Iman Bibars

Iman Bibars has a Ph.D. in Development Studies with a focus on State’s social policies, and social reform, from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, and UK. Her recent work for her Ph.D. and as a consultant with multi-national donors such as the World Bank examined public expenditures and targeting systems with a special focus on social safety nets and social security. Her thesis has been published by ZED in 2001 in a book titled “Heroines and Victims: Women, Welfare and the Egyptian State”. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture translated this book into Arabic and it was published in October 2002 by the High Council of Culture and distributed via the State’s bookstores.

As a Regional Expert she has more than twenty years of experience in strategic planning, policy formulation, and community development and project design -- with a special focus on women. She has acquired significant expertise in training on the following subjects; proposal writing, communication skills, business planning, report writing, gender planning, needs assessment, PRA, project management, evaluation and research, as well as designing and conducting training packages for income generation and small business development projects, in both urban and rural communities – not only in Egypt but in a number of Arab Countries. Her research experience ranges from conducting ethnographic research, participatory research and evaluation, content analysis and PRA among others. Working with international agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and CARE-Egypt, GTZ and KFW as well as with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Low-Income Women in Egypt (ADEW) has provided her with hands-on experience in both ends of the development spectrum.

As an independent consultant from March 1998 until November 2001, Iman Bibars has worked with a number of international and multinational organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP Kuwait, UNDP Lebanon, UNIFEM, UNICEF Cairo, the Population Council MENA office, and the European Union Commission in Cairo. She also worked through the Alexandria Businessmen Association and EQI firm in Egypt with UNDP Yemen in the Micro-start micro-credit program.

As an Officer at UNICEF Cairo for six years, Dr. Bibars managed the "Urban Community Development" and "Children in Difficult Circumstances" projects both of which addressed social and economic policies affecting the urban poor and their resettlement. She also designed, managed, and monitored interventions directed at tackling the underlying causes for child labor and for the "street children" phenomenon. In addition, Dr. Bibars gained considerable capacity building experience during her eight years at CRS, where she designed and implemented training programs for staff members of local and national CDAs, international NGOs, and intermediary organizations. Among her other responsibilities as Program Manager and Training Co-ordinator for the Middle East, she organized and conducted several workshops and conferences, as well as carried out participatory needs assessments, evaluations and rapid appraisals in Cairo, Lebanon, Tunis and Morocco.

Iman Bibars is a co-founder and chairwoman of The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women; an NGO providing credit and legal aid for poor women who head their households. She is also a co-founder of Women and Memory, an organization that aims at bridging the gap between research and action. She is currently a member of the Gender Advisory Board of the Egyptian Social Development Fund.