Walid Herzallah is an MPP candidate at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, focused on high-impact, evidence-driven interventions in international development. He’s interested in cash transfers, poor-friendly financial infrastructure and services, and the intersection between AI and development.

Before Yale, Walid was a senior manager at GiveDirectly, an NGO specializing in unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty. He coordinated between major funders and country teams to implement two of the organization’s largest programs in Rwanda and Malawi, including successfully leading the organization’s application to one of the world’s largest philanthropy prizes. He also led the launch of the organization’s first zakat fund in Yemen.

Previously, Walid worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Toronto, where he advised corporations and governments across a variety of industries including financial services, technology, natural resources, and private equity. While at Bain, he also completed a secondment with the Inclusive Financial Systems team at the Gates Foundation and led the development of a digital financial inclusion strategy for its East Africa portfolio.

Walid is a Palestinian-Canadian who was born in Abu Dhabi and raised in Toronto. He graduated summa cum laude from Queen’s University in Canada with a Bachelor of Commerce, writing his thesis on the feasibility of a federal guaranteed income scheme in Canada.