Rébar Jaff
February 20, 2020 — People
Director of International Programs, Artisanal Gold Council
Rébar is an expert in sustainable development program design, policy analysis, and humanitarian aid. His international experience stems from working with NGOs, the OECD headquarters in Paris, the United Nations Secretariat in New York, as well as other UN Agencies and Offices in the Middle East and the Caribbean. He has led and overseen humanitarian emergency response operations, development aid projects, and governance reform in armed conflict, natural disasters, and post-conflict reconstruction.
While at the OECD, Rébar worked as a policy analyst on public administration reform in the Middle East and North Africa. Within the United Nations, he has held posts in Departments of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and Field Support (DFS) in New York, UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in Baghdad and Erbil, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kirkuk, Erbil, and Haiti, and the UNFPA throughout the Middle East. Rébar’s professional background also includes policy advice to senior government and UN officials on various cross-cutting and highly sensitive issues of international concern.
Prior to relocating to Victoria to join the Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) as Director of International Programs, Rébar held the post of Political Affairs Officer and Secretary to the Advisory Board of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on disarmament matters at the UN headquarters in New York.
He holds a BA in Political Studies and English from the University of Manitoba, an MA in International Affairs, Conflict Resolution, and Civil Society Development from The American University of Paris, and a second MA in Conflict Sociology and International Security from the Institut catholique de Paris. He is now completing his Ph.D. in Comparative Politics and International Relations at the University of Ottawa. He is fluent in English, French, Kurdish and Arabic.