Team

Hani Besada

Title: Senior Researcher


Professional Capacity and Areas of Specialty: Based in Ottawa, Canada, Hany Besada currently serves as a Senior Researcher – Africa and Middle East with Africa Business Group. He also serves as a Senior Fellow, Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, and an Adjunct Research Professor, Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.


Project Management Coverage: Africa and Middle East

Experience and Sectoral Focus: Before its closure, he also served as a Theme Leader: Governance of Natural Resources at the North-South Institute (NSI) in Ottawa, Canada. He is Research Specialist on the United Nations High Level Panel Secretariat-Post 2015 Development Agenda. Previously, he was Program Leader and Senior Researcher at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Canada where he oversaw the Health and Social Governance Program. Prior to that, he was the Principle Researcher: Business in Africa at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, and as a Research Manager at Africa Business Direct (the precursor to Africa Business Group).

Hany has also worked as Policy Advisor for the South African Ministry of Local and Provisional Government, Amnesty International, United Nations Associations, the Joan Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice (IPJ) and the Office of US Senator Dianne Feinstein. He has consulted for the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development, United States International Development Agency, ACT for Performance, Africa Business Group, African Capacity Building Foundation, Sierra Leone Government.

Hany has published widely in international news media and academic journals. He is the editor/co-editor of Moving Health Sovereignty: Global Challenge, African Perspective (Ashgate, 2013), Multilateral Development Cooperation in a Changing Global Order (Palgrave, 2013), Zimbabwe: Picking Up the Pieces (Palgrave, 2011), Crafting an African Security Architecture: Addressing Regional Peace and Conflict in the 21st Century (Ashgate, 2010), From Civil Strife to Peace Building: Examining Private Sector Involvement in West African Reconstruction (WLU Press, 2009), and Unlocking Africa’s Potential: The Role of Corporate South Africa in Strengthening Africa’s Private Sector (SAIIA, 2008).

Hany’s research interests cover an array of themes ranging from natural resource governance, Africa’s socio-economic and security development, private sector growth, trade and investment facilitation, Middle Eastern politics, fragile/failed states, peace building and post-conflict economic reconstruction.

Education and Professional Qualifications: He is finalizing a PhD in Politics and International Studies at University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.