Chiara Ayad

Thematic expertise: Gender and Inclusion, Human Security, Governance, Youth Engagement

Geographic expertise: Middle East and North Africa region, Syria, Palestine, Yemen

Languages: English, Arabic, Norwegian, French, Hebrew

Chiara Ayad, is an adviser at NOREF MENA Program, currently leads the Syrian Civil Society Support Room (CSSR) project that NOREF implements in partnership with Swisspeace and under the guidance of the UN Office of the Special Envoy to Syria (UN-OSE). The CSSR is a unique inclusion mechanism that facilitates civil society engagements endeavoring to ensure an inclusive political process lead by the UN-OSE-Syria. She has also broad experience working on Track II initiatives in Yemen and Palestine. Prior to joining NOREF, Chiara worked as a Researcher at the Arab Reform Initiative where she led programming on decentralization of governance and youth political engagement in the MENA. Her previous work experience also includes Women, Peace and Security (WPS) consultancies and youth empowerment initiatives in the Gulf. Chiara holds a Master’s degree in International Security from the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po Paris and a BA from Sciences Po in Middle Eastern studies. She also has a background in arts and culture and is interested in the role of culture and cultural expressions in conflict contexts.