Farida Allaghi
CEO Mentor Arabia.
Dr. Allaghi is is a native citizen of Libya, where she completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Garyunes University in Benghazi-Libya in Philosophy and Sociology in 1969. She continued her education at Colorado State University-USA, where she acquired her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Sociology (Social Planning and Development) in 1981. Since the early 1980’s she has been actively involved in establishing countless national, regional and international foundations and non-governmental organizations. She has been focusing primarily on promoting the status of women, children and youth, minorities and the poor, and defending the human rights of these groups within the context of sustained human development. She has dedicated her life and career to the struggle for human rights, empowerment of the civil society and the implementation of both in the Arab region. As a result of her international humanistic vision, Dr. Allaghi has consistently worked on connecting citizens from the Arab region with their counterparts in other regions in order to promote tolerance, understanding and dialogue between different cultures, religions and different groups. Since 1975, Dr. Allaghi has worked closely as an advisor on human development, policy formulations, strategic planning, fundraising, networking, and capacity building issues to several United Nations agencies including: United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Development Programs (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and World Health Organization (WHO), International Labor Organization (ILO). She has also been working very closely with government agencies and the private sector in order to promote and support their contributions to human development needs in the Arab World. In 1981, Dr. Allaghi became the Program Officer for UNICEF in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Afterwards, between 1983 and 2001, she became the Director of the Women and Children department at the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organization (AGFUND), a humanitarian international development fund that focuses on providing grants to the UN and non-governmental organizations to implement development projects for women and children in third-world countries.