Fellows

Ali Zain Ul Abidin has more than 5 years of diverse experience in human resources, talent management, and capacity development of youth in for-profit and non-profit sectors. Ali earned his Master’s in Management Sciences from Baluchistan University of IT, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), a leading public sector university, in Quetta, Pakistan. Ali has worked with BUITEMS, closely engaging with local, national, and international stakeholders for promoting employability. In this capacity, Ali has developed a talent pool of graduates from a diverse range of academic disciplines, assessed their profiles, and referred outstanding and qualified profiles to employers for jobs, training, and internships. Ali is also proficient in mentoring students for personal and professional career development. As Talent Coordinator Fellow at Partnership with Chldren, Ali assists the Chief Equity Officer and Talent and Equity Manager in managing talent acquisition goals, overseeing the PWC school intern program, and involves himself in overall performance management. He has also worked as HR Executive with a multinational logistics corporation (TCS Holdings), leading the Baluchistan Region, and Ali extended his expertise in talent acquisition and HR operations. Through these experiences, Ali has gained a firm grip on youth capacity building, peer education, HR operations, and management. He is avidly interested in broadening his perspectives on HR international practices, leadership, capacity development, talent acquisition, job training, and civic engagement.

Host Organization: Partnership with Children

Role at Host Organization: As the Talent Coordinator Fellow at Partnership with Children, Ali will assist the Chief Equity Officer and Talent and Equity Manager in managing talent acquisition goals, overseeing the PWC school intern program, and the overall performance management. The Fellow’s responsibilities include developing and implementing a strategic recruitment plan; facilitatig the hiring process for all program and administrative roles; and ccordinating and managing intakes for all new opportunities. The Fellow will also prepare and support managers to facilitate performance management process, including an annual review and goal setting; and support managers in addressing performance issues in conjunction with the Director of Human Resources.

Asim has nine years of experience in research, big data analytics, program design, and monitoring and evaluation of diverse community development projects that focus on women entrepreneurship and health interventions. He earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology in Pakistan and pursued his P.hD. from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He recently worked in the capacity of research and evaluation for Entrepreneurship Beyond Boundaries project where he developed standard operating procedures and evaluated the pilot intervention in Malaysia. Previously, Asim has worked with Marie Stopes International for UKAID funded project and managed the Franchise Live Application for Monitoring and Evaluation, conducting Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research. Additionally, Asim has monitored the 18-months quasi-experimental research study to empower the women in rural settings as part of the behavior change communication strategy, and small-scale community action research projects using the comic power, photovoice and participatory reflection and analysis tools. Asim has a keen interest in working with the development sector organizations on entrepreneurial ecosystem development and system improvement via big data analytics to help marginalized communities.

Host Organization: PYXERA Global

Role at Host Organization: Working directly with senior staff conducting research and providing analysis on existing client engagements, Asim while helping to create processes and improvements to S.I.s operations and services. He will also conduct landscape assessments for existing client deliverables while building a consistent platform to ensure quality and efficiency.

Aziz Ullah has four year of experience in learning and development, entrepreneurship, business development and public speaking; working with non-profit and for profit both in private and public sector. He earned an MBA from National University of Modern Languages Pakistan, and B.Sc Civil Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar Pakistan. He is a certified trainer from School of Leadership Pakistan and has earned multiple
national and international certifications. As an Acumen fellow Pakistan, he is working on creating sustainable solutions to enable the graduates from unprivileged areas receive training, improve their entrepreneurial and employability skills to be socially and economically stable and live a better life. Aziz has for four years of experience as a Co-Founder and CEO for the Center for Awareness Training and Development Pakistan, which is a training and management consultancy working with public and private sector to develop market needs based skills in individuals and employees, promote entrepreneurship and build capacity of startups and entrepreneurs, and fill the skill gap between job sector and academia. As a trainer, learning and development profession, he helps people and organizations reach their goals and perform with greater impact. Aziz Ullah facilitates learning programs nationally and internationally for corporate, nonprofits, academia and youth to enrich their leadership values, employee efficiency, team performance and creativity and entrepreneurship skills. He has designed and delivered
professional training modules & courses for 30 + local, national and international organizations during the past four years and has facilitated more than two hundreds learning programs, workshops and training conferences. Aziz has akeen interest is working with non-profit and for profit sector on promoting and developing entrepreneurial ecosystem, capacity building of graduates, startups, entrepreneurs and employees to help organization and individual be more effective, more efficient and more productive in creating greater impact with the work they do.

Host Organization: The Resolution Project

Role at Host Organization: Aziz will learn about and map Resolution’s 100 existing social entrepreneurship ecosystem partners (known as Pathway Partners) and plan a new activation framework for Pathway Partners through a public-facing online platform.

