Pakistan

Faryal is a youth development and community engagement specialist with 7 years of working in the not-for-profit sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Mass Communication and is an IVLP alumnus of the Young Leaders: NGOs and Civic Activism program. As the Program Manager, Faryal manages Lincoln Corners (American Spaces) in Sindh, Peshawar, and Balochistan, where she supported the implementation of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurship (AWE), STEM workshops, entrepreneurship boot camps, digital storytelling for GBV & Climate Change workshops, and campaigns against gender-based violence facilitating over 2000 young women. She is passionate about exposing the youth of Pakistan to more opportunities and building their capacities through volunteering, networking, and skills development. Faryal has also worked as a communications and content development specialist at for-profit and not-for-profit organizations for 6 years, where she maximized the causes and built brands through social media campaigns, copywriting, and editorial content. Faryal volunteers with not-for-profit organizations and underserved schools to mentor teenagers in communications, resilience, dialogues, and active citizenship. She loves exploring new places, meeting new people, bonding over food, and making friends over tea.

Host Organization: Generation

Role at Host Organization: As a SAMEA Strategy Fellow, Faryal will be a strategic thought partner and force multiplier to the Region COO. This is an exciting year for Generation’s growth for Kenya, India, Pakistan, and their newly-launched Ghana program, and the Fellow will focus on supporting key innovations (e.g. freelancing), regional strategy development, and country launch support in Ghana.

Shakir has over 5 years of experience in the non-profit sector of Pakistan. He has expertise in case management, communication, monitoring, evaluation, and research. He holds a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University International in The United Kingdom. He worked at the Silver Jubilee Development Agency Pakistan (SJDAP) as a caseworker & mentor with ultra-poor families on their socio-economic upliftment. He worked with families on 7 quality of life indicators, i.e., education, health, livelihood, nutrition, habitat, access to finance, and community inclusion. He has facilitated 15 families through numerous interventions and has acquired micro loans of approximately 02 million PKR for them. Earlier, he was associated with the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF) as an M&E and communication officer. He overlooked 77 social action projects to assess and report their output, outcome, and impact. Before that, he worked with the Basic Education for Awareness Reforms and Empowerment/Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), an Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) on the ‘Capacity Building for Civil Society’ project with DAI and USAID, where he assisted in the data collection, reporting, management and designing of M&E tools. He has also studied the ‘Conflict and Development’ module from the Open University (UK), where he has analysed various conflicts through the conflict analysis framework and participated in a mock conflict negotiation simulation. Additionally, he has spent significant time volunteering for community schools, libraries, and welfare boards as a mentor, educator, and management personnel, where he gained project coordination and project management skills. Working in conflict, education, and social development contexts has honed his critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, rapport building, and monitoring and evaluation skills. Besides his professional and voluntary endeavours, Shakir loves sports and exploring new cultures.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Business Planning Analyst Fellow, Shakir will be part of the Quality, Data and Learning team and will support planning, analysis, data visualization, and reporting functions for both the American Red Cross International Services Department (ISD) and the Service to the Armed Forces/International Services (SAF/IS) Department. Shakir will help senior leaders’ decision-making by providing accurate data, helping to identify trends and effective comparatives, analyzing key performance indicators, and creating data visualization and other reporting materials. The Fellow will bring expertise in business analysis, planning, and performance management concepts and a willingness to learn new systems and applications. Shakir’s contribution will allow the Business Planning team to provide superior reporting, analytics, and planning support.

