Issues, and she represented Palestinian youth and women in international forums and worked to raise their voices. 

Farouk el Moghrabi

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Humanitarian and legal field
Brief :
Farouk studied law at the Lebanese University and received a Master's degree in private law from la Sagesse University. He worked as an Investigator with the Fact-Finding Mission in Libya. He is the Legal representative of the vulnerable foreign worker group of victims of the Beirut Port Explosion. Farouk is the Former Senior Advisor to the Human Rights Minister of Lebanon. He has been working as a lawyer for almost 15 years on a variety of cases and areas and he is a Human Rights activist. Mr. Moghrabi is also the Co-Founder of the Lebanese Lawyers Committee defending Protestors since 2015.

Rabih Fakhri

Country : Lebanon
Brief : ARAB WATCH ON ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS 2016 : INFORMAL LABOR

Jad Shahrour

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Humanitarian and freedoms
Brief :

Jad is a Journalist / Communications Officer at Samir Kassir Foundation. His writings are specialized in human rights, media, and cultural freedoms in the Arab world

Diala Chehade

Country : Lebanon

Fathia Hizem

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Human rights/women's rights
Brief :

Fathia participated in civil work since her youth, as she got involved early in the trade union struggle during her university studies after the authority attacked the student union and installed its aides in it. She's also an activist for women's rights in Tunisia, and she is part of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD). She got involved in political work, and she was among the founders of SAT, an opposition political party that was banned by the authorities in Tunisia, and she was imprisoned because of her affiliation.

Adib Nehmeh

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Development, Social Policies and Combating Poverty
Brief :

Adib Nehme is an expert and consultant in development, social policies and the fight against poverty. He is currently working as a consultant for the Arab NGO Network for Development, and a freelance consultant on development issues. He worked as a Regional Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals, Social Policies and Governance at the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia - ESCWA, of the United Nations between 2009 and 2018. He worked between 1995 and 2004 as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program office in Beirut, director of the Capacity Building Project for Poverty Reduction of the United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Social Affairs, and director of the World Bank endowment project for the Ministry of Social Affairs. He moved between 2004 and 2009 to work in the regional office of the United Nations Development Program in the Arab countries, as a regional advisor on poverty issues and the Millennium Goals. A lawyer at appeal, registered with the Bar Association in Tripoli, he holds a diploma in deep studies in social sciences, in addition to a BA in Law and a BA in Philosophy from the Lebanese University. His work experience is diverse and includes: consulting and research in social and development issues; National Dialogues, Millennium Goals, Multidimensional Poverty, Training in Development Issues, Governance and Management of National Dialogues. Trainer, civil society activist, in addition to journalistic experience. He worked with various development partners: the United Nations, the World Bank, governments, international, regional and national NGOs, academics, media professionals...etc. He participated in several international and regional conferences, contributed to the preparation of national or regional reports, or assumed responsibility for their preparation. He has a number of books, research papers and articles published on various development issues. Including human development reports and the Millennium Development Goals in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Bahrain; Training manuals on national adaptation of the MDGs, on local development and MDGs, women's empowerment, and a guide for parliamentarians. He also coordinated the work of the report on the Arab teenage girl in 2003, and coordinated the preparation and writing of the first report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Lebanon (1998 - 2003), and the Lebanon report contributed to the Copenhagen Summit, and the regional reports of the Arab NGO Network for Development. And carried out dozens of training courses in various fields. Contributed to the design of the Unsatisfied Basic Needs Index, which was used to measure poverty in Lebanon and the Arab countries, and assumed responsibility or contributed to the design of studies that adopted this approach. He designed the Urban Deprivation Guide, and prepared the report on urban deprivation in Tripoli, which was issued in 2015. He recently published a book, The State of Spoils and the Arab Spring (2014), and Arab Popular Solidarity: From Renaissance to the Arab Spring (2016).

Madani Abbass

Country : Sudan
Theme : Civil society - Politics - Sustainable Development
Brief :

Mr. Madani was the Minister of Trade and Industry in the transitional government in Sudan, he graduated from the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Economics in 1999. He is politically active in Sudan and held the position of Executive Director of NIDAA Organization from 2005 to 2019. He has published many studies on sustainable development, the Istanbul principles, the conflict in Sudan, and the empowerment of civil society in Sudan.

Said Issa

Country : Lebanon
Theme : economic anthropology and labor affairs
Brief : A researcher in economic anthropology and labor affairs and a writer in several newspapers and specialized magazines, he supervised and produced a large number of research papers published for local, Arab and international organizations. He is a Member of the Coalition for Promoting Parliamentary Openness, Transparency and Effective Oversight. Founder and former President of the Social Accountability Network in the Arab Region (ANSA - Arab World), Founder of the Article 13 Alliance to Combat Corruption in the Arab Region, Member of the Governing Body of the Steering Committee for the Global Partnership for Social Accountability in the World Bank (GPSA), Member of the Steering Committee:"Building a rule of law society: to enhance of Democratic Governance and rule of law" , Co-founder and publisher of Al Janoub newspaper,E x - Board member at MEPI – LAA, Consultant and supervisor over Transparency project and Trainer, the launch of the Syrian Transparency network, and Transparency Conference in Syria, in collaboration with CCSD support by Hivos (2015) ,Youth and Grass roots manager in LTA (from 2008 till 2013) , Design projects and campaigns on Good Governance, Access to Information, Public Sector Reform, and Youth in Corruption, Electoral Reform and Transparency in Post-War Reconstruction. ,Supervise and conduct research on Transparency in the Budgetary Process and the National Integrity System Survey.  ,Contributed to the drafting of the first annual Arab Anti-Corruption Report. Made comments to the Lebanese Ministry of Finance on its improving transparency initiatives in the framework of the partnership in transparency between the Ministry and LTA. Contributed to the work of Transparency International (TI) in the Arab Region.Team Manager field monitors for monitoring project financing of election campaigns of candidates for the parliamentary elections in 2009 and campaigning for candidates for municipal councils in 2010. Field director for a youth project municipality to develop local community partnership with Mercy Corps. Field director for the project youth participation in the development of the local community "Mocharaka" in partnership with Mercy Corps (MEPI). Field director for the project youth participation in the development of the local community "Mocharaka" (UNDEF). Responsible for follow-up with the Lebanese associations with the Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform. Program Manager Project Lebanon tomorrow in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Coordinate field work related to the Corporate Governance project. Coordinate field work related to Lebanese Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (LALAC). 

Ibrahim Jouhari

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Migration - Elections
Brief :

Mr. Jouhari holds a Masters Degree in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut and a Bachelors Degree in Journalism from the Lebanese American University. He recently completed a six-week post-graduate program on U.S. security and foreign policy as part of a State Department Study of U.S. Institutions. He is an Instructor of Political Science, International Affairs, US Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and History of Lebanon and the Middle East, at the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut. He has worked extensively as an electoral expert and researcher. In cooperation with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Mr. Jouhari managed the Data Liberation Project, which converted, cross-linked, and publicly published the results of the 2018 Lebanese parliamentary elections in machine-readable format -- a first in Lebanese history.


Salwa Saad

Country : Lebanon
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012

Rana Jawad

Theme : Social Policy
Brief : Rana Jawad is Reader in Social Policy at the University of Bath. She specialises in the social policies and welfare systems of the Middle East and North Africa region and has published widely on the topic in a range of academic and international reports. She is co-founder and convener of the MENA Social policy network. 

