Arwa Hassan, 1991

Arwa Hassan read Modern and Medieval Languages at Clare, with a year's scholarship at Heidelberg University, and an MA from Warwick after graduation. She lives mainly in Berlin, where for 18 years she worked for the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, and is now at the International Development Agency of the German Government (GIZ).

Who was your greatest Clare influence and why?

It is hard to choose just one person but I am going to select Dr Philip Ford, who interviewed me and who was always generous-spirited, thoughtful, kind and could see beyond the surface of things. I remember that in the interview he gave me a poem by the French poet Baudelaire to comment on and asked me what the similarities were between wine and poetry. And although I don’t drink alcohol, I reflected for a moment and said “Well, I suppose that they are both methods people use to escape reality” and he laughed and I imagined that was the moment I won him over.

Arwa's Story

Looking back on who made an impression on us when we were at Clare, I would also like to mention the porters, particularly Terry and Roy, who were a source of continuity and reliability for many students. I had often misplaced my keys and went to them for the master key.  I remember Terry saying to me “Miss Hassan, you are an habitual offender”, which always made me laugh, because I was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a troublemaker. I think that the porters thrived on a little creative melodrama, without which there would not have been so many anecdotes to recount.

I was born in the year that Clare started admitting women, so I have reached my own 50^th year at the same time that the college is celebrating this anniversary. For the newer generations reading this, I think it is important to mention that we were at Clare before the internet actively became a part of life. And I don’t feel that we were any worse off for it. Essays were written by hand, nobody had their own computer, and mobile phones were not yet part of reality. It also meant that our entertainment revolved around the friendships we made (rather than looking at a screen), and many winter evenings spent in each other’s rooms, sharing food and stories. I am full of gratitude for the fact that we were able to experience Clare College and Cambridge at this time, and I often wonder what my experience would have been like, had I been at Clare five or ten years later.

 Many of my fellow students were applying for jobs with management consultancies, in the city or similar. I knew that wasn’t for me, but I didn’t have a clear plan at the time, other than my wish to remain in Cambridge and stay in academia. I remember at one formal dinner being asked by Natural Scientist Dr Foster what my plan after graduation was and I said “Well, I would like to stay at Cambridge for ever and ever until I die”, and he laughed and said “That’s a good plan- that’s also what I’m aiming for”. However, due to a variety of circumstances and then through a series of coincidences (although of course, there are no coincidences in life), I ended up in Berlin in the Autumn of 1998 as a press officer for the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International at the Secretariat. With my background in French and Arabic, I was given the responsibility for the Middle East North Africa region. The organisation grew at a rapid pace gaining funding and expanding programmes in that part of the world.

 As part of the Modern and Medieval Languages Degree I had taken papers in Modern Middle East History and Arabic linguistics, which later proved helpful to me in my career, and being of Middle East origin (although born and brought up in London), I already had some background knowledge. However, it was still a case of being thrown in at the deep end when it came to the kind of hands-on work that we were doing at Transparency International. I think one of my first business trips in the late 1990s was to Lebanon, Morocco and Jordan, with a vague brief/ instruction to reach out to interlocutors and partners trying to combat corruption in their respective countries. Many times throughout my working life, being in an unconventional field, travelling to sometimes difficult environments and having to rely on my own wits and talents, I would say that the challenge of the Modern and Medieval Languages Degree and the level of self-organisation that you needed to have was a good preparation.

 I spent the next 18 years with Transparency International, working in and with the Arab world, with governments, civil society but also the private sector- raising awareness, supporting and helping mobilise those trying to combat corruption and improve governance systems in their countries.

 In 2016, I left Transparency International and went to the GIZ to head the programme Good Governance Yemen. The war, which was later to emerge as a protracted and drawn-out conflict, was already well under way and my staff were working hard to support what governance efforts were still possible, since even when some state structures had collapsed, there was still a lot that could be done.

 The more time I have spent in different countries, the more I realise that people all over the world working actively for a better future are all wanting similar things- to be able to earn a living with dignity, to be able to live and thrive in peaceful environments where their rights are secure, and to offer their children a future better than that which they have experienced themselves. Returning to the subject of influences, when I look back on my time at Clare and how it fits in to the rest of my career, I see how important and inspirational good teachers, mentors, leaders and managers can be and what an impact they can have on your life. I was fortunate enough to have met many motivational figures during my career and I think that my time at Clare helped me appreciate dedication and those striving for excellence, even under difficult circumstances.

 I would like to dedicate this to my mother, who passed away in October of 2022 and who was perhaps my greatest cheerleader, mentor and supporter.