Farah is a climate inequality expert working at the intersection of climate finance, social inclusion, and feminist political economy. For over a decade, she has focused on one core challenge: ensuring that climate action delivers tangible benefits for those most at risk of being left behind. At the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), one of the world's largest multilateral climate finance mechanisms managing over $12 billion, she works with governments and multilateral partners to translate equity commitments into operational decisions, from investment planning to implementation frameworks. She co-leads the $11 million Women-Led Coal Transition (WOLCOT) Initiative, supporting just transitions in coal-dependent communities, and has contributed to shaping approaches on women’s climate leadership and gender-smart finance across CIF portfolios.
Before joining CIF, Farah spent four years with UN Women in Algeria, where she led the implementation of a $1.5 million gender equality program that delivered lasting institutional change across government, law enforcement, and media. She built strategic partnerships with multiple ministries to develop sectoral gender roadmaps and secured a landmark collaboration with the national police to institutionalize gender-based violence response training across police academies. She also established Algeria’s first network of media gender champions, contributing to more inclusive representation in public discourse.
Her desire to bridge the gap between social justice and the climate transition later brought her to the World Bank, USAID, and the FAO. Across these roles, she has led socio-economic assessments and climate-gender analyses in diverse country contexts and sectors, translating equity principles into large-scale development operations.
Farah is a regular speaker on global forums where she advocates for socially responsive climate action. She holds a Master of Science in Political Science from the LSE and a Master of Public Administration from Sciences Po Lille. As an AFSEE Fellow, she returns to the LSE community to deepen her work on how climate finance systems can be reformed to deliver equity in practice.
Change happens when equity is embedded into systems and driven by top-level political will. When institutional incentives, accountability, and narratives shift together, and remains rooted in grassroots realities, sustainable transformations become possible.Farah Outeldait