About Hamza Arsbi
Turning community insight into better policy.
I’m an international development professional, policy strategist, and Design Thinking expert with 15 years of experience across four continents. My work bridges research, storytelling, and human-centred design — making knowledge more equitable and helping communities shape the decisions that affect their lives.
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My story
My path into policy began far from any committee room. Growing up as part of an ethnic minority, I learned early how much a person’s opportunities depend on whether the systems around them were designed with their reality in mind. That conviction has shaped everything since: a belief that the people closest to a problem should help design the response to it.
I began by founding the Mind Lab, an educational social enterprise that grew from a small volunteer group into an organization reaching more than nine thousand students across seven cities, developing original curricula in robotics, engineering, mindfulness, and design thinking. Leading that work taught me how to turn a values-driven idea into a functioning institution — setting strategy, building teams, raising support, and measuring impact.
That experience opened doors to a global stage. As an Obama Foundation Scholar at Columbia University, a Chevening–Saïd Scholar, and a Dalai Lama Fellow, I studied governance, civic innovation, and people-centred government alongside leaders from around the world. I went on to lead a global knowledge-mobilization strategy for IREX, supporting organizations advancing gender equity and social inclusion across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, and consulted for partners including Global Affairs Canada and York University.
Today, based in Ottawa, I serve as Executive Director of the Canadian Arab Institute, where I built and now lead a five-year research and policy strategy, deepened partnerships across government and academia, and presented our flagship research directly to Members of Provincial Parliament at Queen’s Park. I also support candidates at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels through hands-on policy development.
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What drives me
I’m driven by a simple conviction: when knowledge is shared and communities are empowered to work together, systemic change becomes possible. Good policy isn’t handed down — it’s co-created, tested, and refined with the people it serves.
At a moment when division and distrust are rising, I believe the answer is more participation, not less: rigorous evidence paired with genuine engagement, so that policy is both smarter and more legitimate.