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Our Team

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Lina Abou Habib 

Director of the Asfari Institute

Lina Abou-Habib (Lebanon) is an expert in mainstreaming gender in development policies and practices and in building capacities for gender mainstreaming in regional and international agencies as well as public institutions.
 She was a Senior Policy Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (American University of Beirut).  She also serves as the Chair of the Collective for Research and Training of Development-Action and is a Strategic MENA Advisor for the Global Fund for Women.  She is a member of the editorial board of the Gender and Development journal published by Oxfam and Routledge.
Abou-Habib was the former Executive Director of WLP Lebanon/Collective for Research and Training on Development–Action (CRTD-A), and is a co-founder and coordinator of the Machreq/Maghreb Gender Linking and Information Project.   She served as the Executive Director of the Women’s Learning Partnership based in Washington, DC and is a former chair of the board of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). 
 She holds an M.A. in Public Health from American University in Beirut and was a PhD candidate in gender and public policy at AUT in New Zealand.
 Abou-Habib has been featured as an expert speaker and panelist in the MENA region and internationally. She has appeared on Al Jazeera, CNN, CBC, Fox News, France 24, al Mayadeen, Sky TV, Press TV, BBC English and Arabic, as well as on local broadcast networks in Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain.
She has published several research articles in international journals on action oriented research on the impact of the denial of citizenship rights to women in MENA countries; active citizenship and gendered social entitlements in Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt; and topics related to women's political participation, invisible care work, economic contribution in rural communities and access to markets, faith based organizations, migrant women and refugees, and women in post-war Lebanon. Abou-Habib’s articles on action oriented research have appeared in Oxfam’s Gender and Development Journal, Royal Tropical Institute’s Source Book, and Routledge.

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Dr. Hassan Abbas
​1955-2021

Program Director of
​"Culture as Resistance"

Dr. Hassan Abbas holds a PhD in literature and literary criticism from the New Sorbonne University in Paris. Prior to joining the Asfari Institute, Dr. Abbas was the founder and president of the Syrian League for Citizenship where he established and managed associations focusing on culture, human rights, and political representation. He has also worked as a professor and researcher at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient in Damascus and has published studies and books in the fields of culture, citizenship and civil society.

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Hala Yanni

Financial Management Officer

Ms. Hala Yanni manages the administrative department of the Institute, including budgeting, financial reporting, strategic planning, systemizing office logistics, and University liaison. She is directly responsible for all the financial matters of the office, including the recording and tracking of grants and their proposals. Prior to joining the Asfari Institute, Ms. Yanni served as a Financial Analyst at the Office of Financial Planning at AUB (2013-2014); Executive Officer at the Vice President for Facilities at AUB (2012-2013); Internal Auditor at BLOM Bank (2008-2012); Administrative Officer at the Auxiliary Services at AUB (2004-2008); and External Auditor at KPMG (2002-2004). Ms. Yanni received her MBA with an emphasis in internal audit from the Lebanese American University (LAU) in June 2010.

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​Fatima Nasser

 Administrative Assistant

Ms. Fatima Nasser graduated from AUB with a BA in Public Administration in 2018. Before joining the Asfari Institute, she was an intern at the Issam Fares Institute (2017-2018) and World Vision (2017-2018). Ms. Nasser received two training workshop certifications on Innovation and Entrepreneurship with Nawaya-UNICEF and the Switchmed Program. She has also worked as a part-time work-study student in several departments at AUB and AUBMC (2015-2018).

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Islam Elrabieey

Research Assistant - Consultant

Islam is a researcher – consultant in political sociology. He was a senior researcher at Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms (Egypt). He wrote several reports on human rights in Egypt; criminal justice, free trials, places of detention and capital punishment. He is doing M.A. in Human Rights and Democracy at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He has published several research articles on Transnational Social Movements in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia; mobilizing new syndicalism in Lebanon, Post-revolution protest movements in Egypt, and the path of democratic transformation in Tunisia.

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Marwan Issa

Research Assistant 

Mr. Marwan Issa works on two programs at the Institute: Beyond the Pandemic: Structure of Opportunities and Challenges for Transforming Arab States and Civil Societies and Arab feminist activisms in times of Covid-19; Challenges, Opportunities and Transformations. In addition, he assists the Media and outreach department of the Institute.  Marwan is a writer and researcher specialized in sociopolitical analysis with a focus on Lebanon and Western Asia. 

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         Montaha Nottah                            Intern

         A senior Political Studies undergraduate and a MEPI scholar with triple minors in the Non-profit Sector and                 Civil Society, Human Rights and Transitional Justice, and International Law at the American University of Beirut           (AUB). Montaha has volunteered and worked with several international and local organizations across the  
​         world. Her fields of interest include youth empowerment, peace building, humanitarian aid, and gender                     studies with an eye focused on the MENA region, especially Libya.


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        Carla Akil                                         Research Assistant

       Ms. Carla Akil graduated with a major in  psychology from the American University of Beirut. She is    
       particularly interested in research related to social psychology, gender, and media. As an undergraduate
​       researcher, she is currently conducting research on gender roles and internalized misogyny in Lebanon.




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          Karine Ballout                                 Research Assistant

           Karine  is a recent Media and Communications graduate from The American University of Beirut. She is 
           particularly interested in research about economic equality and its intersection with feminism in Lebanon. She's
​           a writer and podcaster and works in the Institute's Media and Publishing department. 


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       Fatima Amro                              Research Assistant
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          Ms. Amro is a physics and political science graduate from the American university of Beirut. She is       
          particularly interested in research related to geopolitics and political economy. As a research assistant, she is                 currently conducting research on gender and politics and women empowerment


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Fatima Kaddour                        Intern
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​Fatima holds a Bachelor’s in English Literature and Master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language from Al Ba’ath University in Syria, and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Global Public Policy at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University in London. Her general interests lie in female economic empowerment in the MENA region, and the impact of conflict and crisis on gender norms and discrimination.



About asfari Institute

ADDRESS

Beirut                
PO Box 11-0236,            
Riad El Solh
​1107 2020,        
Beirut, Lebanon     
Tel: +961-1-350000   Ext. 4469

New York           
The Debs Center,            
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th floor    
New York, NY 10017-2303, USA          
Tel:  1-212-583-7600

CONTACT

Website
www.aub.edu.lb/asfari

Email
AsfariInstituteinfo@aub.edu.lb
ASFARI AT AUB
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  • Home
  • Regional Storytelling
  • Senior Civil Society Fellows
  • Student Projects
  • Asfari Publications
    • Syrian Displaced Challenges Series
  • Thesis Publication Award
  • Youth Voices
  • Women of Afghanistan
    • Nowruz 2022
  • Gender Series
  • Co-ed Thesis Page
  • Women's Day
  • AI Podcasts
  • AUB Faculty Research Grant
  • Lectures
  • Asfari Op-Eds
  • International Human Rights Day
  • Call for Papers
  • 16 Days of Activism
  • Beirut's Anger and Solidarity
  • Citizens' Initiatives
  • Lebanon Protests
  • Hassan Abbas Memorial
  • Research Papers
  • Events
    • Events Round Up
    • Training Workshops
    • Leadership Program
    • Book Launches
    • Workshops
  • Hotspots
    • Palestinians Special
    • Iraq Protests
    • Displaced Syrians Special
    • Sudan Special
    • Lebanese Elections
  • Spotlight
    • Culture videos
    • Environmental Justice
    • Asfari Culture Award
    • Media Roundup
    • Previous Lectures and Interviews
  • About
    • Strategy
    • Research Programs
    • Our Team
    • Our Partners
    • AI Annual Reports
    • Contact