Middle East and North Africa

Clarisa Bencomo

Program Officer Cairo

Clarisa Bencomo works on governance issues in the foundation's Cairo office. Her grant making supports government and civil society initiatives that focus on increasing government transparency, effectiveness and accountability in the region. The goal of her work is to promote development by improving access for vulnerable groups to legal rights and essential public services.

Clarisa joined the Ford Foundation in 2010. She has had a distinguished career in research and advocacy for human rights and good governance issues. As a researcher for Human Rights Watch, Clarisa advanced understanding of and action on children's rights and other key issues. She also worked as an analyst and consultant to the Soros Foundation, Moldova and Oxfam Novib. She produced a 2009 study for Oxfam Novib on the effectiveness of aid to the Palestinian territories that includes recommendations to ensure that support complies with international human rights and humanitarian law standards. Clarisa was a lecturer in political science at the American University in Cairo, and she has extensive experience working in poor and marginalized communities in the Arab region and interacting with Arab governments.

Clarisa holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Harvard University and a master's in political science from Princeton. She has studied Arabic in the American University in Cairo's prestigious CASA language program.