Jordanian woman appointed ILO regional director for Arab states

AMMAN — Jordanian Ruba Jaradat has assumed her new duties as the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) assistant director general and regional director for Arab states, based at the regional office in Beirut, the agency said in a statement released Thursday.

"Jaradat brings with her extensive experience in designing and managing complex and highly visible economic growth programmes on the national level, and in leading teams through strategy development and implementation," the ILO said. 

She has managed programmes with budgets exceeding $300 million and engaging over 250 multinational staff. She holds a PhD in management and international development from the United Kingdom.

“I sincerely look forward to working with our tripartite partners in the region — governments, workers and employers — to create jobs, extend social protection, increase social dialogue and guarantee rights at work, towards making decent work and social justice a reality for all,” the statement quoted Jaradat as saying upon assuming her new duties in Beirut this week.

In 2013, Jaradat took on her most recent role prior to joining the ILO when she established and managed the Jordan Strategy Forum, a private sector-funded think tank in Jordan. 

From 2005 to 2008, Jaradat managed the USAID Jordan Cash Transfer Programme that helped improve fiscal conditions and business environments in the country; and from 2008 to 2013 she managed the USAID Economic Development Programme that created 63,000 jobs, the statement said. 

She has also previously worked as an international business development consultant in higher education in the UK.

Jaradat chairs the board of Jordan’s British Universities Alumni Association and is a member of several councils, including the Advisory Committee of the Euro Mediterranean Council, the Jordan Economic and Social Council, the Jordan National Competitiveness and Innovation Council, and the UK Arab Partnership Initiative.

She holds several certificates in economics and leadership from international institutions such as Harvard University, the World Bank Institute, Georgia State University and the US Federal Institute, according to the statement.