Abdurahman Sharif is Senior Director of Partnerships and Outreach at Internews Europe. He was previously a Senior Special Advisor on Development and International Relations to the Prime Minister of Somalia where he provided high level advisory support as a specialist on Development and International Relations. During this time, Somalia received debt relief from the IMF and the World Bank under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Abdurahman was part of the team that successfully negotiated with the World Bank a $137.5 million International Development Association (IDA) grant to help Somalia respond to multiple crises.

Abdurahman has also been the Director of the Somalia NGO Consortium, a coordination body for NGOs working in Somalia, and the Executive Director of the Muslim Charities Forum, an umbrella organisation for Muslim-led international NGOs based in the UK.

He is a graduate in Languages from the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris (France) and holds two Master’s Degrees, one in Languages from the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle and another one in Development Studies from the University of Pavia (Italy).

Abdurahman speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, Somali and is conversant in Arabic. In 2013 he was part of the International Visitor’s Leadership Program (IVLP), a flagship exchange programme run by the US State Department. In 2014, he was granted a fellowship award by the Association of chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). Run in conjunction with the Leadership Trust, ACEVO Fellowships uncover and champion the most inspirational sector leaders from the UK.