Highlights

Lady Manoukian Habchy, Head of Urban Governance and capacity Building Unit, UN-Habitat Lebanon

Lady is the Head of Urban Governance and Capacity Building Unit at UN-Habitat - Lebanon. With over 15 years of experience working with different international organizations, Lady has gained expertise in the fields of capacity building and community development. Prior to joining Habitat, she was the Project Manager of the International Management & Training Institute, a department at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and was responsible for strengthening the capacity of NGOs/CBOs/ Public and private sectors through the provision of training and consulting services.

Lady holds a BSc in Business Administration from USEK, a BSc in Sociology from the Lebanese University, and an MBA on Monitoring & Evaluation from the Arab Open University.  She is a certified trainer on Reporting techniques, Project Management, Project, Leadership and Communication Skills, Time Management, strategic planning, and others. Lady is also a member of “Faith & Light” Movement which promotes the role of disabled persons in the society.

Nida Hussein, Senior Chief Engineer, Baghdad Mayoralty, Iraq

Nida is the Chief Senior Engineers of the Design office in Baghdad Mayoralty, where she works in the Urban Planning Department. She is also president of Al -Naqa'a Association for Environment Protection, an Iraqi NGO. Nida works in preparing studies and research and controls Baghdad’s city planning, sustainable urban development and good governance. Nida holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning, a MSc in Urban Planning and a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Baghdad.

Nadine Chehade, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

Nadine is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist representing CGAP in the Arab world. She works to deepen CGAP’s engagement in the region, collaborating with various partners, including regulators and policy-makers, donors and investors, regional associations, and businesses. She currently focuses on fintechs and digitial financial services, in addition to leading CGAP’s global work on financial services in humanitarian crises. More broadly, she covers matters related to regulation, business, and markets, with the overarching goal of advancing financial inclusion.

Her research work has included regulatory frameworks, cash transfers, digital financial services, postal financial inclusion, microfinance, and financial inclusion measurement. She joined CGAP in 2012, bringing ten years of experience in investment banking, management consulting, and microfinance rating. Nadine holds an MBA from ESSEC in France. She is fluent in Arabic, English, French, and conversational in Spanish

Maya Boustani, Livelihoods Program Manager, IECD

Maya is the Livelihood Program Manager for Short vocational trainings and support to MSMEs.

At the European Institute of Cooperation and Development (EICD) in Beirut, Lebanon. In this role, she takes care about the operational implementation of programs, evaluation and monitoring, financial and administrative management and institutional representation. Prior to that, she was Marketing Manager at Panzani Group, France, and hold several managerial positions at Danone Group, France. Maya holds an MSc in Business Management and Marketing from ESSEC and she is fluent in French, English and Arabic.

Nabila Haddad, Project manager, Agence Française du Développement (AFD) 

Nabila is responsible for youth and civil society as a Project Manager (Chargée de mission) for AFD in Beirut, Lebanon. Before that, she worked at the Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

Nabila also worked as a researcher in economics and management for OECD, the National Bank of Kuwait, UNOCHA, Chicago University. Nabila is also the founder of Mowatinun, a local NGO in support to intenally displaced populations.

Maroun Antoun, Mayor, Qrayeh Municipality, Lebanon 

Since his election as Mayor of Qrayeh municipality in May, 2016, Maroun placed great attention on the development of human capital, in parallel with economic development. In the past four years he built a network of international relations that enhanced the position of Qrayeh. The municipality benefited from multiple grants to improve the quality of life of its residents. Maroun also worked on shifting the common negative perception of the forcibly displaced towards a more positive look.

Despite the number of challenges and obstacles that face municipalities in Lebanon, Qrayeh continues to engage in partnerships with the private sector, civil society and local foundations to carry on the functions of the municipality, execute development projects and support vulnerable families. Qrayeh Municipality is also a member of the Host Municipalities Learning Network, and Maroun is a HMLN core member and the HMLN coordinator for Lebanon.

Wafa Hawamdeh, Head of Local Development Unit, Jerash Municipality, Jordan 

Wafa is the Director of  Local Development Unit for the Municipality of Greater Jerash, where she supervises Jerash’s strategic and development plan,  taking into account the municipal priorities, collecting data on social, economic and environmental situation at the community level, analyzing available opportunities for municipal investment and development in several fields (tourism, economy, environment, social) and promoting the city to attract investments.

Wafa also manages the database for the Jerash Governorate, keeps in touch with the local community and makes sure the municipality communicates with all local stakeholders including CBOs  and NGOs. In addition, Wafa is also the local coordinator of the project “management and sustainable sources of trans-boundary water security and management of water”, and participate in the project of climate change to raise awareness of the risks of natural disasters, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Wafa holds a BSc in Computer Engineering from Mutha University.