Amal Bennaim was born in London to parents from Casablanca. She currently resides in Antananarivo in Madagascar. She studied in London, first at the French Lycée Charles de Gaulle, then at King's College London where she obtained in 2002 a degree in Science "Nutrition and Dietetics".
In 2007, she earned a Master’s of Science in "public health and nutrition" at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Amal also has four years experience as a dietician specializing in intensive care, and cardiothoracic diseases in public hospitals in the UK (NHS).
Since 2007, Amal worked for the UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children's rights in Madagascar, Uganda and Ethiopia. She supported the governments of these countries to develop nutrition policies and ensure their fair implementation in compliance with children's rights.
To ensure the effectiveness of nutrition activities and strengthen the capacity of government partners, Amal has also managed the "monitoring and evaluation" component of these programs and ensured compliance with international standards in national nutrition surveys.
In Somalia during the 2011 famine, in South Sudan in the conflict zones in 2014 and Malawi during the food crisis of 2013, Amal has provided technical support and contributed to the establishment of support systems for women and children suffering from acute malnutrition.
Prior to joining UNICEF, Amal has been active in the humanitarian field with non-governmental organizations, namely; Action Against Hunger and Concern Worldwide.
She managed teams to respond to the famine in Niger (2005), the violent crises of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2008) and the floods in Rwanda (2008). She has accomplished her mission of "emergency responses" especially during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in 2006 and the earthquake in Pakistan the same year.
Amal has also worked in a nutritional recovery center in Honduras and nutritional scientific research in Guatemala.
She is currently working in Ethiopia in support of the UNICEF office to support the government for the introduction of vitamin and mineral supplements (powder to be used by mothers to strengthen the family dish). The goal is to reduce anemia in children 6-23 months in Ethiopia.
This article was originally published in French in Femmes du Maroc. All rights reserved
