Biography of speakers - IWD 2022

Ana Iglesias is a Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, and previously a Research Scientist at Columbia University, New York. She is also a member of the Center for Agricultural and Environmental Risks of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Her research focuses on the interactions between global change, agriculture, and water, with particular emphasis on economic impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. She currently leads several EU projects related to adaptation policy. Her work has been published in over two hundred papers, and she has been a contributing author to the IPCC since 1995; in the IPCC report of 2014 she was the Review Editor of the Economics of Climate Change. Since 2016 is a Member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Orchid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3183-6658

Currently serving as Regional Programme Management Officer (Risk Knowledge & Analysis) for UNDRR Regional office for Arab States, she has worked on Multi-Donor Fund for projects for Disaster and Climate Preparedness, Risk assessments, Risk profiling & Disaster loss databases in 22 Arab Countries.

As Communication Specialistin SAARC Energy Center she coordinated the activities of the Centre with SAARC Secretariat HQ ,Katmandu and Ministries of Foreign affairs of the SAARC Member States i.e., Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Apart from working as Editor-in-Chief of SAARC Magazines and Newsletters, she maintained close working relationship with all SAARC regional Centres, Embassies, UN-agencies, World Bank ADB, DFID etc and also the official spokesperson of SAARC Energy Centre.

She has worked on disaster management and disaster risk reduction policies and their implementation in National Disaster Management Authority, Government of Pakistan. She has worked in Gender & child cell on Gender issues as Policy & Programme Officer, as Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinatorin DRR wing and Assistant Director in Recovery & Rehabilitation wing in Operation Department of NDMA. In NDMA Pakistan, she worked for social protection interventions and challenges like Medical rehabilitation of persons with disabilities in earthquake and flood areas, Livelihood Support cash grant programmes, & rural landless programmes.

During floods of 2014 and 2015, she assisted in cash grant disbursement mechanism for vulnerable people. While part of GCC, she was part of Child centered Disaster risk assessment and comprehensive school safety programme. She also supported and helped communities build back and recover in the wake of disasters”. and was in direct coordination with Benazir Income Support Programme under its social protection strategy, providing monthly cash transfers to the population who live below the poverty line.

Wafaa El Dikah is the Senior Adviser for international cooperation at the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture . She is also a Regional Consultant in gender equality and women’s empowerment. Appointed as Delegate of Lebanon to CIHEAM governing board in 2017. She has been also working with different organizations such as UN-ESCWA, FAO and LAS, & as member of FAO programme Committee for the Near East in 2003/2005. Between 2004 and 2005, she became the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs marking the first Lebanese women as Minister. In addition to being a researcher and university insructor, she held several senior level responsibilities in the Lebanese public sector, and contributed to the development of national and regoinal strategies and action plans most recently the National Agriculture Startegy in Lebanon 2020-2025. A well known activist in Women’s Rights, she is co-founder of the National Commission for Lebanese Women , contributed to establishing the Arab Women Organization and currently serving as member of its Executive Council. She holds an MSc in crop production and rural development (1988), from American University of Beirut. Pursued her Post Graduate Studies in Rural Extension and Participatory Appraisal in the Netherlands and Management of Programs in Germany.

Twitter: @dh_wafaa
Instagram: wafaadh

Dr. Dina Najjar joined ICARDA in 2014 as a Social and Gender Specialist. A socio-cultural anthropologist by training, her work focuses on the link between gender equality and policies; agricultural technologies and delivery systems; rural employment and migration; adaption to climate change; and equitable access to productive assets, including land and other natural resources, in the Middle East and North Africa.

Her geographical expertise includes Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Sudan. She has also conducted research in Uzbekistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and India. Dr. Najjar is fluent in Arabic and proficient in French and Swahili. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She currently works with ICARDA as Gender Scientist.

His diplomatic career spans over 30 years of service during which he has served as Head of Mission in both bilateral and multilateral missions overseas.  In addition, he also held various positions within the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs of the Republic of Malta, including that of Permanent Secretary.

He has served as ambassador of Malta to Germany, Poland and Belarus.  He also served as Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations Specialized Agencies in Geneva and Deputy Permanent Representative of Malta to the OSCE and UN Agencies in Vienna.  Besides, he has been assigned duties as Special Envoy on behalf of the Government of Malta on a number of assignments.

Mr. Elwaer, a national of Libya, holds a Ph.D. of Philosophy in Environmental Chemistry from Sheffield University, the United Kingdom, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Organizational Leadership from the Gestalt Centre of Organizations and Systems Development in the United States, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering and Science Technology from the University of Sabha in Libya.

Mr. Elwaer served as Secretary of Environmental General Authority (Minister of Environment) of the Government of Libya in Tripoli and was elected President of the African Ministerial Congress on Environment (AMCEN) from 2004 to 2006.

In 2007, he joined the African Union as Director for Human Resources, Science and Technology, and became Director for Administration and Human Resources Management in 2009.

During his career at the African Union (AU), Dr. Elwaer has supervised and managed the Establishment of several African unique initiatives and institutions.

Before joining FAO, he served as Adviser to the President on Global Advocacy and Partnerships at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he also served as the IsDB Spokesperson and Director of Cooperation, Partnerships, Regional Integration and Resource Mobilization from 2014 to 2017. He was further appointed IsDB’s Sherpa at G20 and Heads of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).

She was formerly Director of Plan Bleu for the environment and development in the Mediterranean, head of the office for global public goods at the French ministry of environment, and economist at the FAO Investment Center. She contributed to the design of sustainable development strategies and policies, and science-decision interfaces.

A passionate and motivated staff at Gaza Urban Agriculture Platform “GUPAP”. Working for years in enhancing the resilience of urban women agripreneurs and letting them raise their voice. Working fairly and productively in facilitating Urban Women Agripreneurs Forum “UWAF” as a basis for a future social movement of urban women agripreneurs to advocate their rights, influence food policies  and playing a key role in local food system space.