Muhammad Farhan Akhtar Email & Phone Number

- Efficiently manage the collection, validation, and analysis of data from half a million cotton farmers in compliance with Better Cotton Standard System requirements, and to substantiate the Better Cotton impact claims.- Capacity building of programmer partners to develop innovative and sustainable models, facilitate collaborations with public and private organizations, promote women economic empowerment, and enhance the capacity of farmers for climate resilience.- Design, facilitate, and lead various impact studies, baselines, outcome evaluations for Better Cotton interventions- Review and propose MEL framework for Better Cotton themes such as soil, water, decent work, climate mitigation and adaptation, and align it with Delta indicators and Grants and Innovation Fund.

- Led a team that successfully implemented projects in Pakistan's dairy, meat, horticulture, and leather sectors. These projects resulted in an inclusive market approach, leading to an increased income of USD 98.5 million for approximately 300,000 women and men farmers. Moreover, these initiatives attracted USD 5 million in private sector investment and generated over USD 142 million in economic activity.- Managing the overall implementation of MDF Pakistan, with overall responsibility of maintaining budget, and maintaining relations with important stakeholders- Managing a team of Quality and Inclusion specialist, short term advisors, consultants, and research firms to ensure work planning and progress against the post implementation monitoring plan.- Capture and document key insights and learnings from Pakistan and support market studies

Pakistan

- Maintained a results measurement system of over 50 interventions with projected outreach of about 300,000- Planned & conducted impact assessments & provided strategic guidance to improve intervention and sector strategies- Prepared for Annual Results, provided insights for key headline indicators, and supported donor reporting- Provided support for results aggregation to other MDF countries (Sri Lanka, Fiji, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea)- Led various short-term assignments and facilitating workshops on systems development and advanced results measurement in Sri Lanka, Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Pakistan

- I have also designed, negotiated contracts, and managed multiple partnerships with private companies, business chambers, and government bodies in Pakistan to introduce innovative models and unlock Markets for Poor (M4P) through Market Systems Development (MSD) approach. - Ensured interventions are gender inclusive & promoted women economic empowerment to enhance women mobility.

- Conducted verification visits on farmers of Pakistan and Uzbekistan, prepared reports, identified non-conformities to BCI standards and encouraged the continuous improvement of participating farmers- Provided support in analyzing data on farming practices, manage large databases and generate 2019-20 analysis- Redesigned M&E processes, automated workflows, Information Databases, and templates to collect and manage data- Provided training to program team on Power-BI/Tableau

Canberra, Australia

Graduate Diploma in Public Administration 2014-2015Master of Public Policy 2015-2016

Lahore, Pakistan

• Assisted the capacity building of Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar and Sukkur Institute of Business Administration. This includes facilitating faculty exchange, training of trainers, and conducting training programs in the areas of financial and procurement management.• Coordinated and negotiated with several stakeholders and partner organizations for nominations, liaised with USAID for necessary approvals, work plans and identified international consultants and faculty members to execute specialized trainings. • Lead the implementation of Learning Management System to assess the impact of trainings. The system was also used to monitor the progress of all training programs, and generate evaluation reports to improve the quality and content of training programs.

Lahore, Pakistan

• Conducted in-depth research and developed case studies, technical notes, and training exercises such as, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre Endowment Fund, Understanding Endowment Funds, Accounting for State Revenues and Applied Cost Management: Pakistan International Airlines. The cases and notes are published in Asian Journal of Management Cases (SAGE), LUMS Case Research Centre and are being used in graduate and executive programs at LUMS.

Lahore, Pakistan

• Coordinated development of web projects with strategic partners (including Google, and Amazon) for their affiliate marketing programs through follow up meetings and progress reports. This was followed up by a detailed project plan to monitor and track progress and ensured resource availability for different programs.• Hired and managed a team of 15 and compiled various progress reports including a cost-benefit study through market research to analyze the response of introducing price models to one of the web projects.

Master Of Public Policy (With Distinction), Economic Policy

Activities and Societies: • President of Crawford School Students' Society • Postgraduate Representative of ANU Postgraduate and Research.

Graduate Diploma Of Public Administration (With Distinction), Public Administration

Activities and Societies: • Member of Crawford School Students Society • Member of Asia and the Pacific policy society Graduated.

Mcom (18Years), Accounting And Finance

Graduated with Distinction (3.80/4)

B.Com (Hons), Accounting And Finance

Graduated with Distinction (3.90/4) Awarded the University Merit Scholarship in 2008 and 2009

Certified Expert In Climate Adaptation Finance