Fellows

Abid is a mobilization, monitoring and evaluation professional, with five years of experience in the humanitarian and development sector of Pakistan. He holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur Sindh. Currently, he is working with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as a Social Mobilization (Team Lead) and District Focal Person in the Human Security Project, funded by UNTFHS. He is engaged in field operations, implementation, and as a liaison to the government and other stakeholders. He helped more than 2000 male and female farmers gain access to their social rights and maintain good relations with their landowners by signing tenancy agreements, along with economic development through on-farm and off-farm activities. His tenure helped develop his leadership, project management, rapport building and monitoring and evaluation skills. Beyond his skills and professionalism, he is very interested in youth empowerment through education and social entrepreneurship activities. He has voluntarily organized many sessions at schools in his vicinity to raise awareness for future opportunities for youth in education and development sector. Abid is an adventurous person, who loves to explore famous places, cultures, meet different people and learn new languages.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

Role at Host Organization: Abid will be supporting the Business Intelligence Function with research and analysis of the international development market to help inform strategic decisions. He will be conducting research on Creative’s competitors, partners, clients, and news sites to analyze where the market is and Creative’s advantages and potential opportunities.

Abida has four years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Peshawar in Pakistan. She has diverse work experience as a program support personnel in planning, monitoring, evaluation, research, reporting, and knowledge management. Abida has worked with host communities, internally dislocated people as well as with refugees, in development and emergency contexts. While working as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with the Sarhad Rural Support Program, she helped in providing social mobilization support to the Community Driven Local Development policy of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, under the funding of the EU. Abida has also helped in providing opportunities to the rural women of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in their homes, through the provision of skill development and microfinance trainings, under the AUSAID-funded livelihood strengthening project. Previously, Abida worked as a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting Officer with the Danish Refugee Council in Pakistan to support sustainable solutions for Afghan refugees living in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by creating livelihoods and improving general living conditions. Through these experiences, she has acquired strong monitoring and evaluations skills, which are applicable across different areas. Abida enjoys focusing on the topics of women empowerment, economic development, promotion of Civil Society Organizations and rural development.

Host Organization:  Empowered Women International

 Role at Host Organization: As EWI relies heavily on monitoring and evaluation of our program impacts for use in fundraising and communications with potential clients and donors, Abida will be helping shape the continued improvements to Monitoring & Evaluation by both assessing and updating the current systems, and researching & implementing a new Customer Relationship Management system by late 2016.

Agha Mohsin Ali has been working in the development sector since 2006 with National & International organizations including NRDP, WWOP, Youth in Action, UNDP, BBSA, CPEA Network and SEHER on different management positions. He earned a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan. While working with the National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) Pakistan in Islamabad as Manager, Program Planning and Partnership Development, he led overall fundraising, resource mobilization, program research, planning, and program development processes. During 10 years of experience he implemented, coordinated, and developed partnerships with major donor agencies like USAID, DFID, UK-aid, UNICEF, USAID, CIDA, UNICEF, UNDP, USIP and IOM. Agha has had in-depth experience in child rights, education, and youth empowerment in Pakistan. He worked to protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation as well as to provide access to education through establishment of child-friendly spaces and temporary learning centers in flood affected areas. He has provided child protection actors opportunity to interact, share their experiences and avoid any duplication of resources through the CPEA Network and 12 larger projects on education, child rights, democracy and nutrition. Over this period, he has developed skills in monitoring and evaluation, program development, program implementation, proposal writing and resource mobilization. He has also written different articles and blogs on child rights and education in different news sites like ARY Blogs, Hamari Web, Duniya News and The Nations News. Agha also participated in different national and international forums like the World Youth Conference, 2010 in Leon City, Mexico, where he was as a delegate.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

 Role at Host Organization: Agha will be assisting project staff with the development of an indicator database for a new evaluation project with the ExxonMobil Foundation. This project will be assessing the progress of client grantees in women’s economic empowerment on outcome indicators.

Arsalan is a development professional with nine years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He holds a Master’s degree in Statistics from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. His core functional and sector expertise include research, evaluations, program coordination and management, proposal writing / resource mobilization, microfinance, enterprise development, and post disaster recovery. He brings hands-on experience of managing donor funded projects for microfinance, enterprise development, livelihood, social mobilization, education, nutrition, and food security. He started his professional career in 2006 with National Rural Support Program (NRSP) when it launched the post earthquake operations in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. In a career spanning over 7 years, Arsalan, established the NRSP Microfinance portfolio and later introduced innovative micro loan products.

In 2009, he visited Thailand & Philippines for an ‘exposure cum learning visit’ to bring back learned lessons and new ideas for USAID/SBI funded Advancing Microfinance for Post-Disaster Economic Reconstruction (AMPER) project. In 2012, he was selected as one of the 15 fellows of the prestigious Emerging Leaders of Pakistan (ELP) program, launched by the South Asia Center of Atlantic Council, USA. The ELP program is aimed at creating an in-person and online networking forum for engagement and collaboration of civil society leaders from Pakistan. In 2013, Arsalan made a career move to development consulting and joined an international development consulting entity, where he lead the projects & partnerships development unit.

