Nivine Sandouka is a leader aspiring to achieve social justice, peace and gender equity. She is an expert in the field of program development, management, peace building, gender issues and political affairs. Currently, she works with the Alliance for Middle East Peace as the Regional Director. In the past, she worked with the German Association for Development Cooperation – Agiamondo. She also runs a grassroots-based initiative called ‘Judi – From Me to You’ that aims to connect women together, and volunteers in several civil society organizations.
To pursue her passion, she is the chairwoman of a newly established NGO called ‘Our Rights’ in Jerusalem, focusing on civic and political rights of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, especially women. She was identified by the U.S. State Department in 2014 as a young leader and participated in the prestigious ‘International Visitor Leadership Program’ on the theme of conflict resolution, and she now serves as an alumni leader.
Throughout her career, Nivine developed several programs that aim to empower women and support community development, working with international organizations such as Oxfam and CARE International. She also served as Co-Director of IPCRI – Israel Palestine Creative Regional Initiatives. In addition, she currently sits as a board member of the Jerusalem Center for Women, and was a civil society representative on the International Reference Group of the World Council of Churches.
She has participated in several conferences addressing women’s rights in Palestine and attended two institutes on Feminist Transformative Leadership. Nivine holds an MA in Democracy and Human Rights from Birzeit University and has taken numerous trainings in peacebuilding, gender, program management, accountability, and advocacy. She has also been invited to speak at several events including the annual J Street Conference (2017 and 2018), the Accord 1325 conference at the German Federal Foreign Office, among others.
