Rwaida Gharib is a Senior Consultant for Sustainable Finance at the International Finance Corporation, where she supports efforts in blue finance, green banking, and global renewable energy access.
She has co-authored numerous World Bank Group publications across institutions: on blue finance (Guidelines for Blue Finance, IFC), productive use solar (Productive Use Leveraging Solar Energy, IFC), and fossil fuel infrastructure costs (The Dirty Footprint of the Broken Grid, IFC); gender equity in energy access (Gender Equality in the Off-Grid Solar Sector, ESMAP); irrigation subsidies (Solar Irrigation System and End User Subsidies, Lighting Global) and off-grid market dynamics (Offgrid Lighting Dynamics in Papua New Guinea, Lighting Global); and distributed solar markets (Ghana Market Assessment for Distributed Solar and Nigeria Market Assessment for Distributed Solar, Lighting Africa).
She brings nearly 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian policy, with advisory roles at the World Bank Group, USAID, and UNDP, and a presidential appointment in the Obama Administration where she helped design Power Africa, the White House's flagship clean energy initiative.
Rwaida is a PhD student at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability where she examines international policy frameworks shaping climate adaptation and mobility, with an emphasis on environmental justice for displaced communities, rural populations, and women and girls. Her research investigates climate finance and adaptation across the Global South, investigating how narrative structures, legal categorization, and financial allocations shape how climate risk and resilience are interpreted within policy and institutional settings.