Abdelrahman Nagy

Abdelrahman provides strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for 3ie’s portfolio in the Middle East and Africa, including the design and direct conduct of impact evaluations and other evidence synthesis products. In his role, he leads regional program development and implementation, manages in-house research and professional services grants, and ensures the technical quality and policy relevance of 3ie-supported studies. His responsibilities include shaping regional strategy, leading fundraising and proposal development, contributing to program and institutional documents, reviewing grant applications, and overseeing quality assurance processes and external reviewers.

He plays a central role in building and managing partnerships with governments, donors, research institutions, and implementing partners across the region, while also leading and supervising the implementation of impact evaluations and systematic reviews in collaboration with public and non-governmental counterparts. Abdelrahman provides technical assistance and capacity strengthening to policymakers and local institutions, and regularly represents 3ie in high-level policy dialogues, conferences, and regional and global forums. Based in Cairo, he leads efforts to expand and deepen 3ie’s engagement, influence, and institutional presence across the MENA region and parts of Africa.

Before joining 3ie, Abdelrahman served as Director of Learning and Strategy at the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, where he led the foundation’s evidence and learning agenda, including commissioning and conducting impact evaluations and systematic reviews to support inclusive, evidence-informed development programming. He brings more than two decades of experience spanning the design and conduct of impact evaluations, evidence synthesis, policy advisory, learning and adaptive management, capacity building, and research and policy design. He has also worked as a consultant and expert with international organizations and INGOs, including the World Bank, UNDP, and BCG.

Abdelrahman’s core expertise lies in conducting and overseeing rigorous impact evaluations and evidence synthesis to inform policy and improve development effectiveness. He is deeply committed to evidence-informed policymaking and the effective use of scarce resources to reduce poverty and inequality. Previously, he was Director of the J-PAL Initiative for Egypt and Associate Director of Research at J-PAL MENA, where he co-founded J-PAL MENA at the American University in Cairo, built regional partnerships, led evidence dissemination efforts, and conducted and managed large-scale impact evaluations across Egypt and the wider MENA region.

In addition to his program leadership role, Abdelrahman is an active socio-economic researcher and principal investigator, with research focusing on female labor force participation, labor market dynamics, social norms, job preferences, and social protection. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Development Economics. Abdelrahman holds postgraduate diplomas in economics, public policy, and research, an MA in International and Comparative Education from the American University in Cairo, and is currently a PhD fellow in Development Economics at United Nations University–MERIT/Maastricht University.