We Bring People Together
Serving conflict-affected and fragile communities in the Middle East and North Africa
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Join our Community to get the latest updates on Our Work, Partnership opportunities, insight on Our Organizational Culture, and to learn about Our Team Experiences with Aligning Cultures
who we are
We build resilient communities through sustainable, effective, and transformative partnerships.
We serve conflict-affected and fragile communities in the Middle East and North Africa by working with local stakeholders, members of their country’s diaspora and international experts to harness communities’ resilience. Our front-line practitioners help donors and international implementors connect with local communities, cultivating a global mindset that leads to context-appropriate, effective engagements that achieve the aims of all parties.
Our Values
We Are a Values-driven Organization
Impact-driven
We care about the people we serve and work with communities to improve their lives.
Inclusive
We seek to hire staff as diverse as those we support and ensure that our local partners represent their communities, particularly marginalized groups.
Committed
We are passionate about our work, don't take no for an answer, and constantly explore new opportunities for positive change.
Empathetic
We actively listen to the communities we support and co-create solutions with them.
Humble
We build on our success by learning from our mistakes and acknowledging that there is more than one way to reach our goals.
Our People
Leadership
Brenda Oppermann
Board Member
Brenda is a Member of the Board of Directors at Aligning Cultures. Brenda serves as the founder of GameChangers 360, a social enterprise dedicated to helping organizations and individuals effect positive change by identifying and working with under-recognized actors and issues. As a “pracademic,” Brenda complements her decades of experience working on organizational change, gender equality, rule of law, and women and security for DoD, USAID, the UN, OSCE, and assorted NGOs in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East with research, writing, and teaching. She currently serves as an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, the United Nations, Yale University, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and National Defense University among others. Brenda holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine, an M.A. in International Relations from Yale University, and a J.D. from Western New England University School of Law.
Sloan Mann
Board Member
Sloan Mann is a Member of the Board of Directors at Aligning Cultures. Sloan serves as President of DT Global in the United States overseeing corporate strategy and operations at the US home office in Arlington, VA, and field offices abroad. Prior to DT Global, Sloan co-founded Development Transformations in 2009 after having spent fifteen years working in the military and international development spaces. His civilian-military background helped shape his vision of more effectively designing, implementing, and measuring development projects in the world's most complex operating environments. A West Point graduate, Sloan served five years in the Army during which he conducted peacekeeping missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. He later went on to graduate with distinction from Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service Program. Recently, Sloan worked as an adjunct professor at Georgetown where he taught a graduate-level course on war-to-peace transitions. Over the span of his career, Sloan has held several prominent roles, including a USAID Development Advisor to the Special Forces in Afghanistan. He also worked in Darfur, Sudan where he was a Field Program Officer with the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Prior to this, he served as an Abuse Prevention Officer in Iraq with USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives.
Ilan Cooper
Board Member
Ilan Cooper is a Member of the Board of Directors at Aligning Cultures. Ilan serves as DT Global US Vice President for Business Development. Ilan leads US business development strategy, oversees proposal development, and manages the US Business Development team to ensure continued growth. Additionally, he serves as the DT Global US representative on the global growth team. Ilan has worked for legacy DT Global companies for the past thirteen years, directing business development for Development Transformations prior to the creation of DT Global. While working there, he also managed DT’s USAID/OTI portfolio, their UK funded Conflict, Security, and Stability Framework (CSSF) work, and various other Department of State and USAID projects across a variety of conflict zones including, but not limited to Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Prior to joining DT, Mr. Cooper worked as a Political Risk Editor for Oxford Analytica. Mr. Cooper has several publications on transitional justice, conflict, and security and has master’s degrees, with distinction, from the University of Chicago and Georgetown and a BA, with honors, from King’s College London.
Our People
Team
Humam Rajab
Executive Director
Humam Rajab is the Founder and Executive Director at Aligning Cultures. Humam is a stabilization and international development professional. He brings over 20 years of technical training and program management experience in conflict prevention in the MENA region. He served as the Director of Conflict Prevention and Resolution practice area at DT Institute. Mr. Rajab has managed programming and provided trainings across the MENA region on CVE, conflict mitigation and facilitation skills as well as conflict-sensitive media content creation. He also managed the implementation of DT Global analytical framework across Iraq, Syria, and Mauritania. Mr. Rajab has worked on constitution awareness and making process as well as amending laws that discriminate against women for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the United Nations.
