Areas of expertise: Middle East North Africa socio-political dynamics; natural resources and conflict, transitional processes, humanitarian-development-peace nexus, dialogue facilitation.

Biography: Maruan El-Krekshi is the Head of CMI’s Middle East and North Africa and leads CMI’s programme activities in the region.
El-Krekshi joined CMI in 2011 and previously worked as Senior Programme Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Prior to joining CMI, El-Krekshi served as a Governance Programme Officer with UNDP in Yemen for 3 years, working on elections, human rights, transparency, justice sector and civil society capacity development related projects. He has also worked for the World Food Programme, where he served as a Policy and Programme Support consultant in the Office of the Executive Director, in addition to short assignments with UNHCR and UNDP programmes in Libya. He holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the University of Helsinki.