Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Zina Nimeh

Author

Zina Nimeh
Associate Professor of Public Policy, United Nations University MERIT and Maastricht University

Dr. Zina Nimeh is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University, with over two decades of professional and academic experience in the areas of public policy, social policy, public sector reform and governance. She studied Finance at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Labor and Human Resources at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She obtained her PhD in Social Protection and Public Policy at Maastricht University through a Marie Curie Research grant. She currently is the co-coordinator of the Social Protection, Inclusive Innovation and Development research theme at UNU-MERIT. Her content area of expertise is on public policy, social protection policy and financing, social cohesion and governance. Regionally she has extensive expertise in the MENA region, as well as in the emerging markets contexts. Outside academia she has had managerial and consulting experience in the areas of human development, social policies and public sector reform with focus on employment, education and social exclusion.

Content by this Author

Social protection in Jordan: towards collaborative implementation

Jordan has an ambitious national strategy for social protection, adopted in 2019. But as this column explains, implementing it has not been easy in the context of economic challenges, the global pandemic and geopolitical instability. Achieving transformative social protection requires a new social contract, citizen engagement and effective support from the international donor community.

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Arab youth and the future of work

The Arab region’s labour markets are undergoing a triple transformation: demographic, digital and green. As this column explains, whether these forces evolve into engines of opportunity or drivers of exclusion for young people will hinge on how swiftly and coherently policy-makers can align education, technology and employment systems to foster adaptive skills, inclusive institutions and innovation-led pathways to decent work.

Digitalising governance in MENA: opportunities for social justice

Can digital governance promote social justice in MENA – or does it risk deepening inequality and exclusion? This column examines the evolution of digital governance in three sub-regions – Egypt, Jordan and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council – highlighting how data practices, transparency mechanisms and citizen trust shape the social outcomes of technological reform.

Wrong finance in a broken multilateral system: red flags from COP30-Belém

With the latest global summit on climate action recently wrapped up, ambitious COP pledges and initiatives continue to miss delivery due to inadequate commitments, weak operationalisation and unclear reporting systems. As this column reports, flows of climate finance remain skewed: loans over grants; climate mitigation more than climate adaptation; and weak accountability across mechanisms. Without grant-based finance, debt relief, climate-adjusted lending and predictable multilateral flows, implementation of promises will fail.

Why political connections are driving business confidence in MENA

This column reports the findings of a new study of how the political ties of firms in the Middle East and North Africa boost business confidence. The research suggests that this optimism is primarily driven by networked access to credit and lobbying, underscoring the need for greater transparency and institutional reform in corporate governance.

Empowering Egypt’s young people for the future of work

Egypt’s most urgent priority is creating more and better jobs for its growing youth population. This column reports on the first Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at Cairo University to confront the country’s labour market challenge. The conversation explored why youth inclusion matters, what the data show and how dialogue and the forthcoming Country Economic Memorandum can inform practical pathways to accelerate job creation.




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