Jade Said

Country : Lebanon

Walaa Talaat

Country : Egypt
Theme : Social policy, social protection, poverty, and health.
Brief :

Walaa Talaat is a lecturer of Economics at the Faculty of Business, Ain Shams University. Walaa has a PhD in Development Economics and International Development from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Her main areas of research looks at social policy, social protection, poverty, and health in the MENA region. She has a more general interest in social policy and climate change.

Sanaa Abou Chacra

Country : Lebanon

Ahmed Azab

Country : Egypt
Theme : Medicines, the pharmaceutical sector, and health systems
Brief :

Ahmed Azab’s research interests include access to medicines, the pharmaceutical sector, and health systems. Ahmed is currently pursuing his Master of Public Health at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Mohamad Lotfi

Country : Lebanon
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012

Muntather Hassan

Country : Iraq
Theme : Equality, identities, communication, and development
Brief :

Muntather has been a dentist since 2017 with a bachelor's degree from the University of Kufa. He is currently a master's student in peace studies and conflict transformation at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He works for Al-Amal on peace issues supported by volunteering experience with youth groups since 2011. His research interests include equality, identities, communication, and development.

Marie Noel Abi Yaghi

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Political Sciences
Brief :
Dr. AbiYaghi is the co-director of the Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action. She specialises in the sociology of political processes, contentious politics, and the making of public policies. 
She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.

Hamza Alduraidi

Country : Jordan
Theme : Public and community health topics
Brief :

Hamza AlduraidiMPH, PhD, Dean of Student Affairs at Aqaba Medical Sciences University, and faculty member in Basic Medical Sciences Department; Associate Professor in Community Health Nursing Department at the School of Nursing at the University of Jordan, and a member of the Accreditation Committee of the Jordanian Nursing Council (JNC). Al Duraidi has published many papers on public/community health topics, particularly on refugee health.

Samer Abdallah

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Business and Economics
Brief : Currently occupies the position "Policies Officer" with World Learning in Lebanon. World Learning is a US-based non-profit organization active on civil society empowerment and education. Formerly the Programs Manger with the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, a Lebanese non-profit organization that promotes transparency and democracy of elections through monitoring and advocating for policy reform. Formerly the General Coordinator of Nahwa Al Muwatiniya (NAAM) a Lebanese non-profit organization that promotes citizenship education, policy reform and active citizen participation in policy making. He holds a BA in Business and Economics from the Arab Open University in Beirut, Lebanon.

Lina alam eddine

Country : Lebanon
Brief : Lina Alameddine is the Founding Director of the Partnership Center for Development & Democracy (PCDD), an advocacy and institutional development non-profit organization with operations in Lebanon and the greater Middle East region. She is a leader with over 17 years of experience in the promotion of democracy and in efforts to strengthen civil society in the Middle East. Ms. Alameddine has earned a track record of success through her work with local, regional and international organizations and agencies active in democracy and development in the region. During her six years with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Ms. Alameddine as the Training Program Manager trained political leaders and practitioners from civil society organizations throughout the Arab world. As the Director of PCDD, Ms. Alameddine managed her staff to work with civil society organizations to design and manage advocacy campaigns, conduct organizational assessments, develop and implement outreach strategies and organizational strategic plans, build networks, train trainers and manage educational systems. Ms. Alameddine, a MEPI Alumnae, is a champion of women's rights and has trained female political leaders and civil society practitioners throughout the Arab world to be more active in public life. Together with PCDD, she has established training programs and advocacy campaigns that have increased maternity pay and leave time for new mothers and was recognized by the World Justice Forum (2008) for her work to increase women's access to health-related information. In each case, she has strengthened women's capacity to exercise and expand their rights as citizens. Ms. Alameddine holds a Bachelor's degree in Educational Sciences, a Master's degree in Educational Administration and Training Systems and is currently finalizing her doctorate in Women Leadership titled ” Exploring Women's Leadership in Schools: Lebanese Female Principals' Leadership Practices in Public and Private Secondary Schools”.

Saad Zbiri

Country : Morocco
Theme : Economics and Public Health
Brief :

Saad Zbiri holds a PhD in economics and public health from the University of Paris. He is an economist and health systems analyst. He is a professor at the International School of Public Health of the Mohammed VI University of Sciences and Health in Casablanca, Morocco.

Chafiq Choueib

Country : Lebanon

Ali Nashaat Al-Shaar

Country : Palestine
Theme : Social health and health systems
Brief :

Dr. Ali Nashaat al-Shaar is an academic and a medical doctor from Palestine with local and international expertise in social health and health systems. He has extensive experience in health promotion, reproductive health, early childhood, and relief interventions.

Manar Zaiter

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Human Rights
Brief : Lawyer at the Beirut bar Association since 2004 working as a legal advisor with many international and local organizations in Lebanon Working as a Project coordinator for many regional and local project related women's issues in Lebanon Trainer with International, regional and local organizations on human and women rights , international mechanism for protection human rights Participated in the preparation of many Manuel and studies on Human rights issues The Executive Director of the Lebanese Women Democratic gathering. Mrs. Zeiater is a lawyer at the Beirut bar Association since 2004 and has been working as a legal advisor with many international and local organizations in Lebanon. She has been working as a project coordinator for many regional and local projects related to women's issues in Lebanon. Mrs. Zeiater is also a trainer on human and women rights, international mechanism for protection human rights. She has undertaken several trainings for international and national organizations and participated in the preparation of manuals and studies on human rights issues

Ines Ayadi

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Health Policy and Economics
Brief :

Dr. Ines Ayadi is a university professor of economics, specializing in health economics at the University of Sfax in Tunisia. She was previously appointed as an advisor to the Minister of Social Affairs in 2020 and the Minister of Health in 2014. She participated in drafting and presenting the National Health Policy. She has worked as a consultant with the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the African Development Bank

Kinda Mohamadieh

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Economics
Brief : Kinda Mohamadieh currently works as legal advisor and senior researcher at the Third World Network. Previously she served as senior researcher at the South Centre in Geneva for six and a half years, as a senior policy advisor at the Arab NGO Network for Development where she worked for 9 years. She is also a PhD candidate at the Department of International Law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Kinda does research in investment and trade law, corporate accountability and corporate legal theory, and international human rights law. Her most recent publications is “Challenges of Investment Treaties on Policy Areas of Concern to Developing Countries” and “The Future of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Deliberated at UNCITRAL".

Aida Caid Essebsi

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Political and Social Sciences
Brief :

Aida Caid Essebsi, Doctor of Law. Lecturer at the Faculty of Juridical, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis. Director of the Master of Health Law in the aforementioned college. Specialized in health law. Legal advisor for the "Seha" project. She has written articles on medical responsibility, the right to health, and health sector governance, in both Arabic and French, published in Tunisian and foreign journals.

Roland Riachi

Country : Lebanon
Theme : political economy, political ecology
Brief : Roland Riachi is an Associate Researcher at the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration (PSPA) at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is currently based in Paris and has previously worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the PSPA. Roland's research topics include political economy and political ecology, with an emphasis on environmental, water and food studies in the MENA region. Roland has served as an economist in different United Nations agencies - Escwa and ILO. R. He was recently appointed to be the Senior Writer of Lebanon's Labor Force and Household Living Conditions Survey 2018-19 report (LFHLCS). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Grenoble, an M.A. in Environmental Economics from the University of Paris Sorbonne and a B.Sc. in Economics Engineering from the Toulouse School of Economics.

Dr. Abeer Shaef

Country : Yemen
Theme : Public Health and Community Medicine
Brief :  Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Yemen. A Doctor, Instructor, Public Health/Community Medicine Specialist and Consultant; working in Health, Nutrition and the Humanitarian field with local, international and United Nations organizations. A Certified trainer at several organizations and the Ministry of Public Health and Population, especially in infectious diseases (Dengue fever, Cholera, COVID-19). Co-author in several research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.


