About

Rhett Gurian is the chief of party of the USAID/Lebanon Community Support Program (CSP), implemented by Chemonics International. He has more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing programs focused on community development, community stabilization, peacebuilding, political transition, local governance, and service delivery in the Middle East, Africa, Haiti, and Afghanistan. Since joining Chemonics in 2003, Mr. Gurian has held a number of leadership roles, including senior vice president of the West and Central Africa and Haiti business unit, chief of party for the USAID/Syria Essential Services (SES) project based out of Jordan, and chief of party of USAID/OTI’s earthquake recovery program in Haiti from 2010 to 2013. He began his development career as an English teacher with the Peace Corps in Benin. Mr. Gurian is a graduate of Syracuse University and holds a B.A. in International Relations, Public Relations, and French.

Diana Shannan directs CSP’s finance and operations; subawards management; and human resources teams, while also serving as an advisor to the chief of party. Ms. Shannan is a local development expert with more than 14 years of experience, implementing and leading operations support functions under multiple donor-funded programs in Lebanon. Ms. Shannan previously served as the Deputy Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Monitoring and Evaluation Program for Lebanon (MEPL) with EnCompass and had previously served as CSP’s Senior Subawards Manager for three years at the beginning of the project. Ms. Shannan holds a master’s degree in business administration from Notre Dame University – Louaize.

Khadija Zahzah was the director of CSP’s workforce development component, including the Job Education and Training (JET) scholarship program. She has more than 29 years of regional and international experience in social and organizational development, capacity building, policy analysis, strategic planning, and education programming. Ms. Zahzah has previously worked with a number of donors, development agencies, and governmental institutions in the MENA region, including the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), UN Women, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, and Ministries of Education and Social Affairs across the MENA region. She assumed numerous leadership positions at the Institute for Palestinian Studies (IPS) and the Palestinian Student Fund (PSF), as well as the USAID-funded Expand your Horizons program. Prior to Ms. Zahzah’s positions at the Community Development Authority in the UAE as acting director of the policy department and head of program design and support, she oversaw regional programs at the Arab Council for Childhood Development in Egypt. Ms. Zahzah holds an M.A. in human development from Pacific Oaks College and a post graduate diploma in education policy analysis and planning from Harvard University; she also holds a special education specialist certificate from California State University – Long Beach.

Fares El Zein heads CSP’s technical assistance and capacity building component. He has more than 20 years of experience in project design, organizational and legislative development, advocacy, and provision of technical support to civil society and local authorities. Dr. El Zein holds a Ph.D. in public administration and policy from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany and an M.A. in public administration from the American University of Beirut. His professional portfolio includes leadership positions and consultancies for the World Bank, EU, UNDP, USAID, OXFAM, as well as major USAID and EU partners such as SUNY, Management Systems International (MSI), Louis Berger, and GOPA. Dr. El Zein also assumed consultancies for private sector corporations on institution building, organizational development, HR systems, and performance measurement and management, in addition to giving academic courses across several universities in Lebanon on American and Lebanese public administration and legislative processes.

Mona Moussa is the director of CSP’s community support component. With more than 14 years of experience in program design and implementation, Ms. Moussa has experience establishing and maintaining systems that lead to enhanced outcomes on community stabilization and local development activities. Ms. Moussa has worked in managerial positions on CSP since 2019. Prior to her current position, she served as both Regional Program Manager and Senior Program Manager. Earlier, Ms. Moussa led on partnerships, grants, and the design and implementation of community development interventions at several iNGOs including Relief International and the Danish Refugee Council. Ms. Moussa holds a master’s degree in economical social studies, and diplomas in social, psychological, and development studies from the Lebanese University.

Osama Amad heads CSP’s wastewater management component, leading implementation of several sustainable municipal wastewater infrastructure interventions and industrial pretreatment technologies. Mr. Amad has more than 30 years of experience in design, construction, operations and maintenance within the water/wastewater sector. Prior to CSP, Mr. Amad was a superintendent with a leading water/wastewater utility in the Washington, D.C. metro area, responsible for the sustainability, performance, compliance, budgeting, operations and maintenance of major components of the utility’s infrastructure. He also conducted numerous short-term technical assignments for USAID in the Middle East. Mr. Amad holds an M.A in engineering management from George Washington University and a B.A in civil engineering from Kuwait University. He is a licensed professional engineer, a board-certified environmental engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, and a certified water/wastewater superintendent.

Raed Harb heads CSP’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) unit. With more than 14 years of experience working with a range of international and local organizations across Lebanon, Mr. Harb is specialized in developing and managing program performance monitoring plans, quality assurance, tailored assessments, and data verification and analysis. His experience includes working on USAID-funded projects with Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) and Chemonics, as well as on projects addressing complex crises with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Mercy Corps where he headed the MEL teams for two major projects. Mr. Harb hold a B.S. in computer science from the American University of Science and Technology.

Anastacia Hajj leads CSP’s communications team to ensure effective and impactful reporting and public outreach. With more than 13 years of experience in the design and implementation of media, advocacy, and communications strategies in the MENA region for development actors and the private sector, Ms. Hajj has assumed technical and managerial positions with donors and UN agencies, as well as several international NGOs. Her professional portfolio includes leading on reporting and communications at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their regional development and protection program in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. She has also designed and implemented communication strategies for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mercy Corps, and Save the Children International. Prior to her work in the development sector, Ms. Hajj managed international news agency accounts and freelance journalists to produce news content from conflict areas including Ukraine, Central African Republic, and Syria. Ms. Hajj holds a B.A. in sociology and anthropology, as well as a diploma in communications and media studies from the American University in Beirut (AUB). She also worked as a graduate and research assistance at AUB while studying for her M.A. in media studies.