Michelle Girard
Trauma Advisor
Michelle Girard is the Trauma Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Michelle is an international development professional with over 20 years of experience designing and managing stabilization, community resilience and countering violent extremism programs in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Zimbabwe. She believes that addressing social harm caused by conflict and violence is a critical aspect of stabilization and conflict mitigation programming. She established Third i Paradigm to create an integrated approach to creating sustainable social change. Michelle holds a master’s in science from George Mason University's School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution and completed Harvard University's Refugee Trauma program as well as Eastern Mennonite University's Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) I & II. She is certified in Lumos Transform's Resilience Toolkit and has 10 years of experience teaching somatic and mindfulness practices.
Patricia Karam
Business Development Advisor
Patricia Karam is the Business Development Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Patricia has over 20 years of innovative and strategic leadership in international development/democracy-building in a range of complex, conflict-ridden and transitional settings. She has established and led field-based teams and overseen governance programs with concrete implications on long-term local institutional capacity and resilience to instability and conflict. Patricia has a proven track record in business development and external engagement, running initiatives that build the brand, strengthen communications, foster strategic partnerships, and expand relationships with policy makers, donors, and other influencers and stakeholders. In her most recent position at IRI, she oversaw a multi-million portfolio of programs focused on citizen-responsive governance, political party development, legislative strengthening, and civil society strengthening in MENA--here, she was responsible for fundraising and oversight of 80+ staff, plus thought leadership, advocacy and external engagement with Capitol Hill, the USG and external audiences, including media and think tanks to promote IRI’s work, outlook and impact. Patricia holds a dual BA from Brown University and an MSFS from Georgetown University. Her PhD work at NYU has focused on identity politics in the Western Sahara.
Elie Abouaoun
Technical Advisor
Dr. Elie is the Technical Advisor at Aligning Cultures. With a professional journey extending over two decades, Elie brings substantial expertise in the realms of peace and conflict studies, humanitarian aid, and human rights. Presently assuming the role of Managing Partner, Senior Consultant & Trainer at the Ottawa based Elephas Consulting, Elie has been instrumental in leading and offering strategic counsel to various international, regional, and local nonprofit organizations. An international fellow of the Abshire-Inamori Leadership Academy within the U.S.-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, Elie is a Visiting Lecturer in various universities the MENA region. He serves as the Senior MENA Advisor at "Strategy International" in Cyprus and has been a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Religion & Security Council in Rome since 2020. Notably, from 2013 to 2023, he served as the MENA Regional Director at the United States Institute of Peace. Elie has also held key leadership positions at organizations such as the International Rescue Committee, Danish Refugee Council, the Arab Human Rights Fund, and other nonprofit entities. Elie is a frequent contributor to publications across the MENA region, Europe, and the United States. He continues to actively serve on the board of directors for several regional nonprofit organizations. Dr. Abouaoun holds a master’s in business administration and management and is a Doctor of Dental Surgery.
Lina Arafat
Rule of Law, Diplomacy, and Gender Advisor
Ambassador Lina Arafat is the Rule of Law, Diplomacy, and Gender Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Ambassador Arafat has a wide experience working with programs advocating for rule of law, international affairs, and diplomacy. Her professional experience within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, United Nations, EU, USAID, and US-Middle East Partnership Initiative funded projects, focused on various areas including formal and public diplomacy, constraints on government powers, policy reform, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, and civil justice. Lina started her career as a diplomat at the Jordanian Foreign Ministry and moved on to join the United Nations working for the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia. As she joined the American Bar Association, Lina established the regional office of the American Bar Association in Amman, Jordan serving as the Regional Manager, where she provided leadership and technical support. She also co-authored “The Status of Women in Iraq” in 2004. Within the due course of her career and as Regional Director of the US Middle East Partnership Initiative, she provided leadership and supervision to programs throughout the region. Lina and her team provided leadership establishing the Arab Women’s Legal Network (AWLN), a regional NGO to promote Arab women. Lina served as President of Youth Association for development, an NGO in Jordan, held the position as the Chairperson of the Democracy Empowerment Committee in the Youth Forum of the Economic and Social Council in Jordan, a member of (AIESEC) Association International Des Etudiants En Science Economic Et Commerciales, and founder of the Institute for Leadership Excellence, a voluntary NGO. Lina was appointed by Royal Decree as an Ambassador and served as the Director of Jordan Institute of Diplomacy/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Jordan. Lina is a Political Science and Mass Communications graduate from the American University in Cairo, holds a higher degree from the United Nations Graduate Study Program in Diplomacy and International Affairs, Geneva, Switzerland.