Kanj Hamade

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
Brief : Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Present Lebanese University Teaches at the faculty of Agriculture, and the Faculty of Economics and business Management. Research interests include: Mixed methods - Rural development initiatives Rural Livelihood and shock coping strategies - social exclusion and marginalization processes.

Barrak Alahmad

Country : Kuwait
Theme : Public Health and climate
Brief :

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA. College of Public Health, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Barrak is a physician from Kuwait who works on air quality, climate change & health in the Middle East, specifically the adverse impacts of dust storms and extreme temperatures on migrant workers. His work was highlighted by professional health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Heart Association (AHA) as well as many media outlets.

Sami Ofeish

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Political Sciences and International Affairs
Brief : Chairperson, Department of Political Science and International Affairs at University of Balamand

Sawsan Abdulrahim, PhD, MPH

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Gender, migration, and health
Brief :

Sawsan Abdulrahim is Professor of Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut. She obtained her doctoral degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. Her research centers human rights principles to illuminate social inequities in health across the life course, with a focus on the well-being of refugees and labor migrants in the Arab region and beyond. She utilizes mixed methods in her work and has led complex implementation research studies in forced displacement settings. Abdulrahim’s substantive areas of interest include gender, migration, and health; aging and care; and the well-being of women migrant care workers.

Mohammed A. Mossallem

Country : Egypt
Theme : Economics
Brief : Mohamed Morsallem is the coordinator of the Foreign Aid, Investment and Trade Program in the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the American University in Cairo. Between 2007 and 2012, Mohamed worked as a researcher and as an investment analyst in International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group in Cairo. He has completed several training courses on financial modeling, credit frameworks, market analysis, valuation, financial structuring and developmental impact. He has independently produced market intelligence reports for several sectors and organized and participated in business development meetings establishing/managing relationships with new clients. At the EIPR, he is setting up the aid, trade and investment program, and he is interested in debt issues

May Hammoud

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Socio economic policies, Conflict Prevention, Resolution and Peacebuilding
Brief :

Dr. May Hammoud has experience exceeding 15 years with International organizations, including 10 years as a Legal Officer with UNDP (Conflict Prevention, Resolution, and Peacebuilding) and served as a legal consultant for several UN agencies, mainly ILO and UNRWA. She worked as a Senior Programme and Research Officer with the Arab Network NGOs for Development (ANND), with a special focus on research tackling Socio-economic policies in the MENA region, mainly in coordinating, reviewing, and launching of Arab Watch Reports. She is currently an Associate Professor of Law at Kuwait International Law School. She obtained her Ph.D. in Law in 2012 from Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II).


Hebatallah Mahmoud Abdelraouf Khalil

Country : Egypt
Theme : Sociology
Brief : Heba Khalil is currently a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's also a researcher at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), where she previously served as Research Head and Deputy Director, respectively. She holds a BA in Political science, and an LLM in International Human Rights law. Her research work covers a range of social and economic issues in egypt, including macro-economic policies, investment policies, labor issues, social movements, and rural egypt.

Osama Diab

Country : Egypt
Theme : Media, Culture and Identity, Political Sciences
Brief : Osama holds an MA in Media, Culture and Identity from Roehampton University in United Kingdom and in 2017 will complete his PhD in Political Science in Ghent University. Osama currently works as a Transparency and Anti-Corruption Researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and produces policy and position papers on the recovery of looted assets and other corruption related topics. He conducts research on budget transparency and on the inclusion of economic crimes in processes of transitional justice in post-dictatorship societies. He is also a freelance Journalist producing long-form and investigative stories and opinion articles on a wide range of social, economic and political topics in a number international publications including The Guardian, The New Statesman, Rolling Stone Middle East, and The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), and local publications such as al-Ahram, al-Shorouk and Mada Masr.

Dr. Samia Youssef Idris Habbani

Country : Sudan
Theme : Health management, health research system
Brief :

Dr. Samia Youssef Idris Habbani is a Public Health and Community Medicine consultant, focusing on health management and health research system. She has blended experience in academic and professional work, and has worked in the Ministry of Heath, WHO, as Minister of Social Affairs, parliament member and head of Health, Environment and Population Committee. Habbani worked as part time in British Council, Sudan Medical Specialization Board. She is a board member of several national and international organizations. Habbani has published and presented several papers.

Dr. Mona Fath El-Rahman Omer

Country : Sudan
Theme : Health system research
Brief :

Dr. Mona Fath El-Rahman Omer (MBBS, MPH, and Research Methodology and Ethics Diploma) is a Public Health Specialist with over 20 years of experience in health system research. She is head of the Research Department at the Ministry of Health, Khartoum-Sudan. El-Rahman Omer is a lecturer in Health Research Methodology and Ethics in many national universities and an active member in several Research committees and Health professional institutions.

Mohamed Sayed Abdelaziz Gad

Country : Egypt
Theme : Media, social protection policies, health and social justice
Brief : Mohammed is a Journalist and holds a BA in Media Department from Ain Shams University. He has worked in several newspapers Economics Department including Al Shorouk and Aswat Masriya (Egyptian Voices). His work covered several issues,including debt restructuring in Egypt,public-private partnerships,tax justice,social protection policies on subjects related to education,health and social justice,trade agreements and negative impacts on developing countries.

Shahir George Ishak Girguis

Country : Egypt
Theme : Economics and Political Science
Brief : Shaheer George works as the Labor Rights researcher in the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). He Graduated from the faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University in 2006 and finished his master's degree in Political Science at the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2013. Shaheer works on issues related to the informal labor market tackling, prospects of social dialogue to safeguard social and economic rights, in addition to freedom of association and the right to strike. He also writes weekly articles in Egyptian newspaper “al-tahrir”.

Fatima Moussawi

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Gender issues, Feminism, and sociopolitical history of women in the Arab region
Brief : Fatima Moussawi is a Lebanese writer, researcher, and academic whose work focuses on gender issues, feminism, and the sociopolitical history of women in the Arab region, in addition to civil society movements and their influence on policy-making. She holds a Master's degree in Public Health with a specialization in Community Health from the American University of Beirut (AUB). She also studied gender and conflict at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). She worked as a researcher at the School of Public Health (AUB), and later as a researcher and program coordinator at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, and then as a gender expert at the Heinrich Böell office in Beirut. She has provided a number of research consultations to local and international institutions concerned with women's issues. She also published articles and publications on feminism in Lebanon and the Arab world.


Lea Zeinoun

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Public health
Brief :

After obtaining her masters degree in public health with a concentration on health promotion and community health, Lea Zeinoun multiplied her experiences as a content developer in the field of substance use in the areas of school curriculums, community training workshops, field intervention manuals, and monitoring and evaluation tools. In 2018, she joined Embrace, a local NGO working on awareness, prevention and treatment of mental health problems and suicide, as the Executive Director. In the past two years, Embrace’s largest project was the National Lifeline 1564 for emotional support and suicide prevention. After the Beirut explosion, Lea took on the role of Director of Strategic Partnerships, supporting Embrace's growth into the unique organization it is today offering community awareness and outreach, preventive suicide services, clinical services, educational graduate training programs, communication strategies and research findings in the areas of mental health.

Bahaa Ezzelarab

Country : Egypt
Theme : Political Science
Brief : Bahaa received his Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto – Canada, a Masters of Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London – UK, and a B.A. in Political Science from the American University in Cairo – Egypt. Bahaa is responsible for identifying and communicating business and human rights issues in the MENA region, in addition to forging ties with local civil society actors, engaging with businesses and informing them about applicable international standards. Bahaa is also Legal Consultant at Thebes Consultancy, where he is involved in legal advisory and consultancy projects, and is in charge of the monthly Egypt Legal Update.

