Mary Kawar has 30 years developmental and public policy experience. Her most recent appointment was Minister of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Dr. Omar Razzaz. Prior to that, she was Country Director for the International Labour Organization (ILO) for five countries in East Africa and had also served as Adviser to the Jordanian Minister of Labor on leave from the ILO.

As Minister, Kawar led and negotiated over 3.5 billion USD in donor support that aimed to reduce the gap in public finances, enhance competitiveness, attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), improve governance and support the social sectors in areas such as job creation, health services, poverty. She managed Jordan’s Response Plan for the Syrian Refugee Crisis, and was the UN focal point guiding coordination and the SDG agenda. She co-led (with the Royal Hashemite Court) The Jordan Growth and Opportunity Conference at the London Initiative (2019) that marked a new partnership approach between Jordan and the international community in pursuit of Jordan’s sustainable growth and self-reliance. She also led the development of the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Strategy, chaired the Inter-Ministerial committee on gender equality, and was Governor of several international organizations including the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. She also promoted institutional development and restructured MoPIC to increase its effectiveness and efficiency.

At the ILO between 1997 and 2017 Kawar held several senior positions at ILO Headquarters in Geneva, the Regional Office for Arab States and Regional Office for Africa. During her tenure at the ILO she engaged in analytical and operational activities at global, regional and country level including in Asia (India, Iran, Nepal and Sri Lanka), Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) and across the whole Arab Region. She developed and led strategies, policies and programs across a wide range of economic and social issues such as formal and informal employment, working conditions, skills development, vocational education, gender, youth, child labor, migration, refugees, domestic workers and more broadly social protection. She coordinated large teams in many countries undertaking complex multi-sectoral evidence based policy-relevant reports and activities (including on the MDGs and SDGs) involving substantial resource mobilization and effective implementation of programs with UN agencies, international financial institutions as well as with multilateral and bilateral donors.

Born in Amman, Kawar studied social policy and development planning at the London School of Economics from where she was awarded her PhD having previously obtained a first degree from Tufts University, USA, in anthropology with a minor in economics. She is Senior Policy Associate at the Economic Research Forum of the Middle East, North Africa, Iran and Turkey (Cairo) and member of the Advisory Committee of Arab Council for the Social Sciences (Beirut). She has published several books, policy guidelines, articles, research papers and op-eds on a wide range of economic and social policies, and has made numerous media appearances, interviews and presentations at global, regional and national conferences.