Asil Sidahmed
Strategic Communication Advisor

Asil is a resident at MENA Design Research Center running a project that uses design tools to challenge racism in Lebanon. She joined MENA Design Research Center after receiving the Disrupt! Design! Award in 2015. Without a background in design, she was drawn to Beirut Design Week by the center’s focus on social impact. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford and has worked for several years in Yemen and Lebanon in the international development sector.

She started working as an independent conflict and justice consultant in the region in January 2015. She provides advice to embassies and NGOs on projects ranging from designing projects to evaluations and assessments. She uses design thinking to trouble shoot challenges in the region such as violent extremism, non-state law, internal displacement and community building during times of conflict. She has collaborated with clients such as the British Embassy, the Danish Refugee Council, and the EU. In 2015, she was one of the founding members of the Sana’a Centre for Strategic Studies, a Yemeni think tank concerned with providing empirically driven development, security and policy advice on Yemen to a range of international and national stakeholders: http://sanaacenter.org

Her residency at the MENA Design Research Center is focused on challenging racism in Lebanon by exploring exchanges in visual cultures between designers from migrant worker backgrounds and Lebanese and international designers. Asil helps with content development for Beirut Design week and brings ideas on social impact from an international development perspective.