Lina Abirafeh is a gender expert and PhD Candidate. She is currently the Senior Gender Officer and Head of the Gender Section at the Joint Electoral Management Body Secretariat (JEMBS) in the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS). She is working to engage women in all aspects of Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections.
 
Lina has worked in Afghanistan since 2002, first as Country Director of Women for Women International, an international NGO based in Washington, DC and then as an independent consultant and gender advisor working for the International Women’s Forum (IWF), Afghan Center, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and others. Lina’s previous experience includes four years with the World Bank in Washington, DC and gender work in Morocco with Catholic Relief Services and Bangladesh with Grameen Bank.
 
Lina holds an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and is in the process of completing her PhD under the auspices of the London School of Economics (LSE) Development Studies Institute. Her focus is the effects of gender-focused international aid in Afghanistan. She has written and published extensively on gender issues, particularly women in Afghanistan (for example: here).
 
Lina is interested in discussing the possible negative externalities of gender-focused international aid in post-conflict contexts. What does 1325 say about aid that doesn’t necessarily make things better for women? And, how can we engage GENDER issues in the genuine sense of the term without conflating “gender” with “women”? Are there ways to also work with men in the context of 1325?