Raasta Team Members
Department Heads:

• Simi Kamal
  Chief Executive

Founder of, and senior executive functions in several for-profit and non-profit organizations and initiatives in Pakistan and abroad, working on a range of developmental themes. Bachelors (Hons.) and Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge and over 22 years of work experience in Pakistan and several other countries.

Has worked on the rights, empowerment and advancement of Pakistani women and Muslim women since 1980, researching, writing and speaking extensively both in Pakistan and abroad. Is one of few international persons who has worked on women and water issues and currently is part of a global think tank on water, responsible for mainstreaming women and women’s issues in the water sector. Team leader of the Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) covering political, policy institutional and budgetary reforms across the public sector in Pakistan.

Special expertise in synthesizing opinions and documents through participative processes into policies, strategies, approaches, proposals and actions across all social development sectors. Special interest and extensive experience in gender and social development themes, sustainable development, community development and cross-sectoral collaborative platforms and networks, covering the role, policies, and institutional development of government, civil society sector, and the development and management of partnerships among government, independent, public and private sectors. Several public service international, regional and national initiatives and networks have been designed and established.

With wide-ranging knowledge of legal, policy, design, management and financial sectors in the context of NGOs in Pakistan, extensive experience in change processes, change management, concomitant capacity development and institutionalization.

Over 150 assignments and postings as team leader and senior team member covering advisory services, policy development, programme design, research studies, change management, institutional and capacity development, evaluations and pre-finance assessments. Author and co-author of over 180 research and evaluation reports, handbooks and training modules (several in print) and over 500 articles and papers published in Pakistan and abroad. Regular appearance on international and national media on issues of women, gender relations, water and the donor-NGO-government nexus in the developing world.

• Zia Niazi
  Chief Coordinator

Senior executive functions in for-profit and non-profit organizations and initiatives in Pakistan, working on a range of developmental themes. Bachelors (Hons) and Masters degree from the University of Karachi and more than 15 years of work experience both as a national and, more recently, an international consultant.

Special interest in social development themes, poverty alleviation, education health and reproductive health, institutional development and capacity building of the civil society sector, public-private partnerships, rural development and community and gender based approaches. Extensive experience of working with civil society and private sector organizations and donor and government agencies in urban and rural areas. Team leader and team member on several research studies, involving design and development, primary and secondary data collection and compilation, review and analysis and report writing and presentation. Wide-ranging experience in designing, implementing and reporting on evaluations and appraisals of institutions, programmes and projects; developing policies, strategies and programmes based on the output of these studies. Capacity building projects, including development of modules and training materials, conducting of workshops and evaluation of training and educational materials and programmes.

• Syed Ziauddin
  General Manager, Finance

With a masters degree in Business Administration, in Finance from Adamson University and an LLB from SM Law College, Mr Ziauddin is the Director, Finance & Accounts and is involved in the development and operationalization of Raasta’s administrative structure in collaboration with the Chief Executive. Having 18 years of experience in the field of Finance & Accounts, he is responsible for the financial management of Raasta, billing, staff relations and other related functions. Mr. Ziauddin has also has vast experience of developing & designing of financial proposals for international clients such as UNICEF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Swiss Development Cooperation, Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited, Save the Children (UK) and the British High Commission. A most valuable member of the Raasta team, he heads the Raasta office at Karachi in the absence of the Chief Executive.

• Muneezeh Saeed Khan
  Manager, Research Unit

With a Masters degree from University of Punjab, Ms Khan is Manager, Research Unit at Raasta, Karachi. She leads the designing and conducting of field-based research and evaluation studies. Her special areas of interest are WID, reproductive health, poverty alleviation and gender themes. As team leader and team member for several field-based studies, she undertakes data collection, focus group discussions, quantitative and qualitative data compilation, analysis and report writing. She has also assisted in the development of modules, training materials and training evaluations. Involved in the networking and liaison operations with research-related issues of Raasta.

Names and designations of other key staff members