Raffaele is a PhD Economist with more than 10 years of working experience in international organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). During his master and PhD studies at the University of Florence in politics and economics of developing countries, he held several research assistantships in agricultural and international economics. During his time at FAO, he was part of the writing team and was responsible for the Statistical Annex of the State of Food and Agriculture in the Economic and Social Agricultural Department for four years working on Social Protection, Structural Transformation, Climate Change and Migration. At FAO, he also held the titles of Climate Change Adaptation Economist on Tracking Adaptation in Agricultural Sectors (TAAS) in Climate and Environment Division and Expert on Foreign Direct Investments in Agriculture in the Partnership Division. At IOM, he worked at the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa in Cairo (Egypt) as a Data and Statistics Officer and ad-interim Coordinator in the Regional Data Hub (RHD). Currently, he is covering the position of Economic Affairs Officer in the “Governance and Conflict Prevention” Cluster at UN ESCWA in Beirut (Lebanon).

Raffaele has several publications in topics related to rural development on World Development, Global Food Security, Palgrave Handbook of Africa’s Economic Sectors, and other International Peers Review Journals. His main research interests are economic transformation, poverty, economic and social development, policy, agriculture, agricultural land and water resources management, climate change, social protection, conflict and development, internal and international migration, and displacement all for Middle Eastern and Northern African countries as well as for other developing regions.

Curriculum Vitae