Haneen Sayed

Haneen Sayed is a lead specialist at the World Bank working on human development and social protection in the Middle East and North Africa region. Based in the World Bank regional office in Beirut, Haneen covers Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. Her sectors of expertise span social protection, labor and jobs, education, poverty, and gender, in addition to fragility and conflict. Since the onset of the economic financial crisis in Lebanon, Haneen has been leading the World Bank social response to the crisis, including a large-scale emergency social safety net project. Between 2011-2017, Haneen coordinated the World Bank response to the Syrian crisis including operational programs, analytical work and donor/partner coordination. She is co-author of the recently published books on the Syrian conflict “The Fallout of War” and “The Mobility of Displaced Syrians” and led the development of the “World Bank MENA Region Human Capital Plan”, as well as written on labor markets in Lebanon and Syria, the economic impact of the financial crisis in East Asia on human capital development. Haneen is an economist by academic training with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and Columbia Universities, respectively, and has more than 25 years of experience in leading dialogue and programs in human and economic development. She has taught at various universities in New York City, as well as worked at Morgan Stanley, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.