Samer Elchahabi, Deputy Country Director, Tunisia

Samer Elchahabi is the deputy country director for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Tunisia and the country office technical lead on media programming. Elchahabi has 15 years of experience in the democracy and governance field, with postings in Washington, D.C., Tunis and Tunisia, and programming in more than 20 countries, predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa and Africa regions. He has been designing and implementing programs with an emphasis on democracy, governance, elections, civic education, media development, humanitarian assistance, international development, donor relationship building, headquarters and field management, impact assessment, business development, strategic planning and compliance. In Tunisia, Elchahabi designed and managed IFES’ media programming, which included support to local democracy reporters covering community issues.

Elchahabi is currently stationed with IFES in Tunisia, where he oversees the implementation of programming designed to support the consolidation of Tunisian democracy through more participatory, transparent and accountable electoral processes and institutions. Key areas of programming include support to election management bodies; electoral reform; civics programming; civil society partnership; voter education; enhancing inclusion in the electoral process for underrepresented and disenfranchised populations; and supporting informed citizen participation during and between elections cycles through civic and voter education.

Elchahabi holds a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is fluent in English, Arabic and French and has working knowledge of Spanish.