Nationality Morocccan | ||
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Born July 31, 1973 (age 43) ( 1973-07-31 ) Occupation The regional director for the Arab States for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) | ||
Mohammad Naciri, (Arabic: محمد الناصري, born 31 July 1973) is Moroccan and the regional director for the Arab States for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). He is the first man to hold the post of regional director within UN Women and the only one thus far. A senior United Nations official, Naciri has served with the UN for more than two decades. Prior to his current appointment, Naciri served as deputy regional director, Arab States, UN Women.
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Education
Naciri has a master's degree in public policy and international development from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (United States). He has a second master's degree in social anthropology from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford (United Kingdom), and a masters degree in business administration from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport in Alexandria (Egypt).
UN Women
Naciri is an outspoken supporter of women´s rights in the region, and the engagement of women in peace processes in particular. Under his leadership, the regional office supported the convening of 45 Yemeni women from different factions to call for an engendered peace process, in his remarks to the meeting, Naciri said “Yemeni women have an opportunity to contribute in building peace, revitalizing dialogue, and helping Yemen get out from this dark tunnel. We are counting on Yemeni women’s wisdom to create a model that people will follow.”
Having been appointed immediately after the Arab spring, much of Naciri´s work on gender equality in the region focused on participation and leadership, “"We need to look on how can we sustain this participation," Naciri says. "With women, with men, with the country at large, and the government, how can we prove that women's participation is of interest and benefit to the whole society."
Naciri has worked on expanding both the scope and partnerships of the regional office, A new concept note for a partnership initiative between UfM, U.N. Women and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on Women and ICTs is already under discussion and, according to Naciri, new expertise in this area will definitely be in demand in future.
Dubai Lynx 2015
In 2015 UN Women partnered with Dubai Lynx, the largest regional advertising festival to highlight violence against women, and encouraged young creative to come up with a video brief on the issue. The regional office shed light on gender taboos through a mother´s day campaign which went viral both in the region and beyond. The campaign, highlighting the shame associated with saying one´s mothers name, resulted in thousands posting on social media in honor of their mothers.
SEVEN
In November, 2015, Naciri and 6 other high-profile personalities performed an internationally acclaimed documentary play, SEVEN, for the first time in Cairo.
2009 -2012
From 2009 -2012, Naciri was the deputy country director of the United Nations Development Programme in Yemen. Naciri was the acting UNDP Kuwait resident representative in 2008-2009, working on, among other things women’s empowerment and witnessing the election of female parliamentarians. Naciri served as chief of mission in Kuwait for three years, and has worked in Cambodia with the same agency.