Manal Omar

Manal Omar joined USIP as a program officer for the grant program in August 2008. Previously, she was regional program manager for the Middle East for Oxfam - Great Britain, where she responded to humanitarian crises in Palestine and Lebanon. Omar has extensive experience in the Middle East. She worked with Women for Women International as regional coordinator for Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan. Omar lived in Baghdad from 2003 to 2005 and set up operations in Iraq. She launched her career as a journalist in the Middle East in 1996. UNESCO recruited her to work on one of her first lead assignments in Iraq in 1997-1998. Omar worked more than three years with the World Bank’s development economics group. She has carried out training programs on in Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Kenya and many other countries.

Omar’s activities have been profiled in the mainstream media by the Washington Times, the LA Times, the BBC, NPR, Glamour, the London Times and Newsweek. Her articles and opinion pieces have appeared in the Guardian, the Washington Post, Azizah Magazine and Islamica Magazine.

Omar is on the board of directors of Women Without Borders, an international NGO based in Austria and an active member of the American Muslim community. In 2007, Islamic Magazine named her one of the ten young visionaries shaping Islam in America. She holds an M.A. in Arab studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in international relations from George Mason University.

Partial List of Productions:

• "Rising to the Humanitarian Challenge in Iraq," co-author Oxfam Briefing Paper (July 30, 2007).
• "I felt more welcome in the Bible belt," Guardian, April 20, 2007.
• "My Iraqi Wedding," Washington Post, March 19, 2006.
• "Islamic Feminism," in Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice (February 2006)
• "Non-Governmental Organizations," in Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice (February 2006).
• "Post Conflict and Reconstruction," in Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice (February 2006).
• "Women, Gender and Development and Family (Modernization, Assimilation): Iran and Afghanistan," in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (December 2005).
• "In the Sea of National Building: Anchoring Women's Rights in the Iraqi Constitution," Critical Half (Summer 2005).
• "Windows of Opportunity: The Pursuit of Gender Equality in Post-War Iraq," (lead author/researcher) Women for Women International Briefing Paper (January 2005).
• "Men and Masculinity: Implementing Development Programs in MENA," paper presented at civil society conference in Fes, Morocco. (February 2002).
• "The Impact of Delayed Marriage on Women in MENA," Al-Raida Journal - Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University (December 2001).
• "The Marriage Mystery: Exploring Late Marriage in MENA," paper presented at the Second Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting, Florence (March 21-25, 2001).
• "Towards a more Inclusive Agenda for Muslim Women," Yemeni Times, April 23 2000.
• "Journalists Are Cautious in Criticizing Jordan's Tough New Press Law," The Washington Report (October/November 1997).
• "Greater awareness needed to combat growth of AIDS," The Star, December 5, 1996
• "Palestinians recall events of the second Intifada," The Star, October 31, 1996.
• "Violence against women: Myth or reality?" The Star, October 10, 1996.