Layla Al-Zubaidi
Director

Layla Al-Zubaidi has been the Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Middle East Office in Beirut since November 2006. She specializes in media and culture, as well as development and globalization issues. She previously served as Program Manager at the Beirut Office and at the hbf Arab Middle East Office in Ramallah, where she managed a regional women’s rights project supported by the European Commission. Prior to that she was a fellow of the Postgraduate Program in International Affairs. She worked and researched for several media, cultural and development institutions such as the German Federal Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media, Deutsche Welle and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Layla Al-Zubaidi studied Ethnology, Middle Eastern Studies and Archaeology in Germany and the US and holds an Masters degree from Freie Universität Berlin.

Dina Fakoussa
Program Manager

Dina Fakoussa obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science/International Relations from the American University in Cairo and moved on to obtain a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin in 2005. After working inter alia for the German-Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Cairo, she worked from 2005 to 2007 in Amman/Jordan as an editor for "Media in Cooperation and Transition (MICT)", a German NGO  that conceptualizes and implements media projects for Iraq. In this function, Dina Fakoussa was an editor for  MICT’s online publications on Iraq’s political and economic transformations, and oversaw two book productions dealing with transformations of cultural production and media in post-2003 Iraq. Dina Fakoussa joined the Middle East Office of the hbf in February 2007.

Hiba Haidar
Administrative Coordinator

Hiba Haidar completed her Bachelor Degree in Business Administration in 1986 at the College of Financial and Economic Sciences "Dr. Scandar's Hall" in Beirut. Beginning in 1987 she was in charge of external relations and administration at   "Amel Association", a local NGO and worked as financial & administrative officer at a regional Arab organization "Arab Resource Collective" (ARC), and at a project for UNDP in Baalbeck, she worked also as Assistant Information officer for  UNICEF. In 2004, Hiba Haidar  worked for three months as Polling Officer for the municipal elections in Beirut, before joining the Heinrich Böll Foundation Middle East Office as Administrative Coordinator in August 2004..

Heiko Wimmen
Program Manager, Deputy Director

Heiko Wimmen received a Masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (1994), after which he worked for two years as an academic assistant at the German Orient Institute in Beirut. He then moved on to become a producer and author for German print and broadcast media, reporting from Beirut until 2002, when he was awarded a two-year professional fellowship with  the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), split between a residence at the Hagop Kervorkian Center for Middle Eastern Studies at New York University and field research in Bosnia, Israel/Palestine and Lebanon for a project on "Coexistence in Divided Cities". Heiko Wimmen joined the Middle East Office upon its inception in April 2004.

Corinne Deek
Finance Coordinator

Corinne Deek completed her Bachelor studies in Agricultural Sciences in 2000 at the American University of Beirut and continued her postgraduate studies to earn a Master degree in Ecosystem Management in 2003. Since 1998, she worked for the Lebanese Environmental NGO - Green Line as Executive and Project officer. Corinne Deek joined the Heinrich Böll Foundation Middle East Office in June 2004 as a finance coordinator. In addition to her duties as financial coordinator, she is assisting in planning and implementing activities within the Sustainable Development Program of the office.

Mohamed Atowi
Webmaster

Mohammad Atowi is a university student pursuing a double major in Computer Engineering, and Philosophy, and a Civil Society activist with special interest in movements looking for alternative forms of  globalization. Mohammad Atowi joined the Middle East Office in August 2007.