Rafat Al-Akhali
Yemen
Public Policy (MPP), 2013
St Catherine's College, Oxford
Funding: Louis Dreyfus - Chevening
Rafat Ali Al-Akhali is the Convenor of the Council on State Fragility at the International Growth Centre and a Fellow of Practice – Strategic Projects at the Blavatnik School of Government. Since joining the Blavatnik School in 2015, Rafat has led the secretariats of the Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development, and the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development.
Rafat has previously served as Minister of Youth and Sports in the Government of Yemen, and prior to that was leading the Policy Reforms team at the Executive Bureau for Acceleration of Aid Absorption and Support for Policy Reforms.
Prior to joining the Yemeni government, Rafat worked as a Senior Consultant and Analyst for organizations such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM in Canada. He has also worked in the field of development with a number of international development agencies in Yemen, and was a member of the Accessions Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva where he participated in the accession process of several countries including Yemen.
Rafat earned his second Master degree in Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK. His first Master degree was in Business Administration (MBA) from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Montréal, Canada.
Rafat has been active in the field of youth development and youth political inclusion since 2004. He is the Co- Founder and Chairman of Resonate! Yemen, a leading non-profit foundation that specializes in the field of engaging youth in public policy in Yemen. He is also a trustee of Silatech, the leading foundation working on tackling youth unemployment in the Arab world. Rafat was selected as a Young Global Leaders in 2015 by the World Economic Forum.
