Katherine Maher
Katherine Maher is a consultant, writer, and analyst on the use of technology for development, democracy, and human rights. She works with the World Bank's Open Development Technology Alliance on technologies for good governance in the Middle East and Africa. Katherine also serves as Middle East Policy Fellow with Access, focusing on the protection of human rights in post-revolution and transitional digital environments.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Katherine was at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), where she oversaw programs on technology for human rights and democracy, including Internet Freedom in repressive regimes. She has worked with digital activists and reformists in the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as other Middle Eastern countries, and was co-founder of the Lebanese citizen-reporting platform Sharek961.org, one of the first ICT for accountability projects in the Middle East.
As an analyst on the role of technology in development and democratization, Katherine spoke this year at the European Partnership for Democracy, Personal Democracy Forum, and the Tech@State series. Katherine has been recognized by Foreign Policy magazine as a noted curator and analyst of breaking news in Egypt, where she recently returned from covering events in Tahrir and the historic first-round elections.
Katherine is an active member of the Washington, DC technology and development community as co-organizer of the 500+ member Washington ICT4D Meetup, and a board member of the Youth for Technology Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated supporting technology education in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to joining NDI, Katherine was with
UNICEF Innovation, where she managed projects on mobile health and digital
security in the developing world. In a past life, Katherine worked at HSBC Bank in the UK,
Germany, and Canada, and as an intern with Eurasia Group, the Council on
Foreign Relations, and Goldman Sachs. She studied at the American University in
Cairo, IFPO Damascus, and New York University.
