Heba Handoussa

Interim Managing Director, Economic Research Forum

A pioneer in the field of development and economics, Dr. Heba Handoussa serves as the Interim Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum and the Representative of ERF Presidency in FEMISE. Prof. Heba Handoussa is also the founder of the Egypt Network for Integrated Development (ENID) in 2012; and of Egypt Foundation for Integrated Development (El Nidaa), in 2016. The aim has been to support the rapid development of women and youth in the South of Egypt by introducing innovative interventions in three sectors: the Care Economy, Environment Friendly Agriculture as well as the promotion of MSMEs and Entrepreneurship focusing on Readymade Garments and Handicrafts and Financial Inclusion. Through ENID/El Nidaa, Prof. Handoussa aims to implement the best practice area-based integrated development model which is both sustainable and replicable to promote the socio-economic empowerment of women and youth in Upper Egypt. Prof. Handoussa has had a long and extensive career in research, academia, and public policy. She was part of the faculty of Economics at the American University in Cairo from 1975-1993 and was at one point appointed as the Vice Provost. She has numerous publications to her name extending across topics such as structural adjustment, industrial policy, productivity growth, foreign aid, institutional reform, and comparative development models. She was previously the lead Author of the Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) 2010 titled Youth in Egypt: Building our Future, which was awarded by UNDP Headquarters in New York a commendation for best National Human Development Report across over 50 countries. She was also Director and Lead Author of three previous EHDRs: Partners in Development: The Social Contract and Civil Society Organizations in Egypt in 2007, A New Social Contract in 2005, and Choosing Decentralization for Good Governance in 2004. Leading the way for economic research in the MENA region, Prof. Handoussa was the founder and managing director of the well-established Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey (ERF), a non-government, non-profit institution she established in 1993 to promote policy-relevant research on the MENA region. In 2006, she served as the Research Director of the regional Gender Economic Research and Policy Analysis (GERPA) initiative of the World Bank MENA region. She was also commissioner of the “World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization” of the ILO, and coordinator of the Femise network. With a wealth of experience and expertise, Prof. Handoussa has consistently served as advisor to the Egyptian government and was a member of the World Bank Chief Economist’s Council of Eminent Persons (CEP). She is a former member of the Shura Council, Egypt's Upper House of Parliament, and a former member on the Board of the Central Bank of Egypt. Prof. Handoussa also served on the Board of several international and regional research-related institutions including CEDEJ, IFPRI, UNRISD, and External Advisory Board of the World Bank Institute (WBI).