Asfari Institute unveils its first cohort of senior civil society fellows

The Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship is delighted to introduce its first three senior civil society fellows:

Dr. Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay is a Social Anthropologist with more than four decades of solid global research, activism, writing, and community engagement experience in gender and development. She has contributed to the conceptual framing of the gender and development field worldwide and in leading groundbreaking research as well as building the capacities of young activists and researchers from the Global South. Dr. Mukhopadhyay will be working with the Asfari Institute on a global research project which seeks to “Re-imagine Gender and Development” in a context of heightened challenges, pervasive conflict, increasing inequalities, and shrinking civic space.

Ms. Fahima Hashem is a civil society activist from Sudan who has been an active part of civil society action and has worked with youth groups, women’s rights organisations, and other civil society elements. She will be working with the Asfari Institute in developing her research on the historicity of the civil society movement in Sudan with emphasis on women’s rights and feminist organisations and the forms of resistance they have been developing especially since the 2019 uprising and until now.

Ms. Dayna Ash is a young intersectional feminist and civil society activist in Lebanon who has been spearheading a national effort in developing and nurturing safe spaces for queer folks in Lebanon and beyond. She has co-led a major effort to support the communities most affected by the infamous Beirut port blast of August 4th. Dayna will be working with the Asfari Institute in operationalising the key values of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality in its work with civil society. She will also support the Institute in expanding its civil society outreach and design knowledge products that respond to the essential needs of various elements of civil society in the region.

We welcome of first three senior fellows and we will keep you posted about a possible meet and greet as soon as we organise the first visit on campus.

Lina Abou-Habib

Asfari Institute Director