Abir Nur

Abir Nur joined the Council in February 2024 as a Research Fellow with the International Programs (IP) Division, based in the Council’s Kenya office. Her fellowship focuses on developing skills in research design, communication, and uptake. She currently provides support to implementation research projects under the IP’s Baobab Research Programme Consortium, which focuses on filling the research and evidence gaps in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in humanitarian settings in the East and Horn of Africa. She also hopes to pursue her commitments to supporting linking African feminist scholarship to practice in an effort to mainstream social transformation.

Before joining the Council, Nur was an Abidjan-based senior assessment officer and focal point for the Geneva-based NGO, Impact Initiatives, in coastal countries of West Africa. She launched the NGO’s first program in the sub-region to investigate the humanitarian consequences of the Sahel crisis on host and displaced populations. Prior to that, she worked with Impact Initiatives’ Tunis office on several projects situated in Libya. In this role, she conducted assessments exploring the needs of vulnerable population groups (mostly migrants and refugees) along with the availability and accessibility of basic services in the country. In addition, she led a study assessing social protection programs in partnership with UNICEF and UNHCR, resulting in joint recommendations to support national authorities to scale-up social transfers and contribute to longer-term resilience-building.

Nur graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science (Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris) and a master’s degree in anthropology and development studies (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris). Her academic research focuses on the socio-history of gender and nation-state making projects in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the circulation of ideas and practices on female empowerment within the aid sector. Nur has also extensively engaged in community work in Paris. As the co-founder and former vice president of Humans for Women, a feminist NGO promoting gender equality, she set up a program to provide multidimensional assistance to vulnerable population groups, including refugee women and families, as well as children and young adults in the foster care system.

Originally from Sudan, Nur is fluent in French, English, and Arabic.