UNOCHA Pre-Conference Workshop – 2022

Ms. Sajeda Shawa

Acting Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Abu Dhabi, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Currently Ms. Sajeda is Acting Head of office– OCHA UAE. Ms. Shawa brings onboard around fifteen years of experience focusing on partnerships, advocacy, and resource mobilization. Her latest appointment was with UNOCHA Regional office for Syria Crisis working closely with the UN ASG – RHC for Syria Crisis supporting him directly on his strategic engagements on donor relations, strategic partnerships, and humanitarian outreach, in addition to leading gulf relations, donor reporting and Arabic advocacy. Before joining the UN and focusing on strategy development, she spent around nine years with the European Commission humanitarian arm (ECHO) managing field operations/projects in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, and Syria and during the last three years developed their humanitarian outreach strategy toward the GCC countries (KSA, UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar). Previously she worked with USAID & the Italian Cooperation in Jordan on local development and engagement with the private sector. She is a graduate of Harvard Executive Education Program, holder of an MA in International studies, focusing on the humanitarian landscape in the gulf region post Arab spring, and a BA in English Language and Literature.

Dr. Dena Assaf

United Nations Resident Coordinator for the United Arab Emirates and Deputy Commissioner General for the UN at Expo2020 | United Arab Emirates

Dr. Dena Assaf is the United Nations Resident Coordinator for the United Arab Emirates and Deputy Commissioner General for the UN at Expo2020. She has been with the United Nations for over 20 years in various senior management positions and advisory roles with UN Peace Keeping, the UN Development Programme, UN Women and the UN Sustainable Development Group at headquarters, the Arab Region, and various UN country offices.

Dr. Raidan Al Saqqaf

Development Coordination Officer, United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, Abu Dhabi, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Dr Raidan Al Saqqaf is the Economist at the United Nations of Office in Abu Dhabi, he has over 18 years of work experience in various capacities, including with the UN-Secretariat, UNDP, International Labour Organization, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has life and work experience across the Middle East and North Africa as well as in Geneva and Southeast Asia. He worked on a variety of initiatives including humanitarian response design and coordination, peace mediation, sustainable development and economic growth, as well as intergovernmental processes.

Ms. Fairuz Taqi -Eddin

Chief of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, UNICEF Gulf Area Office, Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

In summer 2020, Ms. Fairuz Taqi -Eddin joined UNICEF Gulf Area Office as the Chief of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization based in Dubai. In her capacity, Fairuz heads the UNICEF Dubai office and overseas UNICEF’s Gulf Area partnerships and resource mobilization operations for both private and public sectors. Prior to joining UNICEF, Fairuz served as UNRWA’s Sr. External Relations Officer and managed government relations for UNRWA in the Gulf region. She also served as the Director of Fundraising and Partnerships at Jordan River Foundation; a leading Jordanian NGO founded by HM Queen Rania Bin Abdullah. Fairuz spent 11 years of her career working for CARE USA. During her time with CARE, she held various senior roles in the USA, Egypt and Jordan. In her last five years with CARE, Fairuz was the Regional Director of Partnerships in the Gulf region where she established CARE’s presence in the Arab Gulf countries. As a volunteer for several philanthropic organizations, Fairuz served as a Chairwoman of Capoeira for Refugees, a UK Charity that teaches capoeira to children and youth who are the victims of conflict in the Middle East region. She also served as an advisory board member of Spark, a San Francisco based organization that supports women global issues. Fairuz holds an MA in International Relations.

Ms. Jedda Constantine

Programme Advisor, United Nations World Food Programme Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Ms. Jedda Constantine currently serves as Programme Advisor with the United Nations World Programme (WFP) in Dubai. In this capacity, she provides expert programmatic and other operational guidance to WFP staff and public and private sector partners within the UAE and across the GCC region. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as Programme Advisor with WFP’s Regional Bureau in Johannesburg, coordinating the programme cycle and leading programme design support for 12 country operations across Southern Africa. Jedda brings a wealth of operational experience from her 17 years working in the humanitarian field, in both emergency and development settings. She has served in a number of operations in areas affected by structural food insecurity, conflict, and natural disasters. Jedda holds a BSc in International Relations and an MSc in International Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a national of Australia and is married with two children.

Mr. Abdul Haq Amiri

Section Chief for the Middle East and North Africa region, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Geneva | United Arab Emirates

Mr. Amiri has served the United Nations for over 25 years, mainly in the domain of humanitarian and emergency response coordination, preparedness, and recovery. Mr. Amiri is currently working as the Section Chief for the MENA region with OCHA Geneva. Mr. Amiri has worked as Head of OCHA Office in Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, Iraq, KSA, Lebanon and Indonesia. Mr. Amiri has worked as the Head of the OCHA Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA) from 2008 to 2013, and as the Deputy Head of OCHA Office in Indonesia and Sudan 2001- 2005. He has also worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and led many UN missions to sudden onset disasters such as the Bam earthquake in Iran, floods in Bangladesh, and volcano in PNG. Mr. Amiri has a Master of Science degree in Social and Applied Economics from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, USA, and MSC and BSC (Hons) in development economics from International School of Economics in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is fluent in Persian, Pushto, English, Arabic and Urdo.

Mr. Houssam Chahin

Chief of Private Sector Partnerships, Middle East and North Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Houssam Chahin is the Chief of Private Sector Partnerships, MENA at UNHCR. Houssam has more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, partnerships building, and stakeholders relations management in both non-for-profit and the governmental sectors. Specialized in fundraising campaigning, stakeholders’ engagement, strategic planning, and donors management, Houssam launched and developed new fundraising programs such as the Islamic Philanthropy program for UNHCR with its flagship - The Refugee Zakat Fund. Houssam worked with organizations like Greenpeace and Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. He joined UNHCR in 2011 where he is currently leading a regional team of professionals in Private Sector Fundraising within the MENA region and developing key programs, including Individual Giving, Digital Campaigning, Foundations, High Net Worth Individuals, and Corporations Fundraising.

Dr. Luay Shabaneh

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Director, MENA, Cairo, Egypt | United Arab Emirates

Luay Shabaneh, currently serves as Arab States Regional Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund starting May 2016. A native of Palestine, he has held a number of high-profile national and international public service positions over the last two decades in the area of official statistics, population census, population and develop- ment, monitoring and evaluation, programme management and advoca- cy within the UN System, in government and in the multilateral arena. He served as Minister of Statistics in Palestine from 2005 until he started his UN career in 2009 when he joined UNFPA as Chief Technical Adviser in Iraq. Following this, he joined UNDP/UNCT in Iraq as the Senior Programme Manager for a joint UNCT programme on Public Sector Reform and Modernization. In 2015, Luay returned to UNFPA as the Regional Adviser for Population Data and Policies in ASRO. Within the Arab region, he served as chair or member of several regional professional and re- search committees. Such as the Chair of the Statistical Committee of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Arab regional statistical forum and as member of the board of the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics. Prior to that, Luay Shabaneh started his professional career at Palestine Central Bureau of Statis- tics (PCBS) in 1994 where he served starting from labour statistician, to be Director of Labour Statistics Department., then sub-regional director in the first population and housing census, Di- rector General of Population and Social, followed by Senior Deputy Assistant of PCBS President for Statistical Affairs, and a few years later he was selected to be the second President of PCBS. Dr. Luay holds a PhD in Applied Social Statistics from Lancaster University, UK, a Master’s Degree in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Jordan and a Bachelor of Science in Mathemat- ics from Baghdad University.