Highlights

Gilda Borriello, Center for Mediterranean Integration

Gilda joined the CMI in September 2016 working for the Refugees and Host Community Program, where she supports the Host Municipalities Network’s activities. Gilda is also a student at the University of Oxford, where she is undertaking a PhD in Migration Studies researching refugee entrepreneurship in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Passionate about migration issues and the Middle East, she previously interned for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (anti-discrimination section) in Geneva, Switzerland. Gilda holds a BSc in International Relations with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy, a Summer School degree in International Politics from the London School of Economics, UK, and a Master Degree in Development Studies from the University of Bologna, Italy, where she defended a thesis on the economic integration of the Mediterranean region through migration. Gilda is fluent in Italian, English, and French, and has a basic knowledge of Arabic and Spanish.

Haneen Hassouneh, Head of Local Development Unit, Sahab Municipaplity, Jordan

Haneen is the Head of Development Unit in Sahab Municipality, Jordan. She received her architectural BS.c Degree from German-Jordanian University (GJU) in Amman, Jordan and her Master Degree from the University of Jordan with a thesis on urban planning for selected areas of Amman within an internship at the Urban Workshop Company in Amman, Jordan. She undertook 8 months of international practice in the Fischer architecture company in Aachen, Germany. In 2012, Haneen decided to explore a new experience in the academic field and worked as a teacher assistant at the Middle East University (MEU). In 2014, she worked as Urban Planner at Consolidated Consultants Company. Haneen won an award from the Association Energy Engineer (AEE) in the USA for "the energy project of the year".

Ali Assaf, Head of Fundraising Unit, Sahab Municipality, Jordan

Ali has been employed with Sahab Municipality since June 2019. His Bachelor’s degree is in Civil Engineering from The University of Jordan in Amman-Jordan with a very good rating (GPA = 3.43/4). After graduation in January 2018, he worked for the largest telecommunications company at Jordan as an infrastructure engineer and he was the first engineer who discovers a problem in the load distribution at HQ building and he did a structural analysis study of the building and developed solutions that were implemented later. At that time, he was working part-time as a lecturer to teach seismic analysis and structural analysis software.

Iyad Hammad, Head of Planning Department, Yatta Municipality, Palestine

Iyad joined the Planning Dept in the Municipality in 2006. He was tasked with coordinating development plans and the annual executive plans for the city of Yatta. He oversees the physical planning of the city, which facilitates the execution of development programs and goals and linking the structural plans to reality. He is a member of the Local Economic Council, where he worked with the municipal management on institutionalizing the development of local economy by establishing LED unit within the municipal structures. He follows up on the process of classifying the municipality with the Municipalities Development and Lending Fund to enhance its representation status and lending opportunities by the different grants and aid programs, coordinating with the civil society and government organizations through their inclusion in planning processes and the creation of development policies and finally, coordinating for the capacity building program with the municipalities fund, and continuous evaluation of the municipality’s performance and capacity indicators.

Nurcan Öztürkmen, Deputy Mayor, Sultangazi Municipality, Turkey

Nurcan was born in 1979 in Kastamonu province of Turkey. She completed primary, elementary and high school education in Kastamonu and then graduated from Fırat University, Department of Aquacultural Resources. Afterwards, she graduated from the Department of Business Management and Justice in Eskişehir University. Ms. Öztürkmen is continuing her education life as a 3rd year Student at the Department of History in İstanbul University. Furthermore, she is executing the duty of Women Assembly Presidency in Sultangazi Municipality since 2009. She took an active role as the City Council member for İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality during the 2019 local elections, she is a Member of Sultangazi Municipality Council, and also carries out her duty at the position of Sultangazi Municipality Deputy President. She is married and a mother of one child.

Selma Rasavac, Senior Private Sector Specialist, International Finance Corporation (IFC) 

Selma is a senior professional with close to 15 years of private sector development experience in developing countries primarily in Europe and Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa, East Africa and East Asia Pacific region. More specifically, she has  extensive country office management and project management experience in multiple regions within the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Selma is  currently based in Amman, Jordan where she leads IFC's high profile engagement in Prospects Partnership in MENA region, a partnership between UNCHR, UNICEF, ILO, World Bank and IFC (supported by the government of Netherlands) and focuses on facilitating prospects for host and forcibly displaced communities in MENA region.

Claire Roberts Lamont, Cities and Partnership Coordinator, UNHCR

Claire  works forUNHCR,  on the role of cities and multi stakeholder partnerships in the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees. She also works on the Cities #WithRefugees Initiative which was launched in 2018 and now includes 250 cities in over 50 countries.

Yara Asad, Private Sector Development Specialist, World Bank

Yara is a Private Sector Development-B2B and Matchmaking Consultant at the World Bank’s Refugee Investment and Matchmaking Platform since October 2019. Under this role, Yara supports the growth of  the private sector in Jordan and keeps  tracks policy challenges that impact private sector growth in Jordan and employment opportunity for refugees and their host community. Prior to this, Yara served as the Project Manager and Research Lead at Building Markets-a New York-based NGO that aims to build the supply chain for Small and Medium size businesses (SMEs) in crisis affected countries.

Under this role, Yara established Building Market’s Jordan office, interviewed and collected data from Jordanian refugee and migrant-led SMEs.

Her role focused on evaluating opportunities for refugees and migrants and articulating the untold economic impact of refugees and migrants on host countries.

Since 2017, Yara assumed different consulting positions that focused on SMEs development in the MENA Region. She was the Director General for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Palestine from January 2011- December 2014,  and the Chief Executive Officer of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre. She holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is an Edward Mason Fellow of Public Policy. 

Lara Abu-Salim, Component Manager - Employment, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
 

Lara is the Employment Promotion Component Manager at GIZ Trade for Employment (T4E) Project. She provides strategic guidance and leads the design and implementation of project interventions. Her work includes promoting mobility-sensitive employment services, supporting the development and implementation of demand-based personnel management strategies, tailoring capacity building activities and facilitating employment opportunities for more than 3000 Jordanian and Syrian Refugee.

Her responsibility includes furthering partnerships with stakeholders and sustaining provision of services through local and private employment providers in Jordan.

Previously, Lara had worked with several leading international and local organizations on youth empowerment and employment programs and has built an excellent profile through hands-on experience across Jordan. 

Lara is very passionate about working with youth. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, her Master’s degree in Economics also completed a global studies program focused on cross-cultural communication and negotiations, Global Political Economy and Global Enterprise.