Faryal is a youth development and community engagement specialist with 7 years of working in the not-for-profit sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Mass Communication and is an IVLP alumnus of the Young Leaders: NGOs and Civic Activism program. As the Program Manager, Faryal manages Lincoln Corners (American Spaces) in Sindh, Peshawar, and Balochistan, where she supported the implementation of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurship (AWE), STEM workshops, entrepreneurship boot camps, digital storytelling for GBV & Climate Change workshops, and campaigns against gender-based violence facilitating over 2000 young women. She is passionate about exposing the youth of Pakistan to more opportunities and building their capacities through volunteering, networking, and skills development. Faryal has also worked as a communications and content development specialist at for-profit and not-for-profit organizations for 6 years, where she maximized the causes and built brands through social media campaigns, copywriting, and editorial content. Faryal volunteers with not-for-profit organizations and underserved schools to mentor teenagers in communications, resilience, dialogues, and active citizenship. She loves exploring new places, meeting new people, bonding over food, and making friends over tea.

Host Organization: Generation

Role at Host Organization: As a SAMEA Strategy Fellow, Faryal will be a strategic thought partner and force multiplier to the Region COO. This is an exciting year for Generation’s growth for Kenya, India, Pakistan, and their newly-launched Ghana program, and the Fellow will focus on supporting key innovations (e.g. freelancing), regional strategy development, and country launch support in Ghana.

Shakir has over 5 years of experience in the non-profit sector of Pakistan. He has expertise in case management, communication, monitoring, evaluation, and research. He holds a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from Aga Khan University International in The United Kingdom. He worked at the Silver Jubilee Development Agency Pakistan (SJDAP) as a caseworker & mentor with ultra-poor families on their socio-economic upliftment. He worked with families on 7 quality of life indicators, i.e., education, health, livelihood, nutrition, habitat, access to finance, and community inclusion. He has facilitated 15 families through numerous interventions and has acquired micro loans of approximately 02 million PKR for them. Earlier, he was associated with the Family Educational Services Foundation (FESF) as an M&E and communication officer. He overlooked 77 social action projects to assess and report their output, outcome, and impact. Before that, he worked with the Basic Education for Awareness Reforms and Empowerment/Basic Education for Afghan Refugees (BEFARe), an Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) on the ‘Capacity Building for Civil Society’ project with DAI and USAID, where he assisted in the data collection, reporting, management and designing of M&E tools. He has also studied the ‘Conflict and Development’ module from the Open University (UK), where he has analysed various conflicts through the conflict analysis framework and participated in a mock conflict negotiation simulation. Additionally, he has spent significant time volunteering for community schools, libraries, and welfare boards as a mentor, educator, and management personnel, where he gained project coordination and project management skills. Working in conflict, education, and social development contexts has honed his critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, rapport building, and monitoring and evaluation skills. Besides his professional and voluntary endeavours, Shakir loves sports and exploring new cultures.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: As a Business Planning Analyst Fellow, Shakir will be part of the Quality, Data and Learning team and will support planning, analysis, data visualization, and reporting functions for both the American Red Cross International Services Department (ISD) and the Service to the Armed Forces/International Services (SAF/IS) Department. Shakir will help senior leaders’ decision-making by providing accurate data, helping to identify trends and effective comparatives, analyzing key performance indicators, and creating data visualization and other reporting materials. The Fellow will bring expertise in business analysis, planning, and performance management concepts and a willingness to learn new systems and applications. Shakir’s contribution will allow the Business Planning team to provide superior reporting, analytics, and planning support.

Mamoona Sarwar earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Punjab in 2015. Four years later, Mamoona earned a Master’s degree in Urdu from the University of Gujrat. Meanwhile, She also had the opportunity to experience teaching in different private schools & colleges for about nine years, and after that, she became a principal at “The future Montessori school Gujrat”, where she currently works.
She serves as a managing director, teacher, trainer, and Career counselor at the future Montessori school. She has experience taking part in different social projects, training, and research activities. Mamoona has been working to educate the children since 2010, first, she started educating poor children free of cost at home in her spare time in the evening but later on a coaching center “The future academy” requested her to join them as a teacher and trainer in2018. she accepted this request and she is still there While working in this academy, she prepared various training for students and faculty members. Additionally, Mamoona provided training for students and youngsters, to let them find their goals, carrier, and jobs, or create their own. As the Project Coordinator, she has been running a carrier counseling program at the future academy since 2020. Besides this, she provided counseling services and training for teachers, parents, and students to solve their issues. Lastly, she also provides a workshop on ” can I…? ” since August 2020

