Mohanad El Assaad, with a dual nationality Belgian and Lebanese, has a bachelor degree in economics, a Masters’ degree in Development, and a PhD in Social and Political Science. He has more than 20 years of experience, at a management level, in providing technical, financial and administrative support for technical assistance projects and programmes funded by International Organisations. From 2001 until January 2020, he has been working as Executive Director for TRANSTEC SA (currently Cowater Belgium), an International management consulting company. Over the years, he has been involved in designing, implementing and managing development projects and programmes in the Middle East and Africa, with Governments and International Organisations.

His extensive practical experience in Project Cycle Management has been built on solid training, with courses in “Project Cycle Management” and “Financial and Economic Analysis for Development Projects” provided by the European Commission. He completed these with a high-level training programme on “Reinventing Leadership” organised by the Kellogg School of Management. This Training complemented by the management and coordination of various programmes in the region has allowed him to develop outstanding leadership skills, and has developed his knowledge in conflict-affected countries requiring security measures and other related measures.

As a senior manager of projects with value of over 20 million Euro per year, he has developed top knowledge and skills in the operational and financial management of technical assistance projects and programmes.

He has longstanding course in organizing and participating in capacity building programmes, round tables, meetings and conferences with the International Organisations in many Arabic and European countries. This includes for instance having participated recently in the Arab Round Table on Youth participation in the Inclusive Economic Development of the Arab Region and was appointed Panellist on the situation of youth employment opportunities in the Arab World, organized by UNIDO in Austria. He was the Chairman of the Board of the Belgian Business Council in Lebanon from April 2009 until June 2014 and he is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Society of Management and Development Consultant and the Chairman of the board of the NGO Lebanon for Development.

Mr. El Assaad has also repeatedly demonstrated his ability to manage, organise and motivate multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams of experts. Mr. El Assaad is a trilingual English, Arabic and French