Louana Abou el Sel

MEL Advisor - MENA

The fascinating layers of life and their wider implications are what draw me to look beyond what is immediately visible and find meaning in the details we often overlook. Monitoring and evaluation brings this way of thinking into my work, It’s about making sense of everyday experiences, learning from them, and finding ways to do better.

Louana Abou El Sel is a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor at the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), working across the MENA region. Over the past eight years, she has worked with international organizations across Lebanon, Türkiye, and Syria, building her expertise in diverse areas of humanitarian, development, and human rights work. She began her career supporting education and livelihood initiatives in Lebanon, before moving into work related to transitional justice and accountability, supporting survivors of arbitrary detention and peace-building and reconciliation in Syria. She also contributed to programmes focused on governance and economic justice, while her more recent work brought her closer to health-related programming.

Moving between these different contexts and areas of work has shaped her interest in understanding people’s experiences. She was drawn to HiiL by its people-centred approach to justice and the opportunity to contribute to making justice systems more accessible and responsive to the realities of everyday life.

One of the defining aspects of Louana’s career has been her ability to connect data with the realities of programme implementation. She enjoys looking beyond the numbers to understand the stories they tell, the lessons they reveal, and the experiences behind them.

Outside of work, Louana is passionate about music and loves the unique experience of listening to vinyl records on a turntable. She finds happiness in nature, chasing sunsets, and enjoying the simple pleasures of a good coffee and a scenic cruise. An aerial yoga instructor, she values movement as a way to connect with herself and maintain balance. She enjoys exploring new places and finding beauty in everyday moments.

 

 

Contact info

[email protected]
+31 (0) 70 762 0700