Farah Al Shami is a policy and development economist. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI), leading ARI’s social protection program. She has more than eight years of experience, working with CSOs, academic institutes, and UN entities on advancing public policy reforms in the Arab region from a human rights-based perspective.

Her areas of expertise include conducting, managing and editing research, coordinating advocacy efforts at national, regional and international platforms, facilitating professional consortia/communities, and leading capacity-building programs.

Her research spans the disciplines of economic development, political economy and political sociology. It covers topics like social policy, tax justice, informality, inequality, gender justice, international financial institutions, youth trajectories (for livelihoods, political participation, civic engagement, and peacebuilding) in conflict settings, public-private partnerships, the 2030 development agenda, transnational social movements, and governance and civil society.

Prior to working at ARI, Ms. Al Shami was a Program Officer and Researcher at the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), the United Nations-Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA), and the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

She is Fulbright alumna, holding a Master’s degree in Policy Economics and Economic Development from Williams College (MA-USA). She also holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from AUB and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Lebanese American University (LAU).