Jeehan Abdul Ghaffar

Jeehan Abdul Ghaffar is a Yemeni national with sixteen years of professional experience in the development field. She iscurrently a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the World Bank Group. She works on global and regional issues related to fragile and conflict situations, gender, governance, human development, environment and poverty reduction. Prior to her work at the WBG, she was the Deputy Head of the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID) in Yemen.

As a Fulbright scholar, Jeehan graduated in 2004 with a Masters Degree in International Development from the University of Denver. Her Master’s thesis was on Water Privatization:  a comparative study between the UK and Bolivia. Her thesis made her realize the crucial role that institutions and legal frameworks could play in contributing to peace/conflict in countries.

After finishing her MA, Jeehan was awarded the UN/Fulbright Fellowship to work as a Research Analyst at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in NY.  She also worked as a Programme Associate in the Governance Team at United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in Yemen during the period 1998-2002.

Jeehan is interested in exploring ways to link the theories of conflict analysis and resolution to the design and implementation of development programs.  She is also interested in looking deeply at the contribution of development projects in addressing the roots of conflicts, as well as, promoting peace and stability in countries.