Hani Serag

Country : Egypt
Theme : Public health
Brief :

Hani Serag is a physician and public health researcher. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine – Division of Endocrinology, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, Texas. He holds positions as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Paediatrics and the Department of Global Health and Emerging Diseases. Serags previous work includes serving as global coordinator of the People’s Health Movement and currently is the Co-Chair of its Steering Council.

Amena Sharaf

Country : Egypt
Theme : Environmental Justice, Law
Brief : Amena holds a Bachelor of Law from Ain Shams University – Egypt. She is the Environmental Justice Officer and Lead Researcher at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights since 2014. Her daily work includes compiling and analyzing information about different environmental topics (i.e. industrial water pollution and renewable energy), as well as field visits. She also provides evidence and material for environment litigation. Previously, she worked as a Plan and Risk Consultant for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Since 2011, she stands as a Climate Ambassador, for the DEMENA Youth Program in Egypt.

Shatha Abu Srour

Country : Palestine
Theme : Rights for persons with disabilities
Brief :

Shatha Abu Srour has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and Psychology and a Master’s in Public Administration and Civil Society Organizations’ Management. She has been working for over 15 years, including on a voluntary basis, in the field of rights for persons with disabilities, particularly facilitating empowerment projects, capacity-building, advocacy, protesting, networking, building alliances, and contributing to knowledge production, and other. She is now a member of the executive staff of the Arab Forum for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a volunteer rapporteur in the Palestinian Disability Coalition.

Ayat Mneina

Country : Libya
Theme : Politics and Civil Society
Brief :

Ayat Mneina is a Libyan researcher, writer, and independent consultant based in Canada. In 2011, she founded ShababLibya (the Libyan Youth Movement), a diaspora youth-led platform that played a vital role in countering the Libyan government's media blackout during the Arab Spring. Through an extensive network of on-the-ground sources, ShababLibya provided reliable information on the Libyan uprising and served as a trusted source for international outlets. Ayat continues to actively engage with Libya, utilizing both creative and formal platforms to make a meaningful impact and contribute to its progress.

MERIEME BENKHOUYA

Country : Morocco
Theme : Public Finance Management, Foreign Trade
Brief : Meriem holds a Master's in Public Finance Management from la Sorbonne Paris 1, a diploma in Foreign Trade from Lille University – France and a Certificate of achievement in Foreign and International Trade from ISCAE – Morocco. She currently works for the General Treasury of the Kingdom of Morocco as a Head of the Training service. Meriem is particularly involved in the fields of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. She represented Morocco in local and regional associative events and the MENA in international civil society forums. She is a member of Espace Associatif and the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights.

Joelle Abd El Aal

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Women and Youth rights
Brief :

Joelle Abd El Aal Freelance Journalist with a specialization in advocating for Women and Youth rights.

Siham Zidal

Country : Morocco
Theme : Political Sciences
Brief : Siham Zidal holds a Master degree on Political Sciences from the University Mohammed V in Rabat, a BA in Economics with a focus on applied economics and a Diplôme des Etudes Universitaires Générales in Economics from the same university. Since October 2012 she withholds the position of Project Manager in Espace Associatif. She has advanced knowledge in strategies and policies of development, civil society issues and solidarity economy.

TABIT NADOUA

Country : Morocco
Theme : Solidarity and Social Economy and Sustainable Development
Brief : Nadoua holds an MA in Solidarity and Social Economy and Sustainable Development from FSJE Marrakesh, a BA in Economics with a focus on SMEs at FSJE Rabat Agdal, a DEUG in Economics from the faculty of Mohamed V Agdal and a diploma in teaching. She withholds the position of a teacher in the public sector since 2012 and she is a project manager for the Ouargui association since 2014. Tabit is a part of a focus group on Trade at the University of Mohamed V, and has over 7 years of experience in the humanitarian field.

MOULDI GUESSOUMI

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Humanities and Social Sciences
Brief : Mouldi Guessoumi is an Assistant Professor in University of Tunis. He obtained a PhD from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis University with his thesis on “The Employers' Association in Tunisia: its composition, structure and social and political participation”. Mouldi has several authors and publications on development policy and social dialogue in Tunisia, trade unions, economic policy and structural reform in Tunisia and Tunisian revolution. He has been and active member of the Temimi Foundation for Scientific Research and Documentation since 2000. Moreover since 2008 he is a member of the Research Unit in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Manouba University.

Layla RIAHI

Country : Tunisia
Brief : Layla Riahi is an architect graduated with a PHD from the Marsillia University in France, and professor of architecture at the National school of Architecture at Tunis. She is an activist in civil society and participated at the different stage of Tunisia post-revolution as the organisation of the Constituent Assembly elections. She founded with another group of association and Tunisian young people a campaign against the IMF stand-by agreement signed in May 2013 by Tunisia. The campaign consisted in advocating against the conditionalities of the IMF stand-by agreement, in popularising the negative impact of the economic reforms on Tunisian people and raise public awareness on the risk of impoverishment of the country. Since then, she committed herself as a researcher and responsible of the vulgarization section in the Tunisian Observatory of Economy, an organisation aiming at challenging economic reform and policies in Tunisia as a watchdog and monitoring IFIs activities in Tunisia. In this framework, she contributed to several studies on debt, trade and energetic issues and especially to the study on the new investment code and its impact on development (https://debateconomietunisie.wordpress.com/).

Hafawa Rebhi

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Public policies, social and, economic rights, migration, Development, Energy
Brief : Hafawa Rebhi is an independent Tunisian journalist. She has been covering the transition in Tunisia since 2011,with a special focus on public policies,social and economic rights,migration,development and energy. She writes in French,Arabic and English.She got awards and scholarships to cover the 15th International Anti- Corruption Conference in Brasilia,Brazil (2012),the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil (2013),and recently the 16th International Anti- Corruption Conference in Putrajaya,Malaysia. Hafawa is currently a member of Journalists for Transparency (J4T),a collective of journalists and storytellers who explore issues of transparency and corruption around the globe.

Ebtissem Jbabli Houas

Country : Tunisia
Theme : Environmental Law, Common Law
Brief : Ibtissem Jbebli is a member of the Tunisian Parliament since December 2014 and member of the executive committee of Nidaa Tounes. She is the president of the sectorial committee of the education, culture, youth, sports and childhood, member of the parliamentary permanent committee of administrative affairs and armed forces, member of the special parliamentary committee of the revolution's martyrs. She holds a Master degree in Environmental Law from the University of Political and Economic Sciences in Tunis, and currently is studying her Masters in Common Law. She took part in several conferences on Democracy in the Arab world, the role of the parliamentary assemblies in designing and implementing decentralized state / local governance and democratic representation and women's political rights.

Hiba Ibrahim Almarie

Country : Jordan
Brief : Hiba Almarie is an Economic Research Assistant at the Phenix Center. She coordinates a project that aims at monitoring the interventions of the European Banks (EBRD and EIB) in Jordan. She has a Bachelor's degree in Business Economy, graduated from the University of Jordan.