Tahir Kamran, from Chiniot, Pakistan, is currently working as a lead trainer at Quaid E Azam Educational Academy Lahore. He holds a Ph.D. degree with a specialization in (numerical solutions of PDEs, computational fluid mechanics, numerical methods, mathematical fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer) from Government College University Faisalabad. He has nine published research articles in international journals while 20 research articles are in the process of publication in different journals. He has more than 10 years of experience in Fluid Mechanics as he has been teaching it for 12 years. He is the author of four books. He is a 22-time award recipient for being Best Teacher and Best Master Trainer. He has two years of management experience at Ranjha Hostel and Academy. His hobby of reading books makes him a critical thinker and keen observer. As a professional, he has a combination of valuable skills in project coordination, analytics, and research, which makes him more efficient. In addition, he has recognized expertise in critical thinking and is a communicative colleague with keen attention to detail and accuracy. During his studies at university, he has worked as a research assistant and has polished his talents. He has also developed good skills in science communication, which can facilitate him to disseminate research findings scientifically in journals, workshops, and conferences as well as in public.

Shahzad Akram is a human rights advocate having extraordinary research work done in accountability laws at the Punjab University, Lahore. He got his post-secondary education from GCU Lahore and graduated with LLB Hon’s from Punjab University Law College and further continued his LLM constitutional law from the postgraduate school of legal studies. He had served many governmental and non-governmental organizations. His last job experience was working as a content creator in techno-ventures where he was entitled to draft legal and other academic documents for clients primarily from the U.S. Likewise, he has served the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau of the government of Punjab in the same capacity where his primary task was to prepare documentation for destitute children. He kickstarted his legal career by being an intern in the bureau where he was engaged to draft and proofread documents. Further, he served as an educational volunteer in an NGO where his responsibility was to take compliance with all the educational developments of the Kashmir orphans relief trust (KORT), the largest orphanage in South Asia, and advise the London office on the applicability of local laws. He is a multi-tasked person who loves to work out of his domain too. Following the same principle, he served the official social media team of the last Pakistani premier as campaign manager and prepared an election manifesto for the 2018 general elections. Last but not the least, he is also a vigilant person of society and had extensive study and know-how of its structure.

Nayyar Abbas has participated in foreign academic programs, online leadership courses, internships, and community development activities. He participated in community service with the Rotary Club and arranged events while working as a research associate for the Lucas Economic Society during his junior year of college. He began his professional career as a financial executive for a financial firm, where he offered clients market research and financial understanding. In his second job as a research officer, he developed research procedures and handled data collection. During his Master’s internship, he worked in the Parliamentary Sustainable Development Goals Secretariat in the National Assembly of Pakistan. He assisted with research on Pakistan Vision 2025 (a comprehensive road map to achieve SDGs). He has started volunteering for Students for Liberty. Through this opportunity, he was able to take courses and attend seminars and conferences. At Students for Liberty, he oversees and helps with marketing, research, and communication. By applying for different programs around the world, he successfully secured an opportunity to study the Fund for American Study’s Prague program at Charles University. He was given the Prometheus Fellowship, where he worked with professionals who taught and coached him in professional and leadership abilities. He is the district coordinator at Interactive Research and Development and supervises the implementation and execution of the school-based deworming program in Islamabad. Nayyar loves to travel, read, and meet new people. He is planning to start his Ph.D. in political science in 2023.

