Dr. Hadeel Qazzaz has more than 20 years of experience in international development and gender justice. She has worked extensively in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Canada in areas of gender democracy, democratization processes, integrity, and poverty alleviation. She has worked with international organisations, academic institutions, and local governments. In 1997, she served as a research coordinator for the first Palestinian human development report and the Palestine national poverty report. She has also contributed to the gender statistics year book of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. She worked for several international NGOs, including the German Heinrich Boell Foundation, Integrity Action, the Canadian United Way of Calgary and Area, the City of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the Palestinian American Research Center, where she was the director of the Palestine office. She taught at the Institute of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University, where her research focused on feminization of poverty, gender-based violence, and gender inclusion in the social, political, and economic decision-making processes. She regularly brings issues of gender responsive budgets and women’s peace and security to the planning and implementation of community and national development programs. She has deep knowledge of civil society in the Middle East as well as as the challenges and potentials of the region.