LauraFatma Ibrahim Adwan

Country : Palestine
Theme : Master programme in Sociology
Brief : She is part of a research team at the Social and Economic Policies Monitor (Al-Marsad) in Ramallah, interested in analyzing intervention models and existing developmental initiatives based on excessive privatization. She worked on a research project in a rural town in Palestine which examined different farmers' responses to what the study calls “the economy of uprooting”. The most recent study she did was based in the southern part of Jordan Valley to examine the productive potential of agricultural cooperatives. She is also working on completing an academic research as part of her PhD study at the University of Bergen, recording the refuge experience of the Iraqi society in Jordan from an anthropological perspective. She graduated from Damascus university with a degree in English literature and later completed a Master programme in Sociology at Birzeit University.

Feras Jaber

Country : Palestine
Theme : Sociology
Brief : Firas Jaber is the co-founder and researcher of the Social and Economic Policies Monitor in Ramallah, which cooperates with the Palestinian NGO Network. He holds a Bachelor and Master Degree in Sociology. He collaborated with several organizations as a researcher, including with Cawtar in Tunisia and Bisan Center for Research and Development in Palestine. His research tackles socio-economic development issues, women economic empowerment, Palestinian Private Sector Development, and economic and industrial zones.

Lena Meari

Country : Palestine
Theme : Anthropology, Gender, Law and Development Studies
Brief : Lena holds Post-doc degree from Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies, a PhD in Anthropology from University of California, and MA in Gender, Law and Development Studies from Birzeit University and MA in Clinical Psychology from Tel Aviv University. She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Institute of Women Studies in Birzeit University. She teaches courses on critical questions of development, settler colonialism, qualitative research methods, Anthropological readings of revolutionary movements, anti-colonial feminist thought. She has several publications (articles and book chapters) and took part in several research projects, including Gender and Households in Communities Under Threat: Addressing the Needs of Palestinian Men, Women and Children in “Area C” of the West Bank” and Gender equity research and engagement with Critical Social Movements and Actors for the Institute of Women Studies, “Development, Inequality and Popular Mobilizations: Towards Opening a Horizon for Alternative Development” for Arab Council for the Social sciences.

Kifah Zuhour

Country : Palestine
Theme : Business Administration
Brief : Kifah holds a MBA and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Birzeit University, Ramallah – Palestine. She works as a Program Officer at the Social and Economic Policies' Monitor (Al Marsad) since 2015, where she leads the design and the development of several program strategies and plans. Her previous experience includes workin as a Grants Officer and Compliance for the Catholic Relief Services and the Norwegian Refugee Council in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, and as a Procurement & Compliance Officer for AMIDEAST in Al-Bireh – Palestine.

Leila Kabalan

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Economics, International Relations
Brief : Leila holds a MA in Economics and a MA in International Relations from Syracuse University – New York, and a BA in International Relations with an emphasis on Economics from the Lebanese American University – Lebanon. She withholds the position of a Researcher and Program coordinator for the Social Justice and Development Policy Program at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. She manages several projects such as the effects of labor liberalization on labor unions and movements in eight Arab countries. She presented her work within the theme of Inequalities and Social Justice under Neoliberalism: Perspectives from the Global South at the South- South Institute (Durban, South Africa).

Nassim Abi Ghanem

Country : Lebanon
Theme : International Politics-International Relations
Brief : Nassim holds a MA in International Politics-International Relations from the University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom and BA in Business Administration with International Marketing emphasis, from the American University of Beirut. He worked as a Research officer at the Arab NGO Network for Development. Previously he worked as a senior collaborative Provision Officer at British Academy in Lebanon. He still collaborates with the Academy as a Lecturer, teaching Cardiff Metropolitan University Programme modules including on contemporary issues in International Political Economic, business in Global Context, money banking and risk and international global marketing.

Serena Abi Khalil

Country : Lebanon
Theme : Political Economy and Intergenerational Debt
Brief : Serena holds a Master 1 in International Geostrategic Economics from the University of Pantheon-Assass (Paris II) in Paris, France and a BA in Economics from the University of Saint-Joseph, Lebanon. Her focus was on Political Economy and Intergenerational Debt. She worked as a Project Coordinator on EU-MED projects at the Arab NGO Network for Development. Previously she has undergone a 6 months internship at the Arab NGO Network for Development focusing on Private-Public Partnerships and several economic policies. She has also undergone a training at the Macro-fiscal and Strategic Debt Departments of the Ministry of Finance in Lebanon.

Moundir LASSASSI

Country : Algeria
Theme : Economics, Applied Economics and Statistics
Brief : Accreditation to Supervise Research, Higher National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSSEA) ex – INPS – Algiers – Algeria PhD in Economics, Speciality: Applied Economics and Statistics AIX-MARSEILLE School of Economics(AMSE)- France Master in Economics and Applied Statistics, Speciality: Statistics, Higher National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSSEA) Ex-INPS Ben Aknoun – Algiers -October 2004 – July 2007 Experience: Researcher, Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD) (Since 2006) Team leader, Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD) (Since 2014) Descriptive Statistics Teacher, Algiers University II – Human Sciences Faculty, Bouzaréah – Algiers – ALGERIA. 2010-2011 Data Analysis Teacher, Higher National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSSEA) Ex-INPS Ben Aknoun – Algiers – ALGERIA. 2009-2010

Abdel Mawla Ismail

Country : Egypt
Theme : trade
Brief :

Abdelmawla Ismail is a researcher and coordinator at the Egyptian association for collective rights. Ismail holds a BSc in commerce and pursued his post graduate studies in Environmental Science at the Ain Shams University.

Ashraf Osman Mohammed Elhassan

Country : Sudan
Theme : Political Sciences
Brief : أستاذ العلوم السياسية في الجامعة الوطنية بالسودان، عمل مديراً لمركز دراسات السلام والتنمية بجامعة القضارف وكذلك رئيساً لمركز تحليل النزاعات بجامعة أم درمان الإسلامية، حاصل على دكتوراة الفلسفة في العلوم السياسية في العام 2009، تشمل اهتماماته البحثية ، الحركات الدينية، سياسات الهوية و التعددية الاثنية والثقافية

Wael Gamal

Country : Egypt
Theme : Political economy, Social Rights
Brief :

Wael Gamal is the head of the economic and social rights unit at EIPR. He is an Egyptian political economist,  journalist, columnist, trainer, and translator. He has more than 20 years of experience in journalism with local and international media including CNBC Arabyia, BBC Arabic Service and Thomson Reuters. He contributed to the launch of  Al Shorouk daily Egyptian newspaper in 2009 as its economic editor before being its managing editor in 2010. He was the Editor in-Chief of Mada Masr independent web site in 2016-2017 and is currently a Co-Editor of Jadaliyya’s “Egypt Page”.

Wael Gamal was the Head of Research of the Alternative Policy Solution Project at the American University in Cairo and El-Erian Fellow Non-Resident Researcher at Carnegie Middle East Center; Beirut, Lebanon in 2018 -2019.

He is a founding member of the Arab Studies Institute’s Political Economy Project at George Mason University, Washington DC.

He has studied political sciences in Cairo University and finance and investment in Middlesex University of London. 

Wael Gamal’s work focuses on social inequality, class disparities, debt, fiscal policy and alternative economy in Egypt and Arab countries. He is the author of several papers on social justice, inequality and the political economy of Egypt. 

He Co-translated Thomas Piketty’s “Capital In The Twenty First Century” to Arabic, published in June 2016 by Al-Tanweer and the editor of “The Egyptian Economy In The Twenty First Century”, published in January 2017. He is the author of “ٍRent Capturers: the Political Economy of Debt, Finance and Wealth in Egypt”, to be published by Al Maraya in 2023. 


