Asad Pabani is a development practitioner with seven years of experience working in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa for donors such as FCDO, USAID, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank.

Over the past two years, he has pursued internships at The Brookings Institution and The World Bank, organizing multi-stakeholder events on the Sustainable Development Goals at the former, while publishing climate and commodities research in the latter’s bi-weekly Food Security Updates. He also created a business strategy for one of Ghana’s leading investment banks, Databank, to pivot towards green financing and debt instruments as part of his capstone consultancy.

Prior to joining GHD, Asad worked primarily as a journalist and researcher, advising the Gates Foundation on education reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, while also serving as Editor-in-Chief of Macro Pakistani, an economic analysis publication funded by the South Asia Institute at Harvard University. In 2018, he finished runner-up for Thomson Foundation’s Young Journalist Award due to his reporting on the abduction of citizens by law enforcement in Karachi, Pakistan.

Summer Internship Experience

Social Impact (Hanoi, Vietnam)

I was based in Hanoi over the summer, where I worked as a “Localization and Learning Young Professional” for Social Impact. SI is an Arlington-based development consultancy that primarily implements USAID projects. As a foreign professional, I thought the opportunity to acquaint myself with the inner workings of one of the world’s largest aid agencies would be an invaluable experience. And so, it proved to be.

One of my key tasks was assisting SI in its aim to promote localization within its work. This is part of a broader USAID push to ensure that local communities and entities are at the forefront of deciding and implementing aid projects. I analysed a survey disseminated in SI’s home office and seven project offices to determine the extent of localization in their recent projects, and what staff felt could be done to further this process. The findings formed the basis of a localization-focused workshop that I co-led in the Hanoi office, with similar exercises planned in the other project offices.

Why GHD?

Because it gives you the perfect mix of critical thinking and practical skills to help you grow in a professional and personal capacity!