Stephanie Haase
Leadership Development Advisor
Dr. Stephanie Hasse is the Leadership Development Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Stephanie recently started a leadership development consultancy. Previously, she led RNW Media's Love Matters Africa, where she used innovative approaches to discuss sexual and reproductive health and rights with young people in conservative contexts. In 2019, Stephanie joined the Amani Institute, where she had previously studied social innovation management. She served as Monitoring & Evaluation Manager and later as Global Program Director and worked on leadership and innovation projects worldwide. Amongst others, Stephanie designed and led the leadership component of the Saudi Young Leaders Exchange Program (US Embassy Riyadh), created and facilitated a training of trainers to work with politicians and civil society leaders through the Iraqi Leadership Fellows (American University of Iraq), designed and delivered the McCain Institute’s Global Leaders Program and facilitated various processes throughout the last two cohorts of leaders, designed a transformational leadership program for 170 women leaders in Afghanistan (UN Women) and worked with changemakers from across the world for the Amani Institute’s Social Innovation Management Fellowship. She is now the Director of GHB Consulting. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy, a master’s in public health and a PhD in Public Health and Family Medicine from the University of Cape Town. She lives on the Kenyan island of Lamu.
Ghaith Hamid
Technical Advisor
Dr. Ghaith Hamid is the Technical Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Dr. Ghaith served as a Regional Program Manager for DT Institute in Iraq and has provided trainings on conflict mitigation and trauma sensitive approaches as part of the PRMV project in Iraq. He brings over 8 years of program management experience and providing training to civil society organization in Iraq. Mr. Hameed has worked for Mercy Hands in Iraq and provided many trainings to Iraqi CSOs, in cooperation with international organizations including IWPR, Mercy Corps, Danish Refugees Council, and the Iraq Foundation, in the fields of project designing, Advocacy, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Medicine from Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad.
Rose Nassem
Grants Advisor
Rose Naseem is a Grants Advisor at Aligning Cultures. Rose is an experienced Iraqi professional having over nine years of experience in project and program management, especially, in economic and youth empowerment and workforce development in Iraq. Rose has vast experience in project and program management working with international organizations like IREX, GIZ, and DT Institute. Rose's expertise includes grants management, research, stakeholder engagement, and business/program development. Rose holds a B.Sc. Production and Metallurgy Engineering/Industrial Engineering received a professional diploma in Public Policy and Leadership and has completed a fellowship in the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Program. This multifaceted background, coupled with her deep understanding of the Iraqi context, positions her as an asset for organizations working on stability, conflict resolution, economic empowerment, youth empowerment, workforce development, and social protection in Iraq.
Berj Mihranian
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Advisor
• Berj Mihranian is the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) advisor at Aligning Cultures. Berj supported MEL initiatives across a variety of USAID and Department of State-funded projects, proposals, and grant programs. Berj served as a Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Senior Manager, at International Republican Institute (IRI), where he provided MEL, project management, technical, and business development support to projects funded by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor (DRL), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the fields of stabilization and transition, strategic communications, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Berj holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Technology, Baghdad in Civil Engineering.
What we Do
Services
An in-depth understanding of local contexts in the Middle East and North Africa is essential to the peacebuilding and conflict prevention programming in the area. Accordingly, we conduct a variety of research and analysis to inform our programming, empower grassroots initiatives, and glean lessons learned and best practices. We hear directly from conflict-affected communities about their concerns, opinions, and perceptions of the realities they face daily. Our mixed-method research includes qualitative and quantitative surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions with local people.
We create media content to interrupt cycles of violence, increase social cohesion, shape, and influence community perceptions, mitigate fear, and alleviate social stressors. We assess public attitudes towards at-risk groups, including women and youth. We build community resilience to misinformation and disinformation by partnering with institutions, governance structures, and influencers to serve citizens’ needs.
We support grassroots initiatives and strengthen civil society organizations, bringing people together within their communities to attain their goals. Together with our partners, we create resilient communities and a vibrant civil society, increase community engagement to address issues that concern them, support trauma-informed initiatives, and work toward a more responsive local governance structure.
We work with youth and local organizations to build empathetic leadership skills and improve their ability to analyze and resolve conflict. We develop training curricula and conduct workshops on diverse topics including, designing trauma-informed initiatives, transformative leadership, and conflict analysis for beneficiaries. We engage our local partners in programming that reflects real life, providing learning opportunities that lead to real change. We also provide our local partners with training materials through social media platforms.
