Arwa Shobaki

Arwa Shobaki is MEDC’s Managing Director. She joined the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) in 2013 and helped lead POMED’s programmatic growth and development prior to its merger with the Freedom Initiative.  She has spent her career dedicated to the nonprofit sector, helping to manage, design, and lead Middle East and North Africa rights-based initiatives. Shobaki has worked with the International Organization for Migration, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, Club of Madrid, and the International Commission of Jurists. Her work has focused primarily on supporting freedom of association and expression and on promoting democratic policies and principles in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco, and Jordan.

Prior to joining POMED, she worked as a fellow with the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Center for National Security Studies, where her research was focused on freedom of information. She received her MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, LLB from the University of Edinburgh, and LLM in Law and Government from the Washington College of Law. Shobaki began her career as an anthropology major and Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania.