Basma El Husseiny is a cultural manager and a cultural rights defender.  For the past 30 years she has been involved in supporting independent cultural projects and organizations in the Arab region through the work of the two organizations that she founded and led; Al Mawred Al Thaqafyand Action for Hope.

She worked as the Arts Manager of the British Council in Egypt (1988-1998) and the Media, Arts & Culture Program Officer for the Ford Foundation in the Middle East and North Africa (1999-2003).  She founded Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (Culture Resource) in 2004, and co-founded the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) in 2006.

Basma El Husseiny is currently leading the organisation Action for Hope, an organization that works to protect and promote the cultural rights of marginalized communities, with a focus on the countries undergoing or emerging from conflict.  The organization is also leading “Landscapes of Hope”, a global civil society network that stimulates and supports collaboration among civil society actors and promotes the role of arts and culture in social change.   In October 2018, Basma won the UCLG Agenda21 for Culture International Award in Mexico City for her contribution to the relationship between culture and sustainable development.