Mohamed Ahmed el Mahboubi

Country : Mauritania
Theme : Development research, consulting, and policy evaluation
Brief :

Independent consultant. Holder of the Scientific Grade Master I and II in Development, in Sociology-Philosophy. Mahboubi has an extensive experience in studies, development research, consulting, and policy evaluation. He is involved in civil society activities and has participated in seminars and research with a number of national and international partners.

Wael Zein

Country : Lebanon
Brief : Wael holds Ph.D in public Law, from the University of Grenoble II, Label from the Doctoral school of Law in the Middle East, and MA in Public Law from Lebanese University. He is currently working as the Head of the Law section in Arab Center for Research in Communication, leads all legal study in the center and acts as the Counselor for the Center. He undertook several research including on privatization Law in Lebanon, analysis of the Telecommunications act in Lebanon and legal aspects of telecommunications liberalization. He is a member of the Beirut Bar Association.

Hassan Sherry

Country : Lebanon
Brief :
Hassan Sherry is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Lebanese American University (LAU). He holds a PhD in Economics from SOAS, University of London, an MSc in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester (UoM), and a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut (AUB). His professional background includes both academia and research-based advocacy. Hassan has previously worked as a Research Officer at the Arab NGO Network for Development, where his research focused on the areas of trade and investment policy, tax and redistribution, as well as the role of international financial institutions (IFIs) in the Arab region.
Hassan’s research focuses the following themes: Manufacturing and export competitiveness; industrial innovation and upgrading; global value chains; and IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs in the MENA region.

Dr. Maisa Mustafa Elfadul

Country : Sudan
Theme : Governance, Primary healthcare, Gender-based violence...
Brief :

Dr. Maisa Elfadul is a Public Health Specialist and Assistant Professor in Public Health Programs at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Sudan. Al-Fadul’s experience extends to eleven years, focused on health system research, humanitarian development, and epidemiological surveys for issues related to governance, primary healthcare, gender-based violence, maternal health, migrant health, HIV, and recently COVID-19 in Sudan and the Arab region.

Farah Kobaissy

Country : Lebanon
Theme : socio-economic policies, migration
Brief :

She is a gender consultant with experience in advocacy, research, translation and policy with focus on socio-economic policies, migration, fiscal justice, labor organizing, political participation and social justice in the MENA region. Farah Kobaissy is a socialist activist and a researcher in gender, labor, and migration. She holds an MA in Gendered Political Economies from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Political Science from USJ. She is currently working at Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University in Beirut (AUB).

said Najah Ismail

Country : Bahrain
Theme : Education
Brief : 2012 Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work

Norhan Mohamed Sherif Mohamed Hassan

Country : Egypt
Brief : Researcher at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Cairo. Her tasks at the center include: Conducting research on health care budget equity for 2013/2014 for use in policy formulation and litigation purposes, utilizing international mechanisms that pressure for ensuring economic and social rights of citizens, Conducting reports on tax policies and financial policies and relating them to human rights, coordinating the campaign on tax justice.

Salaheddine Lemaizi

Country : Morocco
Theme : Social issues, privatization, free trade agreements, Economics
Brief : Salaheddine Lemaizi is a journalist working on social issues for news magazine L'Observateur du Maroc. He has written extensively on privatization in Morocco, the global economic crisis, impact of free trade agreements on right to health. He has several reports and investigations covering social policies in Morocco including street children, HIV/AIDS, health related issues as well as pharmaceutical policy. In 2012, he started his Masters studies on journalism and multimedia studies. He obtained a Bachelor degree on Journalism in Casablanca and has certificates in Humanities and Political Science from the University of Montreal. He has been rewarded for Investigative Journalists by the Ministry of Communication and Moroccan Association. Since 2006, Salaheddine is an active member of ATTAC Morocco, where he closely works on issues related to debt, IMF, and privatization policies.

Mohamed said Saadi

Country : Morocco
Theme : Economics, Gender and Development, Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
Brief : Mr. Saadi is economist and independent consultant. He has worked as Thesis Director at the Graduate Institute of Commerce and Business Administration of Casablanca (ISCAE) from 2011-2015. He has taught Economics and Management at the ISCAE and the Faculties of Law and Economics of Casablanca and Marrakech from 1972 to 2010. He was also an expert and Member of the Gender and Development Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Secretary of State for Social Protection, Family and Childhood. Mr. Saadi was a research fellow at Princeton University (1997/1998) and Fulbrighter at the University of Texas at Austin(1993). He has written numerous books and publications on Business groups and Development, the Moroccan Economy, Gender and Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and is a social activist. His research topics cover rethinking development models and developmental states, the impact of the neoliberal and global crisis on Arab countries, industrialization and industrial policies. Mr Saadi was awarded the Morocco’s Great Prize of Book for his publication on “Financial Groups in Morocco” (1990).

Hamza Hamouchene

Country : Algeria
Theme : Food sovereignty
Brief : Hamza Hamouchene is a London-based Algerian researcher-activist,commentator and a founding member of Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC),and Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA). He previously worked for War on Want,Global Justice Now and Platform London on issues of extractivism,resources,land and food sovereignty as well as climate,environmental,and trade justice. He is the author/editor of two books: “The Struggle for Energy Democracy in the Maghreb” (2017) and "The Coming Revolution to North Africa: The Struggle for Climate Justice" (2015). He also contributed book chapters to “Voices of Liberation: Frantz Fanon” (2014) and “The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism” (2016). His other writings have appeared in the Guardian,Middle East Eye,Counterpunch,New Internationalist,Jadaliyya,openDemocracy,ROAR magazine,Pambazuka,Nawaat,El Watan and the Huffington Post. Arab Watch 2018-2019 Arab Watch On Economic and Social Rights 2019 on Right to food.

Michal Samaha

Country : Lebanon
Brief : Michel holds a Master in Social-Urban Development and Public Action from St-Quentin-En-Yvelines University- France, and a Master in Economics from EHESS-Paris, France. He is currently pursuing his PhD in West Paris University, Nanterre La Defense – France. He currently works as a Project Manager for UNDP in Beirut, Lebanon. Michel is also an instructor, he teaches Urban Economics at the Lebanese University (Urban Planning Department) and Economics at Lebanese American University of Beirut.

ABDELNASSER DJABI

Country : Algeria
Theme : Sociology
Brief : Professor of sociology at the University of Algiers II Nacer Djabi is a professor of sociology at the University of Algiers II and researcher at the Centre de recherche en économie appliquée et développement (CREAD). He is the author of several works, including El Wazir el-Djazaïri: oussol wa massarat [The Algerian Minister: Principles and Paths] (2001), Algérie: Etat et élites (2008), and Limada ta'akhara ar-rabïe el-Djazaïri? [Why is the Algerian Spring late?] (2012).

Redouane Boudjemaa

Country : Algeria
Theme : Media and Communications
Brief : Professor of Media and Communications, University of Algiers

Ibrahim Abdelkheir

Country : Sudan
Brief : Ibrahim holds a MSc. in international Education and Development from Oslo and Akershus University College – Norway, and a BSc. in Economic and Social Studies from the University of Khartoum – Sudan. He withholds the position of a Programs Deputy Manager at the Sudanese Development Call Organization (NIDAA). He is responsible for assisting the Programs Manager in supervising and monitoring the performance of the project officers, writing proposals, reporting, fundraising, and building relations with donors. He is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Science and Technology in Khartoum.

