Abdallah Al-Dardari

> Abdallah Al-Dardari

Abdallah Al Dardari

United Nations Development Program

Resident Representative in Kabul, Afghanistan

Mr. Al Dardari is a well-established change leader and reformer, who is focused on economic development and conflict related political economy in MENA and Asia. He is currently based in Kabul as the Resident Representative of UNDP Afghanistan, a position he has held since May 2019. Before joining UNDP Afghanistan, he served as Senior Advisor on Reconstruction at the World Bank MENA Vice Presidency, leading a large analytical program to design and pilot a new approach to reconstruction in MENA conflict countries. Prior to joining the World Bank, Al Dardari served as Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) based in Beirut, Lebanon. There he focused his work the political economy of the Arab Spring and the imperatives of peaceful and durable post conflict social contract in the region. In his home country Syria, Al Dardari was dubbed ‘The Reform Engineer’ during his more than seven-year tenure as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Chair of the State Planning Commission. He led the transformational 10th Five Year Development Plan and the Economic Reform Program 2005-2010. Al Dardari resigned from his post at the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011. Al Dardari studied economics and international relations at Richmond College, the University of Southern California, and at the London School of Economics. Currently he is a Post-Doctoral research fellow at IUAV Architecture University in Venice, Italy, working on the political economy of urban reconstruction in conflict countries. Al Dardari boasts a wide collection of published studies, lectures and research in Arabic, Syrian and global publications on development, investment, trade and the environment.

CAREC Chai 3: “Understanding the Drivers of Poverty in Afghanistan”

CAREC Chai Series

Food insecurity and poverty have drastically increased in Afghanistan as a result of ongoing hostilities, political uncertainty,...

7 Jun 2022

English