Wessam El Beih

Wessam has been the Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENARO) region with IDRC since August 2023. She served as the Representative of the Swiss private not-for profit Drosos Foundation branch in Egypt starting in 2014, covering its Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon portfolios  since 2021. Prior to that, Wessam served with United Nations organizations in several positions including as UNICEF Chief of Global Fund Management in Somalia and as UNAIDS Country Director in Egypt. In those roles, she led groundbreaking initiatives and fostered strategic alliances to support underserved populations. Previously, she worked with Care International as Program Manager and head of Monitoring and Evaluation introducing interactive workplace learning and knowledge sharing across different countries in the MENARO region. With Abt. Associates in the USA, she was a Senior Research Analyst contributing to health policy research related to domestic and international projects.

Wessam is a medical doctor with a master's degree in health systems management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom. She is certified in systems thinking from Cornell University, USA. She has more than 25 years of experience in leading teams, designing and managing development projects in HIV, health, gender, education, economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.