Eman Ismail is the Maestral Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Office, providing strategic direction and technical leadership across the region. In this role, she advances child protection and social development programming with a strong emphasis on systems strengthening, localization, and equitable partnerships, while leading regional engagement, cultivating high-level partnerships, and overseeing project implementation and external representation with donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and government counterparts.
Eman brings over 23 years of experience across the humanitarian, public, and private sectors, with deep expertise in humanitarian action, policy influence, NGO coordination, and institutional capacity strengthening. Throughout her career, she has consistently contributed to advancing more inclusive, locally led, and effective humanitarian systems across the MENA region.
Prior to joining Maestral, Eman served as the MENA Regional Representative for the International Council of Voluntary Agencies and its Global Focal Point on Localization, where she advanced regional and global policy dialogue on locally led humanitarian action, strengthened NGO coordination, fostered partnerships with UN agencies, donors, governments, and civil society, and co-led research and policy initiatives on the humanitarian-development nexus. Earlier, as Deputy Country Director for Programs at CARE International in Jordan, she led large-scale refugee response programmes for Iraqi and Syrian populations, contributing to protection, women’s empowerment, and resilience-focused programming.
Across her career, Eman has led inter-agency initiatives, research, and policy processes that strengthen protection, gender equality, inclusive governance, and localization, and is widely recognized for her ability to bridge policy and practice, build strategic partnerships, and support systems-level change. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Swiss Montreux Business School.