Fellows

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.

Asma Razaq has been working in both print and electronic media for the last six years. At present, she is working as a Reporter in Samaa Tv, Pakistan’s top news channel. At Samaa, her primary responsibilities include: the coverage of economic affairs including the Federal Board of Revenue, the Ministry of Finance, financial institutions, foreign investment and assistance to Pakistan, the Privatization Commission, and health issues. Earlier, she worked for Abbtak news channel for two years. She was also working in an English Daily ‘Business Recorder;’ the biggest financial daily in Pakistan, and the first such publication in the Muslim world. She worked for Daily Business Recorder for five years. One of Asma’s articles was included among the top stories of a New York-based website ‘www.tobacco.org;’ her stories exposed a pharmaceutical company that was selling an anti-hepatitis injection without conducting human tests. Asma’s news articles on health issues put pressure on the government to form a Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) in Pakistan. Recently, her news package titled ‘IMF and Pakistan’ was widely appreciated and got national recognition, as well. Asma has worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a Coordinator. She had been nominated by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan for the reporting tour on Global Food Security in the year 2011. She had also been selected as a participant of US-Pak Journalist Exchange Program-2014 by the East-West Center in Hawaii. During the program, she was selected as a guest in ‘Global Journalist,’ a popular radio program in Columbia.

Host Organization: Universities Allied for Essential Medicine

Role at Host Organization: “As the Media and Communications Fellow, Asma Razaq will support the creative development and implementation of a media and communications strategy for UAEM North America. This involves implementing the interactive new website design so it is usable to share media and foster communication work in building a more effective and efficient internal communication strategy.

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Ejaz has seven years’ experience of monitoring, evaluation, and research for diverse community development projects. He earned a Master’s degree in Management from IMSciences, Peshawar, Pakistan. He is currently working with the United Nations Development Program in a post-crisis situation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on enhancing the capacities of justice and security sector institutions with particular focus on gender responsive and community policing on the supply side and access to justice for vulnerable groups including women and children on the demand side of the justice and security chain. In his current capacity, Ejaz develops and implements M&E systems, devises protocols for research and manages teams associated with program and research assignments. He has been instrumental in annual project planning and aligning of interventions with broader sectorial and national goals. He is an expert user of data analysis software’s and analyzes large pool of data for reporting and program and policy decisions. Previously, he worked with a rural development program focusing on pro-poor value chain development and management, climate change adaptation and rural livelihood for indigenous mountain communities in Northern Pakistan. He secured livelihoods for poor small farmers particularly women and produced an experimental evidence base combining capacity building interventions and action research. Ejaz also worked with model legal empowerment of the poor program contributing to methodology design and managing field teams on an innovative impact evaluation combining RCT’s with case tracking and ethnography. Ejaz takes pride in his work and contemplates ways to help his community in securing a better quality of life.

Host Organization: Worldreader

Role at Worldreader: At Worldreader, Ejaz will serve as an Impact & Evaluation (I&E) Fellow, assisting the I&E Department in building and streamlining measurement and evaluation processes. He will develop M&E strategies, conduct data analysis, ensure proper maintenance of data storage systems, and complete special projects.

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.

Mehak has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Environmental Policy from the Lahore School of Economics. While working as an Assistant Manager for Communications and Knowledge Management at Nur Center for Research and Policy, Mehak spearheaded a DFID-UKAID funded project for developing the first National Knowledge Portal for Maternal and Neonatal Child Health (MNCH). This knowledge portal serves as a platform to share and collate maximum available MNCH knowledge in Pakistan, to facilitate public health experts and establish policymakers in developing evidence-based policies to strengthen the MNCH sector in Pakistan. Mehak also worked as Project Lead for an operational study with UNICEF on the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) initiative, where she was intricately involved in organizing training sessions for skilled birth attendants and designing interventions based on the findings of the research. In the past she has worked for different social and development projects, supporting youth and women’s rights, which she feels passionately about. Previously, Mehak has worked on a one year USAID funded project on rehabilitating survivors of gender based violence (GBV) at a shelter-home. Her work involved developing holistic rehabilitation plans for the GBV survivors in order to reintegrate them back into society. Through these experiences, she has developed strong project management, report writing, event planning and communication skills, especially with regards to donor-funded projects. She is also a certified fitness instructor and works part-time at a fitness studio, leading High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts.

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

 Role at Host Organization: Mehak will be responsible for managing the Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab (GLL), a training program for rising global nonprofit leaders participating in the Atlas Corps Fellowship. She will also plan and manage this leadership development program to empower Atlas Corps Fellows in their professional journeys. Mehak will ensure the overall excellent experience for staff, speakers, and Fellow participants.

Mehr has nine years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in the UK, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. While working as the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Punjab with GRM Futures Group under the Dfid-funded voice and accountability project for better health and nutrition, she helped improve the health and nutrition of poor and marginalized women and children in the southern Punjab province of Pakistan. Previously, Mehr worked as a Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist with Chemonics International, Inc., to make local value chains in Pakistan such as fresh mango, fruit and vegetable pulping, and dates more competitive in both international and local markets under the USAID-funded economic growth and agriculture program. She also has extensive experience working with stakeholders from the private and public sectors. Through these experiences, she has acquired strong monitoring and evaluation skills which are applicable across different thematic areas. Mehr enjoys focusing on the topics of empowerment and economic development.

Host Organization: Nexus Fund

Role at Host Organization: Mehr will utilize her experience conducting research and managing projects to build up the innovation lab and grants program and find ways to support civil society in countries at risk of mass atrocities. She will also support the fundraising director in their efforts and build Nexus Fund’s capacity to liaise with grantees.

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

Shaza has four years’ experience working in the development and corporate sector of Pakistan. She earned a Master’s degree in Organizational and Social Psychology from London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. She worked closely with the Minister for Planning, Development & Reform on strategic communications of some of the biggest development projects in the country, including China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Vision 2025. Shaza was part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) team that worked towards modernizing and reforming the public sector of Pakistan through Civil Service Reforms. She brought to the government’s attention the long-neglected issue of mental health and advocated for legislative action through organizing a first-of-its-kind policy dialogue on the issue. Previously, she worked as a Brand Manager at GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan and at an NGO helping flood victims in Punjab, Pakistan. One of her great passions in life is to explore cultures through travel and photography.

Host Organization: Disaster Accountability Project

Role at Host Organization: “Shaza will add critical capacity building support as DAP prepares for the launch of SmartResponse, an ambitious effort to improve effectiveness/transparency/accountability in humanitarian aid donations by collecting and sharing “location-specific” and “pre-disaster” data on the capacity, activities, and history of CSOs, NGOs, and INGOs involved in disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and other human services.