Structure

The Executive Director is a full-time employee appointed by the Board and accountable to it. He or she is responsible for all aspects of the daily work at the AHRF. This includes administration, staff management and proposing strategies for the development of its programs, such as fundraising. The Executive Director is in charge of reviewing and recommending potential grants to the Board and represents the Fund publicly.

Program Officers are responsible for reviewing grant applications, researching issues and actors in the field, identifying potential grantees, recommending grants to the Executive Director and monitoring the progress and implementation of ongoing grant agreements. Program Officers are accountable to the Executive Director. The number of Program Officers and other staff may change according to policy decisions of the Board as work expands and as the need arises or resources permit.

Administrative and other support is provided by the Finance and Administrative Officer, the Intern and any other staff.

Staff Members

Executive Director, Fouad Hamdan (Lebanese): Mr. Hamdan joined the AHRF in January 2008. He has an MA in Political Sciences from Hamburg University. He previously worked as correspondent for the German Press Agency (DPA) in Bahrain and Egypt and as a Press Officer for Greenpeace Germany in Hamburg. He established Greenpeace Lebanon in 1994-1999 and worked as campaigner on toxic pollution. He was also Communications Director at Greenpeace Germany in Hamburg, Director Public Relations for Deutsche Post-DHL in Bonn and Executive Director of the European Union Office of Friends of the Earth in Brussels.

Program Officer, Samar Haidar (Lebanese): Ms. Haidar joined AHRF as an Executive Assistant in 2007 and became Program Officer in 2008. Previously she worked as a children’s rights regional program coordinator at the Arab Resource Collective, as medical and social worker with Dar el-Amal’s (House of Hope) Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Project in women’s prisons in Lebanon, with at-risk youth in a community-based centre operated by Soins Infirmiers et Développement Communautaire in Lebanon and as projects manager for the Penal Reform International MENA office in Amman, Jordan. Ms. Haidar is currently completing a Masters in Children’s Rights from the Lebanese University, faculty of Law and Political and Administrative Sciences.

Finance Officer, Farah Awada (Lebanese): Ms. Awada joined AHRF in May 2010. She has a BA in Accounting and a Technical Diploma in Taxes from Beirut Arab University. She worked as an Assistant to the Accountant at "Getway Limited SARL", and she was responsible for Purchasing, Stock Controlling and Accounting for “Food Venture SAL. In parallel to AHRF, Ms. Awada currently also works as an accountant for the Lebanese Association For Democratic Elections (LADE).

Intern, Aimee Thomson (American): Ms. Thomson joined AHRF in May 2010. She has a BA in Physics and Political Science with an Emphasis in International Affairs from the Colorado College in the United States. She previously interned at the Maria Mitchell Association in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since January 2009 she has studied Arabic at the University of Damascus in Syria, and had previously studied at the Institut Bourghuiba des Langes Vivants in Tunisia.