Nimrah Perveen is a software engineer. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Maths & Physics and is pursuing her Master’s degree in Mass Communication. She is the Founder and CEO of the startup KleanArth. She is working as a Web and blockchain developer in the business incubation center, PITB. She has maintained a full scholarship during her bachelor’s. Her project got selected for the Prime Minister Youth Innovation Award 2023 and its training Bootcamp at UET, Lahore. She has done her first International Leadership program at University College Cork, Ireland. She was also a team leader in the entrepreneurship program at Saarland University, Germany. She has completed an Introduction to Leadership course from Wedu, Bangkok. Nimrah is a part of Your Big Year Organization, Social Shifters Incubation Program, IOC Young Leaders Program of the International Olympic Committee. She is the Ambassador at NetMission Academy, Hong Kong, and the Kectil Program, and is a Young Leader at Atlas Corps and Aspire Leadership Institute 2023. Her project was selected as a startup under the NEP of NIC. She completed her Game Development course at Michigan State University, USA. She has attended many seminars organized by AWS, Google, Microsoft, ASEF, etc. She has participated in hackathons like Appathon by TIE University, Heckfest by Remote base, AI by LABLAB, etc. She also participated in a hackathon at the 23rd Summer University ASEF, Singapore. She is a Student Brand Ambassador at the State Bank of Pakistan. She has strong skills in graphic designing, digital marketing, SEO, freelancing, MOS, entrepreneurship, drawing, etc.

Wardah Iftikhar, with a Master of Science in Gender and Women Studies, is a staunch believer in women’s empowerment and thinks that women are the catalyst of socio-economic change in any society. She is currently leading the project Fostering Critical Thinking and Entrepreneurship Skills in Young Women for Gender Inclusive Socio-Economic Development which works with four public sector female universities in Pakistan to train the students on social cohesion, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and economic empowerment. She has provided consultancy to UNICEF Pakistan on social protection and gender-responsive programming, which includes advocacy for public financing for children and capacity building of MoPDR for district-level SDG scorecards. She has worked extensively with the SDG Secretariat at the National Assembly of Pakistan to conceptualize, develop and lead the work plan for the Secretariat with close coordination with PMU, donors, parliamentarians, and standing committees. She is part of the Community Engagement Exchange Program selection committee for the last three years, where she helps select global civil society community members to undergo training in the US. Wardah is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on women in politics and civil society whereby she explored practices in promoting women’s contributions to social and political affairs and examined legal, regulatory, and policy issues. She was also awarded Emerging Young Women Leader’s Award supported by the Australian High Commission. With her work at ‘Women Can Do,’ she has traveled to 20 districts of Pakistan and has worked with more than 5,000 women from women’s universities and seminaries to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Umer Farooq says that he never gives up on life. Despite initial difficulties, he ended up gaining a degree from a well-respected university. He later went on to become the founding member of Rab Raziq Foundation and a winner of Hostel Fiesta. In his professional life, he adopts a growth mindset. Beyond his academic and professional experiences, he is confident about his leadership and communication skills. The best thing he likes about himself is his ability to work under stress. In parallel with his engineering degree, he has offered the services of a virtual assistant at Amazon. Right now, he works as a Product Research Executive at Leverify.

Ubaid Ullah is a results-driven business leader with over nine years of experience in building and scaling businesses from scratch. He is passionate and committed to leveraging technology and entrepreneurship for social development. He is an influential thought leader and nationally recognized speaker at events such as USAID, UNDP, KPIC, Eventify, and TEDx. His recent experience in one of the highest leadership positions in the public sector has given him an added understanding of how to engage different stakeholders from government and developmental partners efficiently and effectively. He has led the team Darewro and has made it one of the most successful businesses in the region. He spearheaded DIPL and secured five grants worth 41 million USD in the year 2020-21. Ubaid has a wider arena of working with leading corporate sector companies and prestigious institutions in Pakistan such as working with GlaxoSmithKline. Later on, he joined Darewro as marketing manager and has worked to give it nationwide recognition. In the meantime, he has worked with the Center for Excellence in Islamic Finance as a marketing manager and planned and executed many activities. Currently, he is serving the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as an advisor in public-private partnerships.