Rafat Al-Akhali

Rafat Al-Akhali is a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. He is a development practitioner dedicated to addressing the challenges facing fragile and conflict-affected states.

As a co-founder of DeepRoot Consulting, Al-Akhali has been closely engaged in advising key stakeholders on economic, political and development priorities in Yemen, where has led and implemented multiple large-scale development and peacebuilding initiatives at the local and national levels. Al-Akhali is also a Fellow of Practice for Strategic Projects at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, where he was the Convenor of the Council on State Fragility, and led two highly influential commissions: the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development and the Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development.

Al-Akhali previously served as a Minister in the Government of Yemen and, prior to that, led the policy reforms team at government’s Executive Bureau. In 2015, he was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.