Roula Attar is the resident director of NDI's office in Jordan. Based in Amman since 2004, Ms. Attar has managed Institute programs there with parliament, political parties, civil society organizations and women's groups. In addition, Ms. Attar plays an advisory role within the region—often assisting with the design and implementation of NDI programs in other MENA countries, mainly Egypt and Lebanon. Before assuming her current field position, Ms. Attar served for three years as Washington-based NDI staff for various MENA programs, during which time she co-managed the Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World. Her primary area of expertise is women's political participation, having served as the executive producer of two NDI documentaries on this subject.
Previous to NDI, Ms. Attar was the special projects coordinator at the Arab American Institute, a non-profit organization working to empower Arab Americans in the U.S. A Lebanese-American, Ms. Attar earned a Bachelor's of Arts degree in political science from Wichita State University in Kansas. She is fluent in Arabic and French, with working knowledge of Spanish.
