Research
For over 20 years, ALLMEP’s research and analysis activities have been at the core of all of our work — to inform and educate key stakeholders about building support for peace from the bottom-up, to engage with policymakers and philanthropists, to amplify peacebuilders’ inspiring voices and work, and to strengthen and coordinate projects in the field.
In 2024, ALLMEP established a new research department, headed by Dr. Natali Levin Schwartz, to enhance these efforts and generate robust data to fuel our advocacy, communications, and member services. Moreover, all of this research will help feed the peacebuilding field and diplomatic community with the insights and fresh data that can ensure programs and investments reach their full potential. This new department comes at a moment when the stakes– and opportunity for shaping new emerging dynamics– have never been greater.
Research Areas
In recent years, we’ve intensified these research activities, resulting in a broadening knowledge base on subjects related to peacebuilding, including:
- How peacebuilding works
- Measuring and expanding its impact
- Opportunities for strategic investments
- Role of women in peacebuilding
- Role of alumni as leaders and constituents for peace
- How global and regional policies impact civil society
- Lessons from other conflicts, which civil society helped resolve
- Understanding the impact of trauma in peacebuilding work
- How attitudes are shifting and changeable on the ground
- Using AI and new technologies in peacebuilding
Recently Added Research
Research Team
Avi Meyerstein
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Avi Meyerstein is the founder and president of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). Starting in 2003, Avi brought together dozens of NGOs to build an umbrella coalition that would significantly expand resources, scale up Israeli-Palestinian grassroots partnerships, and create a growing, interconnected community of peacebuilders.
ALLMEP’s advocacy strategies initially supported over $130 million in annual U.S. funding for Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding. Avi also developed and launched the initiative to create an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. ALLMEP’s global campaign to create that fund led to the bipartisan passage of the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act of 2020 (MEPPA), which provides $250 million for joint economic and people-to-people partnerships.
Avi has led ALLMEP through several stages of growth and organizational development and is actively involved in its strategy, operations, and advocacy. In 2021-22, he is working on the ground with ALLMEP, its members, and other key stakeholders to help prepare the field for large-scale growth.
Avi is a former national law firm partner and a business co-founder. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Georgetown University Law Center. He recently returned from a year of living in Israel, where, while serving as a Fulbright Global Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Mitvim Institute, he spent most of his time working with ALLMEP’s NGO members, funders, and policymakers to prepare to leverage the moment created around MEPPA. He and his family live in the Greater Washington area.
Wasim Almasri
Director of Programs
Wasim is a third-generation Palestinian refugee, born and raised between Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. He studied Information Technology in Chicago and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Al-Quds University in Ramallah, where he focused on governance and institutional development.
With over a decade of experience in cross-border and civil society work, Wasim specializes in grassroots mobilization, alumni networks, and leadership program development. He began his career in Gaza with the International Committee of the Red Cross and later worked with civil society organizations and international institutions in Ramallah to promote democracy and transparency within the Palestinian Authority.
Before joining the ALLMEP team, Wasim served as the Director of Communications for the OneVoice Movement in Palestine, where he led strategic initiatives to enhance local and international engagement. Currently, Wasim contributes his expertise to the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), spearheading innovative programs that foster collaboration, resilience, and transformative peacebuilding in the region.
Wasim lives with his family in Ramallah, where he enjoys cooking and unwinding with Blues music.
Natali Levin-Schwartz
Director of Impact & Policy Research
Natali is the Director of Impact and Policy Research for the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). In this role, she develops and executes research initiatives that inform policy decisions, enhance peacebuilding efforts, and educate diverse stakeholders about the impact of peacebuilding programs.
Before joining ALLMEP, Natali completed her PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz, focusing on the practice of testimony and the role of civil society in responding to sexual violence. She mentored and taught undergraduate students in courses about social justice, theories of social change, and critical political theory. During her time there, she also worked in the Title IX office to improve sexual violence and harassment policies and prevention programs on campus. Natali also holds an MA in Political Science from Tel Aviv University, where she studied the ethical and political implications of witnessing the injustices of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and co-created a comprehensive program to support Arab Israeli students in the department.
Born in Russia, raised in Israel, and now based in the U.S., Natali is fluent in English, Russian, and Hebrew, and she loves cooking Russian and Mediterranean food to feel connected to her roots.
Avraham Spraragen
Research & Writing Assistant
Avraham Spraragen is a Research and Writing Assistant at the Alliance for Middle East Peace. He graduated with Distinction in December 2021 from Cornell University, with a major in Government and a double minor in Near Eastern Studies and History. Avraham holds certificates in “Israel and Middle East Studies” from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in “Middle East and Conflict Studies” from Tel Aviv University. He is a lifelong Hebrew speaker and has studied Arabic in Amman, Jordan and Rabat, Morocco. Avraham also serves as a Policy Associate at the J Street Policy Center, a Board Member at Partners for Progressive Israel, and as a Naomi Chazan Global Activism Fellow at the New Israel Fund. He is currently pursuing an M.A. Arab Studies degree at Georgetown School of Foreign Service and a J.D. degree at Georgetown University Law Center.