Fadel Habib

Country : Bahrain
Theme : Education
Brief : على الصعيد المهني، عمل حبيب مدرسًا مدة 15 عاماً في وزارة التربية والتعليم، كما يعمل أستاذاً محاضراً في عدد من الجامعات والمعاهد الوطنية، إلى جانب عمله مستشاراً للبرامج التدريبية، وقضى سنوات عديدة في العمل الأهلي في المجال الاجتماعي والثقافي والتربوي. كما نشر حبيب العديد من المؤلفات والمقالات وصدر له كتابان، ونال مؤخراً درجة دكتوراه الفلسفة في التربية من جامعة عين شمس بمجمهورية مصر العربية في موضوع تجديد الخطاب الديني، بعد نيله الماجستير في تضمين مفاهيم حقوق الإنسان في المناهج التعليمية. Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work2012

Saba Hamed Mohamed Hamed

Country : Sudan
Theme : International Trade and Development
Brief : Saba Hamed works at present as a Training coordinator at Sudanese Development Call Organization. She completed a BS in Agricultural Economics and a MS in International Trade and Development in the University of Khartoum. Trade being a principal area of research for Mrs. Hamed, she undertook research on Sudanese agricultural export competitiveness in international market. Moreover she undertook training on WTO accession of Sudan. ith the National Population Council and the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security in co- operation with ESCWA in localization of MDGs until it becomes SDGs. and coordinate many workshops in SDGE, the last one I coordinate was "NO ONE Behind Program" it was partnership between NIDAA, ANND and CIVISUS. I also got a preparatory training certification for project Management Professional (PMP) Exam.

Jasim Ghuloom

Country : Bahrain
Brief : Arab Watch 2014 :Social Protection in the Arab World: the Crisis of the State Exposed

Vicky Maurer

Theme : International and European law
Brief : Vicky holds a Master's degree in International and European law from Université Pierre-Mendès-France (Grenoble) a Master's degree in international, European and compared Law, with a specialty in International Law from University Jean Moulin (Lyon III) and a Law degree from the Catholic University of Lyon – France. Since August 2016, she works as a Program and Advocacy Assistant at the Human Rights Information and Training Center (Geneva), a NGO which provides knowledge, information services and trainings, related to human rights in the MENA region. In addition to administrative assistance support, she is responsible for project cycle management, prepares workshops, meetings and workshops and attends UN and CSOs meetings.

Walid Nozahi

Country : Bahrain

Aliénor Barbier

Theme : International Relations in foreign languages, (Italian & English)
Brief : Alienor Barbier (Lebanon) Aliénor Barbier specialized in the study of International Relations in foreign languages (Italian & English) at the University of Bordeaux III, in France. Her focus was on the analysis of principles, structure and implementation of international law and policy, notably within the frame of economic integration and aid effectiveness. She is now enrolled in a Master's Degree in Crises and Humanitarian Action and currently completing a 4 months internship within the Arab NGO Network of Development.

Hasan Ali Alaali

Country : Bahrain

Mohammad Baker Elnajjar

Country : Bahrain

Ahmad Awad

Country : Jordan
Theme : Political Economy
Brief : Ahmad Awad is the founder and director of the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies,based in Amman,Jordan. He has dedicated most of his professional life to the promotion and defending of human rights,with particular emphasis on socio-economic human rights. Ahmad Awad holding an MA in International Political Economy. He is a member of many civil society networks and coalitions locally,regionally and internationally. In 2018 honored by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as an exceptional defender of human rights on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition,Ahmed writes a weekly economic column in the Al-Ghad Jordanian newspaper,and in November 2020,he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arab Watch Coalition.

Asma Khader

Country : Jordan
Theme : Women, Children's Rights, Human Rights
Brief : Asma Khader (Jordan), a lawyer and human rights activist, is President of Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J) and Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women. She is former Minister of Culture & Government Spokesperson for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and former President of the Jordanian Women's Union. A member of the Arab Lawyer's Union, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists, and the Advisory Committee of the Women's Division of Human Rights Watch, she has received numerous awards and honors for her work. Asma has written and spoken widely on the topics of women, children's rights, and human rights. She recently served on the UN International Commission of Inquiry investigating human rights violations in Libya.

Amal Abu-Jeries

Country : Jordan
Brief : Amal holds a MA in International Studies and a BA in Foreign Languages (German and English) from Jordan Univerity – Amman. She has been working with the Amman Office of the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) since April 2014 as Program Manager Jordan. In this capacity, she coordinates and monitors the activities, which FES implements in Jordan on a broad range of topics and with partners ranging from the Jordanian Parliament and Government to trade unions, media and civil society organizations

Ibrahim Saif

Country : Jordan
Theme : Economics
Brief : PhD, MSc, Economics, University of London An economist specializing in the political economy of the Middle East, his research focuses on economies in transition, international trade with an emphasis on Jordan and the Middle East, institutional governance, and labor-market economics. In addition , Saif serves as a consultant to numerous international organizations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Labor Organization. He is also a fellow with the Economic Research Forum and a member of the Global Development Network.

Ibtesam Al - Atiyat

Country : Jordan
Theme : Sociology, Race and Ethnic Studies and Gender and Sexuality
Brief : Associate Professor of Sociology, Race and Ethnic Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies at St. Olaf College. Before joining St. Olaf, she served as the Acting Director of the United Nations University/ International Leadership Institute, as well as a Program Director at the Jordanian National Commission for Women. Al-Atiyat received her PhD from Freie Universitaet in Berlin/Germany and completed her post-doctoral work in Sweden at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and in the U.S at the Kettering Foundation for Deliberative Democracy. Al-Atiyat’s research focuses on social movements and gender issues. Her recent book is "The Uprisings and Gender Equity in the Arab World" published by the Arab Network for the Study of Democracy and the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy at the American University of Beirut.

Hussam Hussein

Country : Jordan
Theme : International Relations, water policies
Brief : Hussam is a Lecturer and Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Oxford. He is focusing on Hydropolitics in the Jordan and Nile River Basins. His past research focused on the role of discourses in shaping water policies. Hussam is member of the Water Security Research Centre and of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia and of the Department in International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance, University of Kassel

Alia Hindawi

Country : Jordan
Theme : migration
Brief : Alia Hindawi. Alia Hindawi has been working in the field of migration for over a decade, with experience covering emergency, transit, and development contexts. ... Her academic and professional interests include migration, labour market, international relations, and economics

Faouzi Boukhriss

Country : Morocco
Theme : Sociology
Brief : Higher education teacher – Socio-anthropologist
Obtained:
• PhD in Sociology
• Diploma of the Aggregation in Philosophy
• Advanced Graduate Diploma-Women and Development Specialty


Has published the following publications:
• Environmental Education and the Ecological Citizen, Les éditions Rabat-Net, 2021.
• Sociology of political parties in Morocco and issues of local development and political development, Les éditions Rabat-Net, 2019.
• Women in Social Science Discourse, Africa East-Casablanca Edition, 2016
• Sociology of Associative Work in Morocco, and Issues of Volunteerism and Wages , Kawtar-Print Publishing, 2015.
• Introduction to the Sociology of Associations, Les édition Afrique Orient-Casablanca, 2013…
Has also published numerous articles in Moroccan and Arab journals (Omran, Ostour, Idafat, etc.)


Participated in numerous studies and research for the benefit of international and national organizations and institutions, governmental and non-governmental: UNDP – UNFPA- Ministry of National Education, ANND, Y-PEER Morroco, …



Anas Elhasnaoui

Country : Morocco
Theme : Economic Social and Cultural Rights
Brief : Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Financing development (Investment Promotion, Migration and development, Corporate Social Responsibility, mobilization of Diasporas), development effectiveness, Social protection floors and civil society action

Ahmed Chiba

Country : Morocco
Theme : Economics
Brief : Officer at the Ministry of Economy and Finance since 1993, handling the Sustainable Development folder. He is very active with associations and trade unions being the cofounder of associations against corruption in Morocco in 1999, a member of Transparency Morocco since 1999 and co-founder of National Defense instance of Public Goods (INDBP). And Co-founder of the National Union of Finance in 1996. He holds the general university diploma (DEUG) in Law (University of Clermont Ferrand), a BS in Economics and a Diploma in Planning and Urbanism (Industrial Development and Competitiveness).

