Yemen Policy Center Director

Marwa Baabbad is a researcher and development consultant. She has over ten years of experience working in the fields of community engagement, gender, peace and security, and youth political inclusion. She has worked on short and long term freelance contracts with multiple organisations, including Saferworld, Oxfam, Yemen Policy Center, Resonate Yemen, and the UK Government. Marwa is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security (RUSI).

Marwa was Director of the Oxford Research Group (ORG) Strategic Peacebuilding Programme between 2018-2020. There, she led the delivery of a Track-II project that fed into the United Nations-led Yemen peace process. Previously, she worked as a development professional with Saferworld in Yemen. During that time, she led Women, Peace and Security and youth projects and contributed to the organisation’s work on Egypt, Libya and Syria’s neighbouring countries. Marwa was a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace and Security and a member of the Youth Consultative Group for the United Nation’s Development Programme’s 2016 Arab Human Development Report.

Marwa holds a Master’s degree in Post-war Recovery Studies from the University of York, which she completed with a Chevening Scholarship award. She Is fluent In Arabic and English.