Maha joined IDS in September 2020 as a doctoral researcher working on women’s empowerment. Her PhD looks at the perceptions of empowerment among women beneficiaries and implementing NGOs of craft-based Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) programmes as well as the mechanisms used to mediate such programmes. Her research focuses on the poorest areas of urban Egypt and employs a variety of mixed qualitative and participatory methods. Mariz Tadros and Deepta Chopra are the PhD supervisors.

In parallel to her PhD research at IDS, Maha was most recently a Senior Specialist in Policies and Strategies at Abu Dhabi Government’s Department of Community Development. She has previously worked for UK charity Oxfam GB in Lebanon as part of the Syrian Humanitarian Crisis response – in the capacity of Partnership Officer and Gender trainer – and has also worked as a Regional Programme and Policy Officer at the United Nations World Food Programme Regional Bureau for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe on programmes related to Resilience, Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation.

Maha holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Birmingham and a BA in Marketing from the American University in Dubai.