Before joining the Libya office Asr was working in Sultanate of Oman as Representative of Sub-regional office for Gulf Cooperation Council States. Earlier, he was Representative-Syria. He joined the UNFPA from the African Development Bank Group where he was Head - Governance Unit & Chief Counsel in Headquarters, Tunis - Tunisia covering 55 member states with technical assistance in Governance & Rights.
He also worked for UNDP- Regional Bureau for Arab States as Regional Policy Advisor - Governance, U.S State Department - United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as team leader-Governance & Rule of Law and with European Union Delegation as Team Leader for Program Development & Implementation - Arab Region.
Asr started his career working for the Egyptian judiciary as prosecutor and a judge. In 1993, he joined United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as Team Leader, Governance & Democracy where he managed $100 Million portfolio covering several partnerships and projects supporting NGOs, Governance, human Rights, civil society and reform of public institutions. In 2003, he joined United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as Chief Technical Advisor for different assignments in Yemen, Libya, Syria and Iraq. Has worked as Lead Consultant on Justice Sector Reform for American Bar Association (ABA) and U.S. State Department in Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen and Iraq. He has provided technical assistance and advisory services to international and national entities including USAID‘s leading contractors, Bahrain Cabinet and Kuwaiti leading legal firm. Starting from 2007, Asr had been providing technical assistance as Team Leader, human rights and civil society for the European Union Delegation - Arab States.
Asr has worked in international Development focusing in Resources Mobilization, Donors Cultivation, policy reform, sector assessments, strategic planning, knowledge sharing, monitoring and evaluation, projects / program formulation and implementation. He has special expertise in support to regional initiatives, Governance, RH, Youth, Women Empowerment, sector reform, support to human rights and civil society.
He holds a Master of Laws degree’91 from Harvard Law School - Harvard University and LL.B Law degree’83 from Cairo University - Egypt.
Asr Toson is Egyptian Citizen, native Arabic speaker and fluent in English with moderate French. He is married with 2 children.
