Hoda Baraka, Ph.D.

Dr. Baraka is the First Deputy to the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology. She is a member of the Education Committee of the National Democratic Party, member of Strategic Council for UN-Global Alliance for Information Technology Development, WEF/UNESCO Partnership for Education Technical Advisory Group on Capacity Development and WEF Global Agenda Council for Technologies in Education.

With twenty five years of extensive experience in the field of IT, particularly in information systems analysis, design, automation project management, planning and team organization in different governmental sectors, Dr. Baraka has successfully managed the implementation of several national ICT for Development initiatives in the fields of education, e-administration, e-health, Arabic digital content and Land Registration systems. Complementing her ICT experience, Dr. Baraka spearheaded a number of strategic Public Private Partnerships and better known as an expert in policies' development and planning of ICT4D, ICT projects' implementation, monitoring and evaluation and human resources development.

Dr. Baraka is also the Director of Egypt ICT Trust Fund since 2002, a mechanism created between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the United Nations Development Program to promote the use of ICT for Development. Since 2002, her focus is primarily to research new innovative ICT-based solutions in the area of education, community empowerment, and building the knowledge society. Smart Schools Network, ICT for Illiteracy Eradication, Mobile ICT Unit, Community Knowledge Generation e-Library, Community Development Portal, and ICT4SMEs are examples of projects successfully implemented through Egypt ICT Trust Fund..

In 2003, she was appointed Director of ICT in Education program. In 2006, she was chosen as the Director for the Egyptian Education Initiative, in addition to leading the ICT-in-education activities for 100 schools project as a member of Heliopolis Association.

In addition to this, Dr. Baraka is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt. She regularly speaks at national and international conferences addressing information technology, e-content, e-learning, networking, databases and software engineering issues. Moreover, Dr. Baraka has published more than 50 research papers in local, international journals, and international conferences in the areas of computer engineering and networks.

Dr. Baraka has been awarded the 2008 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa prize for the use of ICTs in Education. This prize comes in recognition for her contribution in the development and enhancement of education in Egypt using ICT for the year 2008.

Recently, several projects under Dr. Baraka’s management have received international recognition, an example of which is the Women Healthcare Mobile Units Project implemented within the scope of activities of the National Campaign for Early Detection of Breast Cancer. This project has won the 2009 Technology In Government in Africa Award for improved health services through the use of information and communication technology.