Mariam Jemila Zahari is a Policy Specialist at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a network of more than 100 central banks and ministries of finance, and other financial regulatory institutions from developing and emerging economies who are advancing financial inclusion within their jurisdictions.

She is in charge of AFI’s workstream on the financial inclusion of forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), where she works with central banks and ministries of finance on their policies and strategies to financially include stateless persons, refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons and other FDPs. She also oversees AFI’s workstream on Inclusive Financial Integrity which is concerned with the proportionate application of global AML/CFT standards to advance financial inclusion, and AFI’s wider engagement with global Standard Setting Bodies (SSBs).

Before joining AFI, Mariam worked in the humanitarian sector, managing disaster response and risk reduction country projects and global advocacy for the Asia-Pacific region covering Myanmar, Nepal, and the Philippines. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Politics and International Studies from the University of Melbourne.