Introduction
I am an economist by training and have worked in the UN system my entire professional life. I am passionate about political economy of inclusive development. I also see inclusive development as a field of study that needs the insights of anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, historians and economists to name a few. I have worked on economic policies needed for inclusive development as well as community driven development focused on poor communities or social groups. My work has been mostly in poorer developing countries, but have also followed the rise of inequality in higher income developing countries as well as OECD member countries. I have worked on many UN wide initiatives and engaged in joint activities with the World Bank. I have witnessed many experiences of political transition and am right now living a fledgling experiment in Sudan.
Expert
I have seven years of University training in economic development and over thirty years of experience in international development. I was one of the lead authors of the UNDP Arab Development Challenges Report 2011, that focussed on the socio-economic foundations of the Arab Spring protest movement and offered broad directions for moving the Arab region toward inclusive human development. My main area of expertise is socio-economic policy development and implementation within a patronage based political economy structure as is pervasive in the Arab region and Iran, as well as other resource based economies.
I believe in multi-sectoral approaches to the study of development challenges and have solid experience of engaging in multi-disciplinary research. I am also a believer in treating beneficiaries of development interventions as active participants and learning from the practical wisdom of poor and uneducated people, rather than the belief that so called experts have the answer.
Fields of expertise: Economic policy / inclusive economic development