Mashiat Chowdhury Email & Phone Number

Bangladesh

Managing the 'Accelerating Innovation for Resilience' (AI4R) Challenge in Bangladesh which is led by GKI and funded by the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The project aims to incentivize and support local innovation ecosystem actors to develop, pilot, and scale innovative context-specific solutions tackling humanitarian response and community resilience. - Served as the lead on the ground - from design, implementation to completion - for the management and implementation of a USD 1.5M project (AI4Resilience) funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to strengthen the innovation ecosystem for humanitarian resilience in Bangladesh- Spearheaded the co-design and implementation of a bespoke humanitarian ecosystem innovation fund, awarding prizes to ten companies worth USD 300K on solutions impacting the climate crisis, Rohingya crisis, etc.- Managed complex stakeholder relationships with over 20 independent judges and advisors, 23 shortlisted applicant organizations, a media partner, and a logistics partner- Laterally led a cross-functional, geographically dispersed team of 9 on project implementation and directly supervised 2 of them for day-to-day execution- Managed the development of a network for humanitarian innovation and facilitated capacity development of the network participants on how to run a network- Co-led program communications and knowledge dissemination to ensure wide and inclusive reach, engagements, coordination, and mobilization of key partners and stakeholders- Ensured effective planning, budgeting, reporting, monitoring, and learning in close coordination with the headquarters

Dhaka, Bangladesh

At iDE Bangladesh I worked for the Cereal Systems Initiatives for South Asia Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA MEA) project worth USD 21M funded by Feed the Future Bangladesh initiative of USAID. The project is implemented by a consortium of partners: CIMMYT, iDE, and Georgia Tech. My roles and responsibilities included:- Serve as the technical lead on private sector engagement and access to finance for the CSISA MEA project; the project focuses on agricultural mechanization to improve food security and rural livelihood- Ensure effective planning, budgeting, and implementation of activities and achievement of results across the private sector engagement and access to finance streams of the project- Spearhead the project’s knowledge management and communications strategy and implementation from iDE’s end- Develop and manage private partnerships with an annual budget of approximately USD 150K with several agricultural machinery retailers and manufacturers; small and medium light engineering enterprises; and financial institutions- Oversee reporting of the project’s progress to internal and external audiences Provide technical oversight to field teams with over 20 staff in three different regions combined- Designed the implementation of solutions that include digital content for capacity development trainings of mechanics and operators of agricultural machinery; business expansion and financial management training for capacity development of employees in small and medium sized light engineering workshops; and strategic linkage between local light engineering workshops and leading agro machinery firms in Bangladesh for local production of agro machinery spare parts which are currently being imported

Dhaka, Bangladesh

B-SkillFUL was a leading skills development project of Swisscontact (funded by SDC and EU) with the aim of improving the well-being of 40,000 poor and disadvantaged people by increasing their access to labour market and income, while safeguarding their fundamental rights at work. My main responsibilities included implementing sustainable business models to enhance training service market as well as ensuring proper implementation and monitoring of project training activities. Along with that I also had to establish and maintain relationships with private and public-sector stakeholders. Some of my contributions were: - Facilitated training operation activities for almost 8,000 unemployed and underemployed youth and monitored their implementation as part of the B-SkillFUL project – funded by SDC and EU – that improved the well-being of poor and disadvantaged people by increasing their access to the labor market and income, while safeguarding their fundamental rights at work- Initiated a partnership with Sheba.xyz, an online marketplace for services, where our graduates registered to offer their services to consumers in their locality to increase their income- Facilitated capacity development workshops such as Training of Trainers (ToT), gender inclusion in workplace, communication in workplace, etc. - Facilitated the development of learning materials required for training such as Curriculum Guides for 13 occupations in the informal sector, Training of Trainers manual, etc.- Coordinated with the portfolio team of Swisscontact to keep them updated about project activities; this involved preparing reports, databases, presentations for the portfolio team- Prepared annual and biannual strategic and analytical reports and periodic progress updates and presentations for donors and Swisscontact’s portfolio team respective

My career in the development sector started with Katalyst, a pioneering market development project implemented by Swisscontact which aimed to increase the productivity and income of farmers and small medium enterprises in Bangladesh. Main responsibilities of my job included managing interventions that bring systemic changes in agriculture sector of Bangladesh; as well as documenting and disseminating Katalyst’s experiences. Some of my contributions were:• Working on a study regarding 'Export readiness of floriculture, mango, pineapple, betel leaf, and potato in Bangladesh'. The study has analysed the opportunities and export performance of the commodities, identified underlying challenges, and suggested a strategic road-map including policy interventions to tap the export potentials of these commodities.• Developing training manual for High Value Fish Species (Shing, Magur, Pabda, Gulsha, and Shol) and organizing workshops to disseminate the knowledge among approx. 40000 fish farmers, nurseries and hatcheries. • Building Industry-Academia linkage by organizing Agro Career Expo 2017, nation's first career fair for agriculture university students all across Bangladesh, which has connected 3000+ graduates and final year students with private companies for jobs and internships. • Launching ‘Agro based Marketing’ and ‘Product Innovation Management’ courses in AIUB University; and updating modules of public agriculture universities.

Dhaka

Ma Governance, Development And Public Policy

Completed my MA program under Chevening Scholarship 2019/20. Dissertation Title: Collaborative governance approaches for effectively.

Education record

Bachelor Of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Marketing And International Business

Activities and Societies: NSU Finance Club, NSU YES! Club

Gce A Level

Gce O Level