The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is pleased to announce that Mouna Ben Garga is joining the Foundation as Civil Society and Leadership Program Officer.
The Packard Foundation’s Civil Society and Leadership initiative accelerates positive change by investing in the strength of organizations and leaders, fostering connections across civil society, and protecting and defending civic space. Ben Garga will coordinate and manage a growing body of work that includes providing support to organizations carrying out organizational strengthening and leadership projects and developing tailored approaches to support leaders, organizations, networks and movements to achieve impact.
Ben Garga has extensive global civil society experience, including her work with CIVICUS, a global alliance of over 15,000 civil society organizations and activists committed to empowering citizen action and strengthening civil society worldwide.
“Ben Garga brings exceptional leadership and expertise in supporting strong civil society in geographies around the globe, including management of innovative and collaborative programs to ensure thriving civic space in the face of global challenges,” said Jamaica Maxwell, Civil Society and Leadership Director for the Packard Foundation. “We are thrilled to welcome Ben Garga to the team and look forward to her contributions in advancing the Civil Society and Leadership grantmaking, uplifting leaders and organizations to achieve their bold goals for just societies and a flourishing natural world.”
Ben Garga has more than ten years of experience designing and managing civil society projects. She has supported the resilience of civil society organizations as they work in increasingly challenging contexts and introduced new approaches for these organizations to collaborate with one another. Her career includes working within non-governmental organizations and collaborating with private entities, the U.S. government, and various donor agencies. At CIVICUS, she led the innovation portfolio and incubated the Innovation for Change network, which established seven regional hubs worldwide to address the shrinking civic space and provide support for civil society.
Born and raised in Tunisia, Ben Garga is dedicated to harnessing the influence of civil society to bring about positive change and cultivate a just, more equitable world.
“Civil society prospers when collective voices are amplified, strategies are inclusive, and approaches are innovative,” said Ben Garga. “My goal is to nurture these qualities to strengthen our communities’ resilience and progress, and I am honored to join the Packard Foundation to continue this journey.”
Ben Garga holds a Bachelor of Arts in accounting from the Higher Institute of Management in Tunisia and a master’s degree in public policy from George Mason University. She is a certified facilitator in co-design and fluent in Arabic, English, French, and Italian.
