Abdel Karim Ahmed Ashour

Abdel Karim Ahmed Ashour (Agriculture Commissioner, NCAG), born on 29 September 1954 in Gaza City, is a Gaza-based economist and civil-society institutional leader with a long technocratic record in development institution-building and community-based governance. He studied Economics and Administrative Sciences in Egypt and began his career working for four years in Libya on an agricultural project, later serving as an economic consultant to a range of local and international institutions. Over several decades, he has helped found and build numerous civil and development organizations in Gaza and abroad, and has been active in community work since the early 1980s, including as a founder of the Volunteer Work Committees. He is the founder and Vice Chairman of the NGO Development Center (NDC) and Chairman of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, and has played founding and leadership roles across major civil-society and development finance bodies, including the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Reef Agricultural Finance Company, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), FATEN, and AKAD. He has also contributed to international oversight and advisory work on development financing, including participation in bodies linked to World Bank NGO financing and other external lending and support programmes.