Kawtar Rerhrhaye

Country : Morocco
Theme : Economics and Social Sciences Applied to Agriculture (ESSAA), Food security
Brief : Kawtar holds a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences Applied to Agriculture (ESSAA) from the Agronomic and Veterinary Institute (IAV) Hassan II of Rabat. Her research thesis was “Agricultural Governance in the light of the Food Security Challenges of Cereals in Morocco «Case of soft wheat». Currently she is consulting with ANND, for the Arab Watch 2018 Report, as an expert in governance of food security. Apart from food law, food security and sovereignty, her area of expertise cover governance and strategy of organizations, governance (The institutional economy, Transaction costs, and public choice), development economics and eeconometrics.

Mina Houjib

Country : Morocco

Chifai Abdelhakim

Country : Morocco
Theme : Law and International Relations
Brief : Mr. Chafiai Abdelhakim is an active member (and former President) of Espace Associative. He holds a Master's degree in Law and International Relations and a Ph.D in systems analysis and control. He is currently a University professor and academic advisor at Hassan II University in Casablanca. He is a member of the fair trade agreements monitoring network in Morocco, and a member of the access to medicine network. Mr. Abdelhakim works as a trainer in Human rights and contributed to the several studies related to development issues

Nisren Nagi Al amidi

Country : Iraq
Brief : Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: Right to Education, Right to Work 2012

Abbas Alshirif

Country : Iraq

Hanaa Salih

Country : Iraq

Hasan Latif Khadhim

Country : Iraq

Samir Aita

Country : Syria
Brief : Samir Aita was born in Damascus (Syria) in 1954 and is an alumnus of the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He obtained DEA postgraduate qualifications from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires (INSTN). He also graduated from HEC Management (CPA-HEC). He started his career at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and its subsidiaries, prior to going to the private sector. In 1994, he joined an Arab group as advisor to the CEO, and at the same time became CEO of Framasoft during its restructuring. In 1999, he set up a consulting company in economics and information technologies: A Concept. For two years, he was advisor to the Chairman of Société Générale in Lebanon, then technical director at the ERF economic research center in Egypt. From 2005 to 2013, he was Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Le Monde Diplomatique Arabic Editions. Samir Aita is also economist and international consultant, Chair of the Arab Economists Circle Samir Aita is the General Manager of A CONCEPT, President of the Cercle des Economistes arabes and Editor in Chief and General Manager of Le Monde diplomatique éditions arabes. Mr.Aita founded A Concept www.mafhoum.com in 2000, a consulting firm in economy and information technologies. In 2005, he created Le Monde Diplomatique éditions arabes, in partnership with the French edition. He continues today to run the two companies. Within the framework of A Concept, he consulted for different international (UNDP, European Union, World Bank, ESCWA, ILO, etc.), for Arab countries' governments (in finance and ICT ), as well as for several industrial firms (cement, chemistry, energy and tourism). In 2009, he was elected President of the Cercle des Economistes Arabes www.economistesarabes.org .

Nabil Marzouk

Country : Syria
Theme : Economics

Salma Kahale

Country : Syria
Brief : Salma Kahale is the executive director of Dawlaty, an organization which supports the engagement of civil society actors and young people in democratic transition processes through capacity building, community mobilization, and advocacy. Dawlaty is based in Beirut with centers in Syria and staff in six Syrian provinces. Kahale is also a founding member of Planet Syria, a campaign that includes 114 Syrian groups and over 60 international groups advocating an end to barrel bombs, the promotion of a no-fly zone, and meaningful peace negotiations in order to stop violence in Syria. Previously, she worked on child protection and youth engagement in Syria with Save the Children, UNICEF, and Mercy Corps, as well as with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Kahale worked in the Office of the First Lady (OFL) on youth engagement and civil society issues until 2011 when she left for political reasons.

Rabie Nasr

Country : Syria
Theme : macroeconomic policies, growth, poverty, conflict dynamics, Economics
Brief : One of the founders of the Syrian Center for Policy Research, he works as a researcher in macroeconomic policies, inclusive growth, poverty and assessment of the socio-economic impact of the conflict. Nasr worked at the State Planning Commission as a chief economist and director of the Macroeconomics Department in 2004 and 2005. He then worked as an economic researcher at the Arab Planning Institute in Kuwait, and worked on various projects with United Nations organizations and civil society initiatives. He holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Leicester, UK.

Jihad Yazigi

Country : Syria
Theme : Syrian economic affairs
Brief : Jihad Yazigi is a Syrian journalist who specializes in covering Syrian economic affairs. He is the founder and editor in chief of The Syria Report, an economics news bulletin. He is also the co-founder of the Syrian Observer, which translates articles from Syrian publications into English

Iyad Amra

Country : Palestine
Brief : Co-Founder Researcher Social and Economic Policies Monitor (Al Marsad)

Firas Jaber

Country : Palestine
Theme : Socio-economic development issues, Palestinian Private Sector Development, Economic and industrial zone
Brief : Firas Jaber is the co-founder and researcher of the Social and Economic Policies Monitor in Ramallah, which cooperates with the Palestinian NGO Network. He holds a Bachelor and Master Degree in Sociology. He collaborated with several organizations as a researcher, including with Cawtar in Tunisia and Bisan Center for Research and Development in Palestine. His research tackles socio-economic development issues, women economic empowerment, Palestinian Private Sector Development, and economic and industrial zones

Dr. Naser Abdelkarim MUFREJ

Country : Palestine
Theme : Economic Policy
Brief :
Dr. Naser Earned a PhD in Financial economics from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA in 1992, and   Master’s degree in Finance from Texas A &M, USA in 1984, and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Jordan in 1980.  He worked for many Palestinian Universities since 1992 in teaching and administrative positions.  He served as Head of Accounting Department, Dean of College of Business and economics and Director of MBA Program at An-Najah National University in Nablus over the period 1992-2001.  He served as an assistant professor of finance and accounting at Birzeit University and head of the Accounting Department over the period 2002-2013. Currently, he is teaching finance and accounting at the School of Graduate Studies of the Arab American University in Palestine. Dr. Naser has served in teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in other local universities including Quds University and Quds Open University. He also supervised tens of Master’s Theses and PhD dissertations at local universities and at the Arab Academy for Finance and Banking in Jordan.

Dr. Naser served as a research director and fellow at Palestine Institute of Economic policies Research in Ramallah over the period of 2009-2011. He served as a consultant and advisor for many local and international organizations including the World Bank, UNDP, ESCWA, ILO, EUC-Jerusalem, GIZ, FES, Palestine Monetary Authority, Palestine Investment Fund and others.

Dr. Naser has attended and presented tens of research papers in local and international conferences and workshops. He also published tens of research articles in refereed academic journals in the area of development, economic policies, fiscal policy, corporate governance and financial markets.   

Ayman Abdel Majid

Country : Palestine
Brief : Ayman Rezeqallah is a researcher and survey unit coordinator at the Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University. He has spent nearly 20 years in community research and development, programmes focused on research methodology, marginalised groups and community development in Palestine and the Diaspora. He received his Master's Degree in Gender and Development at Birzeit University in 2006, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Social Sciences at the Lebanese University of Beirut, as of 2019. Click here to visit his profile at Birzeit University