Special Podcast | 5 Years into the War in Yemen – Debunking 5 Myths

Marwa Baabbad is Head of International Projects with ORG’s Strategic Peacebuilding Programme. She manages the project Yemen: Rethinking the Peace Process, working with Yemenis engaged in regional strategic thinking groups in Hadramaut, Marib, Al Mahrah and Shabwah governorates. Marwa has extensive experience of working on gender, peace and security, and youth in Yemen both as a researcher and peacebuilding professional. She has researched women’s and youth’s role in conflict and peacebuilding in Yemen as well as Yemen’s transition process (2013-2014). Prior to joining ORG, Marwa worked as an independent consultant for Yemeni local and international organisations. She is also a Visiting Fellow at London School of Economics-Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She has also managed gender, peace and security projects at Saferworld’s Yemen office, and contributed to the organisation’s work in Egypt, Libya and Syria's neighbouring countries.

Fatima Abo Alasrar is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute. Before joining the Institute, Alasrar was a Senior Analyst at the Arabia Foundation in Washington DC, MENA Director for Cure Violence, Research Associate at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, and an International Policy Fellow at the Open Society Foundation. From 2006-12, she worked as an advisor for the Embassy of Yemen in Washington, DC. Earlier in her career, Alasrar served as a programme officer for the Department for International Development (DFID) in Yemen.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute. Before joining the institute, she was the Yemen Country Director for Center for Civilians in Conflict, a Senior Non-resident Fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy, and a founding Director of Partners Yemen, a local affiliate centre of Partners Global.  Earlier in her career, she worked as a senior programme manager at the National Democratic Institute in Yemen, managing elections monitoring and tribal conflicts programmes. Nadwa has over 20 years of field experience in Yemen. She conducted extensive research in Yemen, providing deeper insights into the internal dynamics of the conflict in the country. Her publications have been featured by the Middle East Institute, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Atlantic Council, Lawfare, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), the Washington Post, and the Center for Civilians in Conflict, among others.