Mira Rizeq

President, World YWCA

Ms. Mira RIZEQ was born in East Jerusalem – Palestine. She got her graduate degree in Business Administration in the United States then did her second master’s degree in International Development in the Hague.

Mira is a recognized leader with over 30 years of solid local and international experience in the NGO sector and Municipal Development, especially in areas of strategic planning, good governance, monitoring and evaluations. She is an activist in the area of human rights, and especially women’s rights. She has served on several boards of women institutions and international churches in the USA, and established herself as a passionate public speaker on human rights and justice issues.

She accredits her first development experience Save the Children U.S.A. in Palestine where she started her career by designing credit as well as entrepreneurship development programs specifically for women, to be soon replicated in the Middle East region.

In the early 90’s, Mira worked as Team Leader for the Local and Rural Development Program at the United Nations Development Program in Palestine (UNDP). She succeeded in designing one of the most successful fiscal decentralization and partnership programs between civil society and local governments, who were trained to implement participatory gender-sensitized strategies to empower women as equal partners in local development.

Later, Mira has headed the first Palestine National NGO Project funded by the World Bank and managed by a consortium of international NGO’s headed by Welfare Association. Through this program, she has designed special training manuals for NGO’s especially in areas of strategic planning, fundraising, good governance, monitoring, evaluations and reporting. She has joined a team of professors to deliver NGO management courses in the university of Toledo – Spain, for NGO leaders in the whole of the Middle East while doing her second graduate degree.

Mira has been an active YWCA member since her childhood, and served as the National General Secretary at the YWCA of Palestine from April 2006 to April 2020, until she was elected as President in the 29th World YWCA Council Meeting held in Johannesburg South Africa.