Host Organization: Disaster Accountability Project

Role at Host Organization: Arsalan will help DAP build relationships with civil society organizations (CSOs) and NGOs in the U.S. and globally, train representatives of CSOs and NGOs to complete SmartResponse surveys, manage aspects of SmartResponse program and development, and assist with outreach efforts to “disaster donors,” the media, student groups, and diaspora networks.

Kashmala has twelve years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She is an ACCA Finalist from ACCA, Pakistan. She also earned Masters in International Relations from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan. As Finance & Administration Manager with different organizations including Medecins Du Monde – France, Rural Development Policy Institute, Community World Service Asia, and Oxfam Novib she worked on budgeting, financial management, general accounting, and administrative tasks. During her tenure with Rural Development Policy Institute, she had the opportunity of working as a coordinating partner with Asia Peace Film Festival. Asia Peace Film Festival is a multi-country consortium aimed at promoting peace through cinema by curating film festivals. Two festivals have been organized so far in Pakistan, with more than 70 international delegates invited to participate in the festivals. Kashmala was the focal person for the finances, and the logistics of the event. While working with Medecins Du Monde she worked on a project funded by Operations Smile for acid survivors in Pakistan. During her work experience with different organizations, she worked on projects funded by USAID, ECHO, European Union, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, ACT Alliance, and British High Commission. She has extensive experience in budgeting, financial reporting to donors, and making variances analysis. One of her greatest strengths is her ability to work in accordance with Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) and Sphere. CWS nominated her to attend the training of financial management for nonprofit organizations organized by a British organization, MANGO. Through these experiences, she developed strong project financial management and implementation skills. Kashmala also enjoys focusing on the financial resource planning for organizations and she has strong passion for youth development.

Host Organization: Feedback Labs

Role at Feedback Labs At Feedback Labs, Kashmala will serve as the Finance & HR Fellow: supporting the growing organization’s management by developing long-term financial systems and processes.

Kamran Malik has 8 years of experience working in the non-profit sector. Kamran holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with two independent majors in Financial Management and Project Management. For the past 3 years, Kamran has been working with The Asia Foundation in Pakistan for improving and strengthening Human Rights in Pakistan. Kamran has played a key role in establishing a national network of 25 organizations to promote religious freedom and protection of rights in Pakistan. With an Undergraduate Degree in commerce, and a Diploma in cost and management accounting, Kamran started his career in the corporate sector. Driven by his passion towards establishing a fair and just society, Kamran left the lucrative corporate sector after four years and started working in the nonprofit sector. Over the past 8 years, Kamran has worked with several national and international nonprofits in Pakistan on issues including disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, post-disaster rehabilitation, health and hygiene, and protection of religious minorities in Pakistan.

Host Organization: CARE

Role at Host Organization: Kamran will be responsible for assisting with the financial management of advocacy department of CARE USA. In addition, he will assist with monitoring and reporting of international advocacy grants, and he will have the opportunity to learn about how CARE utilizes advocacy to help achieve its mission. Kamran will also support the women and girls lead global international advocacy program—an advocacy initiative that receives quarterly reports from offices in five countries.

Masoora has four years of nonprofit experience. Most recently, she was a program development officer in education for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) where she played a key role in improving the quality of education in different areas of Pakistan. Previous jobs have included working at a nonprofit dedicated to ending child sexual abuse and as a volunteer in a global exchange program, both in a rural Pakistani village and in the UK. Masoora has conducted many sessions voluntarily to promote volunteerism in Pakistan and aims to bring a positive reputation of her country through mobilizing the youth leadership in Pakistan. Through these experiences, she has developed managerial and analytical skills, along with strong aptitude for planning, implementing and coordinating various projects. She has broad knowledge of community development, child rights, volunteer management and youth issues in Pakistan. Masoora holds a postgraduate degree in defense and strategic studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan.

Host Organization: Asian American LEAD

Shamila has five years of volunteering experience in profit/non-profit sectors. She is Co-Project director of a mobile-based Tele-healthcare project called “Jaroka” which aims to provide affordable and accessible health-care to the rural communities. She is also serving as a faculty member at National University of Sciences and Technologies (NUST), where she is heading a Social Entrepreneurship Club (NSEC). She is founder of a sustainable Environmental Buddy (paper recycling) project and has been awarded fellowship at Foundation of Youth Social Entrepreneurs for her achievements in social sector. She is an honorary member of Special Talent Exchange (STEP) program and help to arrange vocational training sessions for disabled people. She worked closely with Zindagi Trust and CDRS as a volunteer for fund-raising activities. She has done Masters in the field of IT from University of East London, UK.

Host Organization: International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children