The Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF) is proud and delighted to announce that AIWF’s President & Founder Haifa Al Kaylani has been appointed to the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in King Charles’ 2024 New Year Honours List. This honour is in recognition of her services to Women, Young People and to Cultural Relations between the UK and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Haifa founded AIWF in London in 2001 and under her leadership, it has become a leading non-profit development organisation devoted to bringing women and young people from the UK and the MENA region together to support economic inclusion for women and young people. Haifa has always worked at the highest levels and in collaboration with global networks of governmental, corporate, and institutional advocacy partners to advance momentum for women’s leadership in all sectors and spheres.
As the Chair of AIWF for 20 years, Haifa has led tirelessly and from the front on salient economic and societal issues as well as structural and sustainability challenges that have greatly impacted women and youth in the Arab world and internationally. Her global advocacy both on behalf of AIWF and in her personal, independent capacity is held in the highest possible regard in the international business, development, and policy circles.
In recent years, Haifa has become an influential voice promoting the achievements and influence of women and youth in sustainability in the UK and the Arab world, with special focus on climate action, sustainable agriculture, food security and water resilience in the MENA region and beyond. She has worked in close co-operation at the highest levels of the UK government, with the City of London Corporation and successive Lord Mayors of London, the Diplomatic Corps, and with the FCDO since 2001 to champion the economic inclusion of women and young people. In 2010, she was welcomed at 10 Downing Street for a special reception recognising the work and achievements of AIWF in bringing British and Arab women entrepreneurs together for experience exchange and cross-cultural collaboration in business, development, sustainability, and education.
In the Arab world and internationally, she has worked closely with the League of Arab States, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, as well as with UN agencies such as ESCWA in Beirut and the FAO in Jordan. She has also worked to support governmental organisations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and many other MENA states on high-level initiatives to support women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, youth empowerment and skills-based capacity development for the future of work in the Arab region and beyond.
Haifa is renowned worldwide as an eloquent and compelling change agent, a high-impact speaker and thought leader who is widely sought after by governments, the international institutions, the private sector, and civil society for her advisory support on social and development issues and for her input and leadership on the future of work and the role of women and young leaders in climate action, sustainability and STEM. She is greatly respected for her work to build bridges of business and opportunity between the UK, which became her home in the 1970s together with her late husband HE Ambassador Wajih Al Kaylani, and the Arab world, where she is regularly recognised as one of the region’s most prolific, accomplished, and inspirational women leaders in business, education and sustainability.
Haifa is and has always been a convenor of people, a believer in coalition-building and in the power of partnership, having herself built invaluable institutional links for AIWF and the many London-based and international charitable organisations she has championed through the course of the last three decades. She made us all proud in 2017 when she became a Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, and again in 2017 when she became the only Commissioner from the Arab world to serve on the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work.
Haifa holds senior roles in several cultural, educational, non-governmental UK, MENA and international organisations. She is a Board Member of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London, where she has for over a decade worked to foster closer trade relations between women business leaders in the MENA and the UK. Haifa is also a Member of The Stimson East West Council on Track II Diplomacy, a Global Advisory Committee Member of QS, a member of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Director’s Advisory Council and a longstanding Harvard Women’s Leadership Board Member. Haifa was also recently appointed to the Board of Medurable, a Paris-based non-profit of Water Champions committed to advocating for peace and sustainable development.
Haifa is an Advisory Board Member of the Global Thinkers Forum, a former Director of the East-West Institute in New York, former Advisory Board Member of the Imperial College Business School, and also served as an Advisory Board Member of the London Middle East Institute at the SOAS University of London. Haifa served in 2012 on The Commission on Global Security, Justice & Governance chaired by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She was also the first Honorary Member of the Euro Mediterranean Association for Cooperation and Development (2012).
The awards and honours that Haifa has received during her voluntary service speak to the high regard in which she is held in the UK, Arab and international business, development and sustainability spheres. Haifa is honoured and humbled to receive this esteemed recognition of His Majesty King Charles III, and she remains a resolute and compelling champion for women’s voices and inclusion in the UK and the Arab world ensuring that their economic contributions are recognised and their social equality prioritised in the leadup to the 2030 watershed for the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Statement of Haifa Al Kaylani OBE (29 December 2023)
“On this very special day I am honoured to share that I have been appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s New Year 2024 Honours List for my services to Women, Young People and to Cultural Relations between the UK and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
I am indeed proud and truly humbled to have been awarded with an OBE and to receive this esteemed recognition of His Majesty King Charles III and the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office in the United Kingdom.
As President & Founder of the Arab International Women’s Forum, which I founded in London in 2001 as a non-profit development organisation and chaired for over 20 years, it has been my life’s work to support women’s inclusion in the UK and the Arab world in all sectors and spheres, ensuring that their economic contributions are recognised and their social equality prioritised in the leadup to the 2030 watershed for the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
I have always been a firm believer in coalition-building and in the power of partnership and collaboration, and it has thus been my honour in my leadership of AIWF to have worked in close co-operation at the highest levels of the UK government, with the City of London Corporation and successive Lord Mayors of the City of London, the Diplomatic Corps, and with the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office since 2001 to champion the economic inclusion of women and young people internationally, in the UK and in the MENA states. Throughout the Arab world, the Arab International Women’s Forum has fostered valuable links with the League of Arab States, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, as well as with UN agencies such as ESCWA in Beirut and the FAO in Jordan, and governmental organisations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and many other MENA states together with private sector corporations.
Importantly we are proud of our collaboration throughout our programmes over the years with grassroot and civil society organisations across the region.
In all our work and activities since 2001, I have been proud to lead AIWF’s global advocacy and high-level initiatives to support women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, youth empowerment and skills-based capacity development for a sustainable future in the Arab region and beyond, with a special focus on climate action, sustainable agriculture, food security and water resilience. The remarkable impact of AIWF in just over two decades is truly a testament to the power of a sound and dedicated vision and mission combined with solid partnerships and collaborations with a multitude of stakeholders, and to the importance of volunteerism and philanthropy in solving some of the most salient sustainability challenges of our time, climate change and social inequality being key among them.
In my leadership of AIWF, I have been supported by an exemplary Board who have lent their time and efforts to support AIWF’s important work and amplify our vital advocacy, in the MENA and globally. I wholeheartedly thank the Board of AIWF, our Partners, our members and all our friends around the world for your cherished support of AIWF and its mission to bring Arab, British and international women ever closer together to find innovative solutions to society’s critical development issues.
Importantly, I am deeply grateful for the most valued support of my family without whom I would have not been able to embark on and pursue my journey of dedicated voluntary service and philanthropy for the last forty years.
I am indeed proud, humbled and immensely grateful to receive this esteemed recognition of His Majesty King Charles III and the FCDO. I remain deeply committed to lending my voice and all my efforts to promoting the achievements and influence of women and youth in sustainability and economic development in the UK, the Arab world and globally working with others to build a better future marked by equality of opportunity for all.”
For further information and interview requests, please contact the AIWF Press & Communications team.
