Noha El-Mikawy

Dean, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), American University in Cairo (AUC)

Noha El-Mikawy is the Dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Noha is the former Regional Director of the Ford Foundation, Middle East and North Africa office (2012-2022). From 2005-2007 and again 2009- 2012 Noha served as Team Leader for Governance at the UNDP Regional Center (based in Lebanon then Egypt) where she provided support on governance reform in Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait. In June 2011, her team organized UNDP’s first international conference on transitions to democracy. That was an occasion for officials and civil society actors in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen to share experiences with counterparts from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. From 2007-2009, Noha was policy advisor at the UNDP Oslo Governance Center (Norway), where she supervised UNDP’s global project on governance assessments, organized international convenings on UNDP’s legal empowerment of the poor and edited a UNDP-UN Women guidebook on governance and gender sensitive service delivery. Before 2005, Noha led comparative research on the political economy of MENA at the Centre for Development Research at the University of Bonn (Germany) and lectured on politics of the Middle East at the American University in Cairo, Free University of Berlin, and Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). Noha holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), and has three books and multiple articles published by reputable international publishers on institutional reform and governance in MENA.

Bio
Events

Areas of Interest:

Comparative Politics
Political Economy

Education:

Ph.D. in Comparative Politics Thesis: Predicament of Consensus Building in Transition to Liberal Democracy in Egypt University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) 1985-1991
M.A. in Comparative Politics & International Relations University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) 1983-1985
B.A. in Political Science, American University in Cairo (AUC) 1977-1981

Experience:

Dean, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), American University in Cairo (AUC), 2022-Present
Former Regional Representative/Regional Director, Ford Foundation 2012-2022
Policy Advisor for Governance and Poverty Reduction, UNDP Bureau of Development Policy, Oslo Governance Center, 2009-2012
Regional Governance Policy Advisor UNDP Regional Hub 2005-2009
Senior Research Fellow & Project Coordinator, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, Dec.2001-present
Lecturer University of Erlangen Nurembuerg and Free University Berlin (Germany) 1993-1999
Assistant Professor Faculty of Economics and Political Science American University in Cairo 1991-1993

Latest Publications:

2020 "From Risk to Opportunity: Local Governance in the Southern Mediterranean” Barcelona Center for International Affairs https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/n1_232/from_risk_to_opportunity_local_governance_in_the_southern_mediterranean
2018 “Egypt: The Protracted Transition from Authoritarianism to Democracy and Social Justice” in Democratic Transitions in the Arab World, S. Makdisi & I. El Badawi eds. New York: Cambridge University Press.
2017 "Are you SDG Ready? Arab Philanthropy and the Sustainable Development Goals” in Alliance Magazine (London based journal of philanthropy), vol 22, #3, September, p. 22-26.
2009 A User’s Guide to Measuring Gender Sensitive Social Service Delivery UNDP and UNIFEM (predecessor to UNWomen) publication, 128 pages.
2002 Institutional Reform and Economic Development in Egypt American University in Cairo Press, 197 pages.
2002 “Labor Representation in the Age of Globalization” in Employment Creation and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa Handoussa and Tzannatos eds. American University in Cairo Press, p. 49-94 .