Hafsah Sarfraz is a development communication professional and a freelance journalist from Islamabad, Pakistan. She has a seven-year experience of journalism has covered social issues, women’s and children issues, education, life & style, and art & culture extensively for leading English newspapers of Pakistan. Hafsah has also reported for The Express Tribune, partner of The International New York Times. As a communications professional, she has worked for USAID’s Public Outreach and Communication Activity for M&C Saatchi World Services, a global London based advertising firm. Through this experience, she developed strong communication skills, storytelling, and digital media skills. She was awarded for her continued resourcefulness, proactive teamwork to highlight USAID’s work through storytelling using print publications and digital media. She has also led the communications for USAID Advancing Girls’ Education and Skills at World Learning, an international nonprofit organization that focuses on international development, education, and exchange programs. Hafsah is a graduate of the Queen Mary University of London. She is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum. Hafsah likes to travel, tell stories, photograph and indulge in delicious food.

Host Organization: Cultural Vistas

Role at Cultural Vistas At Cultural Vistas, Hafsah will execute integrated communications and PR initiatives that raise public awareness of the organization’s exchange programs. She will work with the Senior Director of External Affairs to implement publicity and thought leadership campaigns designed to highlight Cultural Vistas’ role in helping shape the future of work and promote the annual awards gala in New York.

Hira Tauqeer is a Project Management Professional. She has worked as a Resident Administrative and Project Officer with the NDI office in Islamabad, Pakistan. In this role she has used her well-honed organizational and communication skills to make a positive contribution to Political Parties Development Program. She also utilizes her master training, leadership, team building and personnel management skills to benefit the program. She is adventurous, loves challenges, and believes in lifelong learning. She is flexible, creative, and loves to work in teams. . Currently, Hira is working with the Senior Project Manager of Training Fellowship Program. In this role she is a master trainer to train young members of political parties to assist them with leadership, political organizing, communication and public speaking skills. During her university life, she organized workshops and seminars, and she managed events. Hira organized an International Applied Business research conference for her university. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance and a Master’s degree in Project Management from Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology. She has written a number of research papers including “Conflict among global virtual teams” and “Mentoring”. She is fluent in English and Urdu.

Host Organization:  Making Cents International

 Role at Host Organization: Hira will be supporting the full cycle development and implementation of Making Cents’ annual Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit. She will support the execution of a thoughtful and well-planned industry-leading Summit, which in 2016 will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. She will also YouthEconomicOpportunities.org learning hub and webinar series, which leverage relationships and content from the Summit and provides a learning platform that strengthens the youth economic opportunities field.

Kiran has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She has earned her Master’s degree in Education from Hamdard University in Karachi, Pakistan. While working with a provincial education foundation as Training and Development Officer, she leads an important portfolio of teachers’ capacity building with special emphasis on early childhood development and child centered learning pedagogies at Learning Support Unit. Her core contribution is towards seeking the betterment through education. She has empowered more than 3000 teachers of Sindh province to become professional teachers, under different projects of Sindh Education Foundation. Given her teaching experience and on-the-ground work with teacher trainings, she is adept at designing robust programs and adapting to various learning styles. She has been active in the International Inspiration, a London 2012’s sports legacy programme which is organized by the British Council as a partner organization and selected as a Master Trainer for Pakistan region. Kiran also serves as Vice Chairperson of an emerging nonprofit Child Rise. It focuses on the children’s rights in Pakistan by ensuring access to quality education, protection from all types of exploitation and economic empowerment to adolescents and women. Kiran is very interested in adolescents and youth empowerment, training designing and facilitation, academic and administrative management. She has also inspired many young students to volunteer by organizing different training programs at community- based setting.

Host Organization: Youth for Understanding- International Secretariat

 Role at Host Organization: YFU will launch a new Learning Management System, taking YFU trainings online for the international network. Kiran will be responsible for building up the content, creating trainings in various areas and topics, serving and supporting the YFU network of 55+ countries.

Tahir is a meticulous resource who started his professional career when he was 16.5 years old only, initially working as a sales man in an upscale department store, he was offered a job as a human resource professional in an established IT firm operating out of UK. Tahir spent almost 3 years with the firm learning human resources operations, he then moved on to another firm and was working in HR & OD. At this point he had gathered around 5 years of HR experience and was then offered a position as Manager HR & OD in one of the largest used Japanese car company operating from Yokohama, Japan. In this job, Tahir expanded the company from 30 people up to 700+ people in a span of 3 years. He was driven with the passion to prove himself as a manager and hence was instrumental in ensuring that the company reached new heights in terms of profits. Tahir has a blend of people management skills, developing people using leadership pipeline method, entire spectrum of human resources management and organizational development. After succeeding with the assignment at the Japanese company he was appointed as Head of Human Resources of a local group dealing in food industry, Tahir developed entire HR systems and Training areas and at the same time worked in a parallel role as Franchising head for the same. After spending 2 years with the mentioned company he was offered a role as Head of HR at a multinational microfinance bank, he served for 1 year and now is pursuing his passion as an entrepreneur. Tahir has a master’s degree in political sciences and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in HR & organizational psychology from IOBM, hence overall he has 13+ years of working experience and complemented qualifications.

Host Organization: Eat Offbeat

Role at Host Organization: Tahir will help Eat Offbeat develop procedures crucial HR processes to ensure an outstanding employee experience and allow for healthy scaling. He will implement those procedures in NYC and examine ways to translate them to other contexts as the company scales.