Solava Ibrahim is a lecturer in international development at the Institute for Development Policy and Management and a research fellow in global poverty Reduction at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester. She holds a PhD. and MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge and an MA. and BA. in Political Science and International Relations from the American University in Cairo. She has worked for UNDP Egypt and consulted the Arab Women Organization and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Her main research interests are poverty reduction, governance, empowerment and state-society relations in Egypt. Her publications include articles in Third World Quarterly, Oxford Development Studies and Journal of Human Development. She also published a book entitled: ‘The Role of Local Councils in Empowerment and Poverty Reduction in Egypt’