Our Team
Dr. Lubna Shahnaz Umer
Executive Director
Ph.D. in Economics in 2011 from Quaid Azam University, Pakistan. Ms. Lubna Shahnaz Umer holds Ph.D. in Economics in 2011 from Quaid-i- Azam University, Pakistan. She has extensive experience of working in social and economic research with the government, donor organizations and the academia in the country. She has worked as Social Protection Policy Expert in World Bank funded Social Safety Net Project in Planning Commission, where she provided technical support to provinces in formulation of social protection policies and led the development of a National Framework for Social Protection for Pakistan. She has been engaged as Lead Consultant with the International Labour Organization, Geneva for the preparation of a Decent Work Country Profile of Pakistan. She has been working with ILO for last 14 years on different assignments. She has also experience working with other government agencies, international organizations (ADB, FAO) as well as academia (Australian National University and other universities) during the course of professional career. She has also contributed to National and International Reports like the Pakistan Millennium Development Goal Reports from 2005 to 2013, Human Development Reports for South Asia, Punjab Employment Trends Report 2013, Punjab Occupational Safety & Health Report 2014, Punjab Labour Market Information 2015 and Sindh Employment Trends Report-Skills etc. She has been engaged in estimating poverty for Pakistan by using official methodology.
She has produced more than 25 journal articles published in national and international journals on poverty, migration, youth, gender, employment etc. She has also presented papers at different conferences. She has been invited as guest speaker and has been appointed as external examiner of M.Phil. thesis of Quaid Azam, NUML and Preston University. She has also taught in National University of Science and Technology and Fatima Jinnah University.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lubna_Shahnaz
Dr. Shahid Naeem
Director
Dr. Shahid Naeem is an economist with 33 years’ experience in government and development sectors, particular in development planning, human resource development for the less developed areas of Pakistan. He has worked as a member of the teams of consultants that prepared various reports on labour market aspects like decent work, skill mismatch analysis, district level labour market profiling, district level child labour situations, issues facing migrant workers etc. He was a team member that developed indicators for decent work country programme for Pakistan. He reviewed social policies for developing national framework for social protection, and guided the process of developing the national framework. He has written on various aspects of poverty including unemployment, skill development and livelihood development and education in Pakistan. He was part of the team that developed field research tools, conducted field research and analyzed and prepared report. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from International Islamic University, Islamabad, Post Graduate Diploma in IT and PhD in Economics from the Preston, Kohat apart from trainings on Project Management from UK and Statistics in Poverty Policies from Sweden.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shahid-Naeem-10
Dr. Umer Khalid
Economist
Dr. Umer Khalid is a senior Economist with over two decades of wide ranging experience in economic research, policy formulation, advocacy and dialogue, with key economic policy making organizations in Pakistan, including the State Bank of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance. He has carried out consulting assignments for a number of international organizations, including the World Bank, ILO, UNICEF and Oxfam, and has also been engaged with the development sector over the course of his professional career. Dr. Khalid holds a Doctorate in Economics from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan and has earlier obtained a Masters in International and Development Economics from the Australian National University in 2010.
During the course of his professional tenure, he has provided high quality policy advisory services encompassing the areas of poverty alleviation/social protection, labour/ employment and finance & private sector development. He has been extensively involved in managing and directing research into issues related to poverty, inequality and labour markets, having led the research departments in a number of organizations working in this domain, including the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, Pakistan Microfinance Network, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy and more recently the Benazir Income Support Programme. In addition to his extensive research and analytical skills, Dr. Khalid has also been actively involved in the operational aspects of policy development and implementation, including establishment of monitoring, evaluation and reporting frameworks as well as project management with different organizations that he has been engaged with.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Umer_Khalid6-10
Raja Faiz ul Hasan Faiz
Director Legal
He is professional lawyer, with a masters degree in Political Science and Law. He also has completed a number of professional courses, diplomas and training programs in law including a diploma in International Labour Standards from International Training Centre of the ILO- Turin, Italy. He has worked with Employees’ Old-age Benefits Institution, an institution for social safety for the workers as the head of Legal Department as well as Secretary to the Board of Trustees. He has multiple appearances before various courts including department representative at High Court, Federal Ombudsman, Federal Services Tribunal, National Industrial Relations Centre etc. Earlier, he served as Central Labour Advisor for the Government of Pakistan and worked with the ILO’s International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour, with a focus on Policy & Law Development; Institutional Capacity Building; Awareness Raising; and Direct Intervention to address child labour situations. He has extensively worked for development of law and policy on child labour, bonded labour, workers’ welfare, industrial relations, occupational safety and health, working conditions and wages, labour protection policy and labour inspection policy.
Mr. Aftab Ali
Director Finance
He is an experienced tax preparer, and accounting & book-keeping specialist. He is an expert in both American and Pakistani tax laws. He has worked with a prestigious American firm apart from being an experienced lecturer of accounting, finance, and tax law at various Pakistani universities and professional institutions. As a teacher trainer, Mr. Aftab has trained and mentored numerous teachers, helping them to improve their teaching techniques and deliver high-quality instruction to their students.
Ms. Asma Ejaz
Research Associate
She holds a master degree in Gender Studies and Political Science, and carries over 25 years of professional experience in research in gender mainstreaming, program development, multi-sector coordination in social sector development, mid-line and end-line evaluation of projects. She has the experience of survey design, quantitative and qualitative research methods and use of software (SPSS, STATA, NVivo), managing complex research projects and conducting program evaluations, impact assessments and performance appraisals using a variety of methods. She is a member of professional associations Human Resource Development Network (HRDN) and Pakistan U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN).