The Middle East and North Africa Social Policy Network (MENASP)

The MENASP network brings together policy makers and academics to advance social policy in the MENA region.

The MENASP network was founded to advance, exchange and disseminate knowledge and policy expertise about social policy in the MENA region. This includes providing:

• Up-to-date policy analysis on the key social challenges facing the region;
• Information on social welfare issues for use by the wider public;
• Resources for policy makers, practitioners, academic and non-academic researchers.

The network was founded in 2013 by Dr. Rana Jawad as a way of supporting quality research on crucial social policy issues and bridging the gap between policy-makers, researchers and the wider public. Dr Jawad’s research interests include development policy in the MENA region, social protection and social policy in the MENA region, religion and social welfare action, and social movements.

Alongside Dr. Rana Jawad the network consists of a core group of globally based academic experts: Hicham Aitmansour, Ghada Barsoum, Anis Ben Brik, Walid Merouani, Nassar Yassin, Ibrahim Hawarin, Elie Mekhael and Markus Loewe.

Together, their research addresses such themes as pension reform in the Middle East, youth unemployment in Egypt, child poverty in North Africa and humanitarianism in Lebanon and social assistance in Jordan, among many other issues.

From 2013 to 2023, the MENASP Network was proudly hosted by the University of Bath. As of October 2023, the University of Birmingham is the new host of the MENASP Network. Located at its School of Social Policy, the Network looks forward to building on its successful 10 years of activity and achieving a higher impact for the MENA region.