Mr. Suhail Awan is a senior international development and humanitarian leader with over two decades of experience across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. His work lies at the intersection of policy, partnerships, and delivery, with a particular focus on forced displacement, early recovery, livelihoods, resilience, and area-based development in fragile and complex settings. He has held senior leadership and advisory roles with the United Nations, including UNHCR and UNDP, where he has contributed to strategy formulation, resource mobilization, and the oversight of large multi-sector programs in close collaboration with governments, international financial institutions, bilateral donors, foundations, and civil society.

Mr. Awan's experience spans the full program cycle, from policy design and investment structuring to operational delivery, compliance, monitoring, and adaptive management. Currently, he leads UNDP Sudan's private sector development portfolio. Prior to this, he was based at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, where he served as Strategic Partnership Advisor for UNHCR.

Over a 28-year international development career, he has led country programs and major organizations in senior roles, including Country Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director, and Chief Technical Advisor. He has worked closely with national and sub-national governments, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, international organizations, and private sector partners to align policy, financing, and delivery.

Across his career, Mr. Awan has been recognised for his ability to bridge strategy and execution, translating political commitments and partnerships into programs that are operationally feasible, financially sound, and results-driven. He brings a pragmatic leadership style grounded in systems thinking, diplomacy, and a strong commitment to inclusive, locally anchored development. His areas of expertise include multilateralism, the political economy of development and humanitarian financing, geo-strategies shaping regional economic futures, and international development.

Mr. Awan's association with the GPS Forum as the Senior Fellow adds value to the Forum's work on development, humanitarian resilience, partnerships, and policy-oriented engagement with international institutions, governments, and the broader development community.