Karima Rhanem was born in Rabat city, the capital of Morocco. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Languages & Communications Studies from the Institute for Leadership and Communication Studies (2000–2003), Higher University Education Degree in Governance and Public policy from Mohammed V University of Rabat (2011–2013) and Master of Arts in Journalism, communication & media relations from Paris School of Journalism – ESJ Paris (2018–2019).
She also holds several certifications in project management, digital marketing, leadership, cyber security awareness, development outreach, and communication and advocacy in addition to foreign aid management. She is the president of the International Center for Diplomacy(ICD), CEO of Africa My Home and co-founder of the African Network of Youth Policy Experts.
Karima Rhanem started her career as a full-time journalist and managing editor at Morocco Times (2003-2006), development outreach and communication specialist at USAID/Morocco (2006-2014) and Advocacy specialist at Counterpart International (2015-2018) andfreelance journalist at Morocco World News. She is currently the Senior Managing Editor in charge of North Africa of The New Africa Magazine
In the past 5 years, Ms. Rhanem has managed to assist CSOs in developing more than 60 development and advocacy projects and contributed to evaluating more than 250 projects in Morocco, in the MENA region and the rest of African countries, many of which are gender-related projects. She has provided capacity building to more than 4000 actors in 4 continents including civil society, government officials, members of parliament and elected bodies as well as political parties in addition to youth and women leaders.
She has also been a member of several consultative commissions, including the Government of Morocco National Commission on the Dialogue on Civil Society and Constitutional Prerogatives to lead a nationwide dialogue with civil society to develop legislation for CSOs legal enabling environment and promote civic and democratic participation. She was also a jury member of King Abdullah II Award for Youth Innovation and Achievement. Karima Rhanem was also a jury memberof the Initiators program at the invitation of the Egyptian Ministry of Youth & Sports within the framework of Egypt presidency of the African Union
She has organized several high-level conferences with partners such as The Pan African Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (PALEDEC) and Helpline Foundation for the Needy Abuja. She hosted the Pan African Humanitarian Summit and Awards in 2018 in Rabat Morocco, bringing 200 leaders from 42 African countries, and the Africa Women Conference in Marrakech in 2019, bringing more than 150 women leaders from different African Countries. She also contributed to the organization of the 6th edition of the Pan African Humanitarian & Investment Summit in Istanbul Turkey, in 2021 as a Global Program Manager. She has also contributed to organizing important conferences in several African countries, playing a pivotal role in guiding win win partnership and ensuring that Pan African Investment remains at the center of the regional and global agenda to enhance fair, equal, and sustainable development in Africa.
During Covid19 Outbreak, she worked to turn the crisis to an opportunity to build the capacity of youth while initiating more than 80 online activities, bringing more than 100 experts to examine the impact of the Pandemic on the socio-economic conditions of Africans and volunteered to coach several youth to be more resilient during crisis time.
She is fluent in Arabic, French, and English. She also speaks average Spanish and basic Turkish