Chemonics News
News: Chemonics Welcomes New Peace, Stability, and Transition Practice Director
September 21, 2020 | 2 Minute ReadSahar Tabaja will lead Chemonics’ efforts to achieve development impact in fragile and crisis environments worldwide.
Chemonics is pleased to announce Sahar Tabaja as its new Peace, Stability, and Transition Practice (PST) director. Ms. Tabaja is an accomplished stabilization expert with more than 10 years of experience in governance, conflict prevention, and managing capacity building programs in conflict-affected and fragile environments.
Prior to this role, Ms. Tabaja served as a stabilization technical advisor for the USAID Lebanon Community Support Program, where she designed and provided technical input on the program’s stabilization activities, built staff and partner capacity on systems conflict analysis and conflict-sensitive project design, and ensured high-quality implementation and delivery of results. Previously, Ms. Tabaja held leadership and consulting roles at the United Nation Development Programme, Mercy Corps, the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, Saferworld, the ARK Group, and Pursue Ltd.
“We are very excited to welcome Sahar to the PST Practice,” says Chemonics’ Middle East and North Africa Regional Business Unit senior vice president Melissa Gasmi. “In addition to her extensive technical expertise, she has made significant contributions to our community of practice, including fostering cross-project collaboration with Chemonics’ projects in Iraq and Yemen, actively engaging in our technical summit, and providing input into Chemonics’ 2020-2023 strategic plan. She is passionate about finding and applying locally driven solutions to conflict and development problems, and we are lucky to have her on board.”
As practice director, Ms. Tabaja will provide technical leadership on stabilization, countering violent extremism, conflict prevention, and recovery and reconstruction in fragile and conflict-affected areas. She will also lead efforts to track, analyze, and share trends and innovations in the PST sector that affect project implementation and development impact. Chemonics’ PST Practice portfolio currently includes more than 20 projects worldwide.
Ms. Tabaja holds a master’s degree in anthropology and development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the American University of Beirut.
