Lead Consultants

Rania Fazah
A seasoned consultant practicing for over 15 years, Ms. Rania Fazah is currently a managing partner at Elephas Consultants Inc. Prior to this, Ms. Fazah was the Middle East Representative and Researcher for the London-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.  She served as the Regional Program Officer for IKV Pax Christi, a Dutch-based peace organization, where she was responsible for co-managing the Middle East Program in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Prior to that Ms. Fazah acted as Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for Naseej the Community Youth Development Program at Save the Children guiding the overall monitoring and evaluation of youth development projects and activities in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. Ms. Fazah acted as a subgrants officer at Save the Children Regional Community Youth Development Initiative. Ms. Fazah started her career in Lebanon coordinating the production of monthly youth publications published by Annahar Lebanon Daily, and the University of Balamand in Lebanon.

Ms. Fazah has expertise in human rights, project management, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy and lobbying and organizational management. She has worked with various notable local and international organizations such as IDRC, USIP, USAID, Oxfam, NRGI, UN agencies, private sectors and governmental stakeholders in the Middle East.

Rania has a BA in journalism and political sciences from the Lebanese University, a post-graduate diploma in program and policy evaluation from Carleton University in Ottawa Canada, and a Masters in Evaluation from the University of Melbourne – Australia.

Elie Abouaoun, DDS, GCM

Dr. Elie Abouaoun is a managing partner at Elephas Consultants Inc. and the Director of the Middle East & North Africa Programs at the United States Institute of Peace. Dr. Abouaoun served as the Executive Director of the Arab Human Rights Fund from 2011 to 2013.

His previous positions include acting country director and program manager for the Danish Refugee Council in Iraq, as well as program coordinator for Ockenden International-Iraq and director of external relations for the Lebanese NGO Arcenciel.

Dr. Abouaoun has served as a senior trainer and consultant for various international organizations since 1996 including for the Council of Europe between 1999 & 2005. In 2001 he was appointed a member of the Reference Group established by the Directorate of Education-Council of Europe to supervise the drafting of COMPASS, a manual for human rights education. He further supervised the adaptation and the translation of COMPASS into Arabic and its subsequent diffusion in the Arab region in 2003.

He is a visiting lecturer at Notre Dame University-Lebanon and Saint Joseph University-Lebanon on the subjects of human rights, civil society, advocacy, and citizenship.

Dr. Abouaoun served on the board of directors for the Arab Foundations Forum, Sanad for Peacebuilding (Iraq), and is a founding member and Secretary General of ALEF, a Lebanon-based human rights NGO.

Dr. Abouaoun regularly publishes and writes about the MENA and has also made several media appearances on broadcasting regional and national stations (Al Arabiya Al Jazeera, Skynews Arabia, Al-Hurra, MTV Lebanon and others). He has co-authored Corporate Social Responsibility – Comparative Perspectives, Training Manual on Women and Violence. Islam and Human Rights, Post-Conflict Power-sharing agreements: Options for Syria, Field Experiences in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building as well as other articles and publications.

Dr. Abouaoun speaks Arabic, French, and English fluently. He holds a doctorate degree from the Medical Academy of Latvia, and a Graduate Certificate in Management from the Australian Institute of Business.

Associates Consultants

Raneem Baasiri

Raneem Baassiri (currently M&E specialist at Chemonics- USAID project on Syrian refugees) used to be researcher and project manager at ALEF-Act for Human Rights in Lebanon where she was responsible for general and thematic human rights monitoring and reporting, in addition to managing the organisation’s participation in the Universal Periodic Review process in 2009 and 2010. Ms. Baassiri has also had four years of professional experience in child rights and development, research and advocacy, and project management and fundraising. Ms. Baassiri has implemented research and training consultancies for Iraq Foundation, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and Elite Skills Group in K.S.A. and is currently the Fundraising Advisor for the Sadeq Institute; the first Libyan think tank to be established in post-conflict Libya. She has authored/ co-authored three publications, including a situation analysis report for Save the Children Sweden, published in 2011.

Ms. Baassiri holds an MSc in Social Research Methods from City University London, and a B.A. in Political Studies, with minors in Transitional Justice and English Literature from the American University of Beirut. Her academic training qualifies her to implement a range of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, in addition to assessing their application in public policy settings. Ms. Baassiri’s graduate dissertation capitalizes on her work experience with NGOs in the MENA region, and explores fund-driven interactions between donors and local NGOs.

 

Ali Chahine

Ali Chahine is an independent capacity building and conflict resolution consultant and facilitator working in the Middle East region since 1997. He has been engaged in designing and implementing projects related to peace-building, capacity building and organizational development targeting civil society members in Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and the Balkans targeting civil society, corporate, governmental institutions and elected bodies. He also participated and coordinated several reconciliation and mediation interventions in Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq. He has carried several assignments for INGOs, UN agencies and governmental institutes in the Middle East and Europe and worked as a program manager in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan. Between 2000 and 2005, Ali worked as cooperation delegate for International Committee of Red Cross in Kosovo, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.

 

Moustapha Mikaty 

Professional of Marketing, Communications, and Corporate Social Responsibility with over 15 years of multicultural experience in 8 countries. Currently works as Business Analyst for Sunwing Airlines in Canada. Prior to this, Mr. Mikaty held the position of a Business Director with McCann/FP7, global leading communication, and marketing agency. As well, Mr. Mikaty was the Head of Communications and Development at the Arab Human Rights Fund where his role focused on promoting the work of the Fund as well as connect with the private sector to encourage them on supporting the Fund’s work and to fundraise for various human rights-related aspects. During his tenure, Mr. Mikaty helped the AHRF in winning the Best Arab Fund award in Abu Dhabi as well as secured the Fund’s presence in various regional events and opportunities. From 2006 to 2011, Moustapha held various positions with McCann/FP7 in many GCC countries helping many clients to execute award-winning advertising and promotional campaigns. Mr. Mikaty started his career as a Marketing Executive for the Banque Libano Francaise in Lebanon from 2002 to 2006.

A goal oriented person, bilingual (English & French), able to work responsibly under pressure while ensuring quality output. Exceptionally well organized, team player and with high attention to details, all these characteristics helped Mr. Mikaty to connect and help many brands reach the Arab target audience such as Audi, Vodafone, Microsoft, Jaguar, Pizza Hut and many others.