Karima works as an Urban and Disaster Risk Management Specialist and task team leader at the World Bank’s Urban, disaster risk management, Resilience and Land Global Practice (URL). Based in Washington DC, she focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, and with an emphasis on post-conflict urban recovery and reconstruction, DRM, low-income housing, and local economic development. Karima holds a PhD in architecture and urban studies focusing on post-disaster reconstruction of dense agglomerations from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.Arch with focus on post-disaster shelter design from l’Ecole Nationale d’Architecture de Rabat. Prior to joining the World bank, she has worked for over 10 years in the private sector and with international NGOs and international organizations on housing policy, urban disaster risk management, and urban planning.