Arianit "Niti" Shehu is NDI’s senior country director with Middle East and North Africa team and manages the Institute's programs in Jordan and Syria. Mr. Shehu is one of NDI’s leading experts on civil society strengthening, elections, parliamentary strengthening, and citizen-based advocacy programs. Mr. Shehu has designed, managed, and supported successful and innovative election and democracy assistance projects with NDI for the past 23 years in more than a dozen countries in Central Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Previously, Mr. Shehu managed the Institute’s civil society strengthening programs in Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Egypt, and West Bank and Gaza. In addition, Mr. Shehu served as a lead trainer and consultant for NDI programs in Bahrain, Lebanon, Macedonia, and Turkey. On behalf of the Institute, Mr. Shehu coordinated international election observation missions to Jordan, Albania, Egypt, and Lebanon, and participated in international missions to Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Yemen. Mr. Shehu is registered as an election expert with the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe (OSCE). Mr. Shehu has also worked closely with civil society leaders from Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia, and in 2001 assisted in establishing the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO). In the fall of 2002, Mr. Shehu worked on Martha Fuller Clark’s campaign for the United States Congress.

Prior to working with NDI, Mr. Shehu worked with the L.A. Times. He holds both a Master's of Business Administration and an engineering degree from the University of Prishtina. Mr. Shehu also served as a researcher with St. Andrew’s University in Great Britain and periodically lectures at Philadelphia and Al Bayt universities in Jordan.