Jena Karim

Jena Karim has worked in international assistance and democratic development for 12 years, with field experience in Afghanistan. She has an academic background in comparative politics and Islam, with an emphasis on the uses of Islamic rhetoric by political elites. In 2008, her monograph, Polarization of Political Culture: The Case of Pakistan, 1958-1988, was published. Jena worked in humanitarian assistance for five years, implementing and managing preparedness and response programs in South and Central Asia, North America and Europe. In addition, she trained over 500 members of Muslim civil society, with a catchment population of 100,000. Thereafter, Jena began working on elections, where she focused on gender, decentralization, population registration, Islamic law, fraud mitigation, and electoral reform. Most recently, she developed and managed electoral reform advocacy, political participation and civic education programs in Afghanistan. Jena is now working on civil society engagement in democratic governance through civic education, advocacy, and capacity development in a variety of conflict and post-conflict contexts, including Myanmar and Sudan. Jena speaks Urdu and Persian to an intermediate level.

Thematic Areas of Expertise