Sarah Ahmed joins the GHD program as a 2021 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellow. A cultural anthropologist by training, she aims to understand the impact that development and foreign aid may have on a culture and society, and how the process of development can be improved using applied research.

Sarah’s professional experiences cemented her passion for development. Previously, she worked as a Gender and Markets intern at the United Nations Foundation in Washington D.C. where she helped plan and organize a Women in Energy event at the U.N High Level Political Forum of 2018. She also worked as a Research Assistant at the Middle East Institute’s Center for Afghanistan-Pakistan studies where she monitored current events and trends in the region and explored the sociopolitical culture of South Asia. Her personal background as a first-generation Pakistani-American woman, a Muslim and an immigrant have profoundly shaped her interest and passion for policy and development.

Sarah holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Nonprofit Leadership and Social Innovation from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a Rangel fellow, she will join the U.S. Foreign Service upon graduation where she intends to serve as a Public Diplomacy officer. In her free time, Sarah enjoys being outdoors and getting sunshine, going to concerts and traveling.