Maha Muna

Maha Muna is the Regional Gender Adviser for the UNICEF Regional Office of the Middle East and North Africa, supporting gender-transformative programming across twenty-one countries.  

This entails development of an evidence base and policy/programme strategies in five acceleration areas, including:

- Strengthening Primary Health services to promote maternal and child health, as well as mental health policy and programming

- Promoting skills, learning and employability for girls and boys

- Preventing violence against children, and promoting survivor-centered responses

- Promoting girls’ leadership in the face of the Climate Crisis with a focus on water scarcity

- Expanding gender-responsive social protection systems

As the Regional Gender Specialist, Maha is leading programmatic results to promote Adolescent Girl Empowerment across the region, through the freedom and power to make decisions about their lives and futures within a supportive community and policy environment for improved wellbeing.  

She is also leading inter-agency collaboration with women’s and girls’ organizations to support gender integration in humanitarian programming in refugee, displacement and conflict settings.

As part of the UNICEF MENARO Ethics Committee, Maha promotes the organizational values of CRITAS (Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability) and has engaged colleagues in discussions around unconscious bias, sexism, and accountability.

Previously, Maha served with UNFPA and UNIFEM in HQ, field and regional posts.  

She is a graduate of Columbia University (SIPA) with a Masters in International Affairs.