Experience

The Asfari Foundation

• United Kingdom
• Philanthropic Fundraising Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Chief Executive Officer

  • May 2019 - Present

  The Asfari Foundation is an energetic young British grant-making charity set up by Ayman and Sawsan Asfari in 2006. Its vision is for a world where people actively work together to create productive, inclusive and just societies. Its mission is to educate young people from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and the UK and to strengthen civil society organisations in their communities. The Foundation makes grants to international, national and local organisations and universities and research centres through three programmes: Civil Society, Youth Empowerment and Relief. In 2019 it is funding projects located in Lebanon, the UK, Palestine/Israel, and a few in Syria, Turkey and Jordan.



Humanitarian Leadership Academy

• United Kingdom
• Non-profit Organizations
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Chief Executive Officer- CEO

  • Sep 2015 - Apr 2019

  Leading the vision and goals of the Academy in encouraging a localised approach to humanitarian learning and encouraging people at grassroots level to prepare for disaster, respond with urgency and act with resilience. •Directing strategic vision across the global organisation, with full ownership of embedding strategy plans over 4 regions (Middle East/ Jordan, East Africa/Kenya, Philippines and Bangladesh).•Responsible for the global Representation for the organisation as an influencing partner within the sector, spearheading the value of localised learning.•Leading with innovation and creativity in the delivery of a ground-breaking operating model, working with the network to translate the Localization Agenda at regional and national scale. •Establishing and consequently directing a global network of 5+ localised Academy Centres, 4 Learning Centres and 40+ Organisational Partners. •Managing a multi-disciplined and multi-functional team, with over 100 of direct and indirect reports.Key Projects •Applied my in-depth knowledge of Middle East philanthropy culture, social movements and political standpoints to successfully pitch and secure £20m in funding from a Philanthropist in the region. •Led the formation of a Global Governance Structure, managing the end-to-end recruitment process of 3 Global Directors based in London, as well as 5 National Directors to lead our regional Academy Centres. •Chaired a key side event on localization at the World Humanitarian Summit, engaging UN agencies and leading influencers in the sector.•Co-led on number of events on Islamic Financing and how best to mobilise resources from the Islamic World to support SDGs and key global priorities.



Save the Children International

• United Kingdom
• Non-profit Organizations
• 700 & Above Employee

• Country Director

  • Oct 2013 - Aug 2015

  Accountable for the direction and leadership of Save The Children’s programmes in Jordan, both in development and humanitarian response.•Led the strategic direction of the organisation with ownership of all top-line emergency operations for a rapidly growing programme in Jordan, as well as global awareness campaign management.•Translated national goals and global standards into local and regional deliverables, ensuring the engagement of all teams and ensuring the delivery of impactful, resourceful work.•Accountable for managing annual budgets of $100m+ across 600+ employees and 800+ volunteers • Directly working with key national stakeholders i.e. local authority, the Royal Court, the Prime Minister’s Office to drive children’s futures to the forefront of national and global humanitarian strategy plans. •Identified areas of inefficiency and consequently designed and delivered a programme restructure to increase sustainability. •Representaton at the UN Security Council, contributing to the briefings of European, US, Australian and Arab delegations. Key Projects•Steered the NGO subcommittee of the Jordan INGO Forum (JIF), coordinating the efforts of 45 humanitarian agencies in response to the Syrian Crisis.•Advocated the core rights and needs of vulnerable communities both in Jordan and Syria, contributing vastly to changing this narrative between global perception and ground-level reality. This included representing the organisation at the Kuwait Second Pledging Conference, acting as an influencing member in the design and advocacy of the No Lost Generation (NLG) initiative. •Participated as an influencing member of the steering committee for Prince Al Hassan bin Talal (Al Hassan Council), partnering on Human Security and Social Stability in Jordan.•Established a Disaster Risk Reduction initiative with UNICEF in the League of Arab States, driving its positive adoption at regional scale.

• Programme Director & Emergency Response Team Leader

  • Mar 2012 - Sep 2013

  Accountable for the overall direction and coordination of Save the Children’s response programmes in Jordan, both for development and humanitarian crisis.•Supervised the development, output and operational excellence of the programme with full leadership of the Emergency Response Team. •Led 11 governmental and donor relationships across fundraising activity, partnerships, programme reporting and country performance.•Managed financial forecasting, budget allocation and reporting to the country office, often contributing to the development of country strategy and vision.Key Projects•Scaled the programme appropriately, implementing a 2012 grant portfolio of US$80M over a team of 500, with initiatives spanning child protection, education, food security and livelihoods for vulnerable Jordanians and Syrians.•Secured further funds of US$50m from corporate and philanthropic partnerships between 2012 and 2015.•Partnered with the EU to contextualise the sphere standards to ensure alignment and acceptance within the Arab context across the Middle Eastern region.



Save the Children US

• United States
• Non-profit Organizations
• 700 & Above Employee

• Director of Program Quality and Development

  • Feb 2010 - 2012

  Led a review of all country strategy within the organisations US framework, directing teams to embed national priorities and operational excellence. •Played an active, practical role in monitoring the success of programme implementation at local, regional and national scale.•Closely documented programme performance against initial KPI’s and goals with analysis of successes and pitfalls. Key Projects•Addressed the needs of targeted communities and ensured their integration and priority in programme plans.•Provided technical support to the development of Youth Programmes in Jordan, the Middle East and Eurasia, acting as the Regional Youth Development Advisor and handling many local projects in the regions.

• Youth Programme Senior Manager

  • 2006 - 2010



Jordan River Foundation

• Jordan
• Non-profit Organizations
• 300 - 400 Employee

• Head of Training & Curriculum Development

  • 2003 - 2006