Zainah Alsamman is the Program Officer for the Humanitarian Grand Challenge (HGC) Program. She is responsible for shaping and managing HGC’s growing portfolio of seed and transition-to-scale investments, as well as leading on knowledge management and translation activities.  

Zainah is skilled in project and research management, with a history of working in the humanitarian sector, particularly in conflict and fragile settings. She is experienced in the development, implementation, evaluation and enhancement of programs and services for populations who have faced war, trauma and displacement in humanitarian and emergency contexts, with a focus on the Syria and Iraq crises.

Zainah spent four years working across Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, where she led a variety of research studies to inform humanitarian response in the Middle East. Prior to working with Grand Challenges Canada, she worked with international organizations such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Adam Smith International, Integrity Research and the SecDev Foundation.

Zainah completed her Master of Arts in Media Research and Mass Communications at the University of Leicester (UK), where she focused her studies on the intersections of visual media and the politics of war reporting. She completed her Honor’s Bachelor of Arts in Visual Culture and Communication at the University of Toronto.