About Us
Aligning Cultures is a nonprofit international development organization serving conflict-affected and fragile communities in the Middle East and North Africa.
Our Values
Six principles that define how we work, who we are, and why communities trust us.
People Before Programs
We measure success not by activities delivered, but by the difference made in people's lives.
In conflict-affected communities, the temptation to prioritize outputs over outcomes is real. We resist it. Every survey conducted, every training delivered, every media piece produced exists for one reason: to improve the lives of the people we serve. If it doesn't, we change our approach.
Locally Led
We believe communities already hold the seeds of their own recovery. Our role is to help them take root.
We do not arrive with ready-made solutions. We arrive with deep respect for the knowledge, resilience, and leadership already present in every community we enter. We connect local actors with the resources, partnerships, and platforms they need — and then we follow their lead. Sustainable change is never imported. It is grown from within.
Radically Inclusive
We ensure every voice shapes the work — especially the voices most often excluded.
Inclusion is not a reporting requirement for us. It is a non-negotiable standard that runs through everything we do — from who we hire, to who sits at the table in our programs, to who we hold our partners accountable to representing. We pay particular attention to women, youth, and marginalized groups, because we know that no community truly heals when any of its members are left behind.
Deeply Empathetic
We listen first, act second — and never stop listening.
Empathy in our work is not a soft skill. It is a strategic discipline. We enter the realities of the communities we serve — their histories, their fears, their strengths — before we offer any solution. We sit with complexity rather than rushing past it. We co-create rather than prescribe. And we apply a trauma-informed lens to everything we do, because we understand that conflict leaves wounds that must be acknowledged before they can heal.
Courageously Committed
We do hard work in hard places and don't walk away when it gets harder.
The communities we serve do not have the option of stepping back. Neither do we. We show up — in conflict zones, in governance vacuums, in the spaces that other organizations find too difficult or too risky. We pursue every possible avenue for positive change, challenge the obstacles that others accept as fixed, and hold our commitment to communities even when circumstances test it. This work demands courage. We bring it.
Humbly Learning
We hold our assumptions lightly and let our communities teach us.
We have decades of experience — and we know that experience alone is not enough. The communities we serve often understand their situation better than any outside expert ever could. We acknowledge that, and we build it into how we work. We learn from our mistakes without defensiveness, adapt our strategies without ego, and recognize that there is always more than one path to lasting peace. The moment we stop learning is the moment we stop being useful.
Our Vision
We build resilient communities through sustainable, effective, and transformative partnerships.
Our Mission
We serve conflict-affected and fragile communities in the Middle East and North Africa by working with local stakeholders, members of their country's diaspora, and international experts to harness communities' resilience.
Our front-line practitioners help donors and international implementors connect with local communities, cultivating a global mindset that leads to context-appropriate, effective engagements that achieve the aims of all parties.
Aligning Cultures, since its inception, has faced unprecedented events — especially the cessation of US foreign aid and the disbandment of USAID — which have significantly impacted our organization, necessitating a tailored approach to align our policies, operations, and programming with the current landscape of available donor support.
We are now diversifying our opportunities with a specific focus on individual donors, especially diaspora communities, to build trust, leverage technology, and facilitate cultural, social, and economic exchanges.
— Humam Rajab, Founder & Executive Director
2024–2025 Impact
Submitted over 20 proposals and concept notes across the region
Supported 25 local organizations across Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia
Received a direct invitation from GCERF for Northeast Syria programming
Recognized by Iraq and UNOCT to participate in the UN High-Level Conference in New York
Trained over 260 enumerators, social workers, and prison staff across Iraq on trauma-informed rehabilitation and reintegration approaches
Our Services
Aligning Cultures delivers nine specialized services across the Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa — from conflict prevention and CVE rehabilitation to fiscal sponsorship for local organizations.
Conflict Prevention & Stabilization
Locally led crisis committees, IDP reintegration, and social cohesion programming that interrupt cycles of violence in Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
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Strategic Communications & Narrative Change
Counter-narrative content, counter-disinformation programs, and community messaging champion training that interrupt extremist narratives and build resilience to false information across Iraq, Yemen, and MENA.
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Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment
Gender-transformative programs advancing women's political participation, economic independence, and GBV prevention — engaging men as accountable partners for change across Iraq, Yemen, and the MENA region.
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Youth Employment & Livelihoods
Market-driven youth livelihoods programs combining labor market research, digital skills training, employer engagement, and MSME support — reaching 8,000+ youth across Iraq with explicit inclusion targets.
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Local Partner Capacity Building
Tailored organizational development for civil society organizations — proposal writing, MEL frameworks, fundraising strategy, and donor compliance — supporting 25 local organizations across Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia.
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Fiscal Sponsorship for MENA Organizations
A US 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship umbrella enabling civil society organizations in Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, and Syria to access international donor funding, manage grants compliantly, and build donor credibility.
Learn MoreAlso offering: CVE & Rehabilitation, MEL, and Technology & GenAI for Development
See All 9 Services