Can we change the rules of the game in informal settlement upgrading?
Laila Iskandar, Former Minister of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements in Egypt
- Event Time
- 15 Feb 12:00 - 15 Feb 13:00
- Event Location
- Alliance Manchester Business School
- Event Type
- Research workshops and seminars
Dr Laila Iskandar was the Minister of State for Urban Renewal and Informal Settlements in Egypt from July 2014-September 2015 and before that served as Minister of State for Environmental Affairs in the two cabinets following the June 30th Revolution. Prior to holding public office, she was a leading member of civil society both nationally and internationally, working with youth, women and children in livelihood programmes in informal urban settlements and deprived villages in Upper Egypt.
She was Chairperson of CID Consulting from 1995 - 2013, which was awarded the "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" award in 2006 at the World Economic Forum by the Schwab Foundation for the sustainable recycling school established in partnership with Unesco.
She studied economics, political science at Cairo University, Near Eastern studies and international education development at UC Berkeley (Masters of Arts in Teaching), California and Columbia University, N.Y (Doctorate in International Education Development).
Her international assignments have included serving as jury to UNESCO’s International Literacy Prize, acting as Unesco’s Resource Person for the Arab region since 2005 on the United Nations Literacy Decade - UNLD - and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Decade, and served as Canadian CIDA’s Education Advisor in Egypt.
She worked with the garbage collectors of Cairo over 35 years, with a focus on the informal waste sector building on recycling SME's and value chain analysis. Her work links up to global networks of recycling organisations and informal settlements.
