Raiya Kishwar Ashraf Email & Phone Number

Nairobi County, Kenya

Nairobi County, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya

Drive innovation, learning, knowledge creation, and partnerships to strengthen the impact of BRAC's microfinance entities in Asia and Africa that provide financial services to unbanked and underserved communities.BRAC International Microfinance’s (BI MF) mission is to provide a range of financial services responsibly to people at the bottom of the pyramid, particularly focusing on women living in poverty in rural and hard-to-reach areas to create self-employment opportunities, build financial resilience, and harness women’s entrepreneurial spirit by empowering them economically.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Manage a portfolio of 11 projects under the Innovation Fund for Digital Financial Services in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to accelerate financial inclusion by integrating mobile money across BRAC’s programmes and internal operations platforms.Ideate, build and test/deploy innovative pilots and research projects with Microfinance, Education and Integrated Development programmes to improve women's digital literacy, design inclusive products, and create gender-segregated data on women's digital financial inclusion.Collaborate with national and international stakeholders to pursue strategic opportunities in the field of social innovation.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Engaged with the Trade Competitiveness for Export Diversification (TraCED) project under Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF II) to produce and consolidate evidence on tariff modernization and bonded warehouse expansion to non-RMG export sectors to support the export diversification vision of the GoB.

Singapore

Assisted in-class teaching, coordination and provided tutorials to 60 graduate students for courses PP5105 Cost-Benefit Analysis and PP5236 Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy with Professors Vinod Thomas, Tan-Soo Jie Sheng, and Namrata Chindarkar.

Singapore

Working closely with Infrastructure, PPPs and Guarantees (IPG) team at WB Singapore as part of graduate school capstone Policy Analysis Exercise on updating the Status of Infrastructure Services Report for South East Asia and South Asia. The year-long engagement involves updating data and analysis on electricity and roads access, quality and tariffs. We are further aiming to analyse infrastructure policy gaps and provide recommendations at the country-level.

New York City, Usa

Worked in a small team with the ambitious agenda of designing UNICEF's organisation-wide approach to South-South and horizontal cooperation. My responsibilities and achievements were in two thematic capacities: policy development and planning, and capacity building and knowledge management.Policy Development and Planning • Participated in the consultations with 17 country offices in five UNICEF programme regions; prepared background notes on governments’ engagement in SSC; and produced a number of notes for the record for the consultations documenting the salient points from the discussions and next steps. The consultation with field offices was part of the development of UNICEF’s organisation-wide strategy on SSC.• Contributed to secondary research notes that informed the consultations on governments’ priorities and policies for development cooperation.• Participated in an internal brainstorming on the first draft of the SSC strategy note which articulates UNICEF’s organization-wide approach to SSC.Capacity Building and Knowledge Management• Organized the global webinar on SSC in Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes and coordinated with technical experts, including the participation of the Government of Cuba and UNICEF COs in Sao Tomé & Principe and Turkmenistan, as well as, with UNICEF partners, i.e. IPC-IG and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). The webinar was successfully completed with the participation of some 40 practitioners and subsequently, the video recording was viewed by over 80 practitioners.• Contributed to the development of the script and storyboarding for a video on UNICEF’s engagement in SSC.• Contributed to the work of the reference group on ECD for UNICEF’s second publication on SSC.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

- Design and conduct studies to test the performance and impact of BRAC’s poverty alleviation programmes with Development Economics Research UnitRecent achievements:- Preparing baseline study on new approach to poverty graduation for BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor Programme- Market survey on viability of Kumon Centers in Dhaka and shared policy recommendations with BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL) and Kumon.- Reporting major findings from Urban Development Programme census and baseline

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Editorial assistance to project staff, researchers and lawyers for preparation of quarterly and annual report, publications, case studies from public-interest litigation and presentations

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Supported the Chief of Strategic Partnerships in business expansion to South-East Asia and learned to apply design methodologies e.g. HCD, Trigger mapping, etc.Achievements:- Supported the design of US$ 2 million urban poverty graduation programme in Yangon, Myanmar planned to commence implementation in January 2017- Designed information strategy for DFID-funded nutrition project in Sylhet, Bangladesh and provided recommendations to programme staff on optimal design for their information and management system- Developed and performed sales presentations, A/V scripts, concept notes on potential innovations in ICT4D domain, grant applications- Strengthened mPower's external communications and marketing by updating website content to reflect the organization's values and establishing forum and social media presence

Dhaka, Bangladesh

- Posted to multiple wings including UN, Economic Affairs, South Asia, Europe, Consular and Administrative Wings.- Collaborated with foreign policy officials, receiving essential mentoring and an insight into how public policy is developed on a national and international scale. Achievements:- Wrote a political, philosophical and economic analysis of the BD-Dutch relations- Briefs on BD’s position for UN Gen Assembly, ASEM FMM 2015- Developed multilingual handbook on financial guidelines for Bangladesh's missions abroad- Outlined trade prospects for BD missions in Australia, Canada, Morocco and Uzbekistan- Prepared three Hon. General-Consul summaries.

Chittagong, Bangladesh

- City Manager and Coordinator for an international community blogging project on urban planning and poverty development on URB.IM (project of Ford Foundation and Dallant Networks) and URBASIA- Published research articles reporting development solutions and NGO work in Dhaka and Chittagong- Coordinated team of 25 writers and editors, designed editorial calendars, translated articles, conducted journalism skill building workshops- Searched for subject and organization-wide grants for student research center

Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Researched the operational challenges of BRAC’s Boat School Program in the Sylhet wetland haor areas, wrote chapters for final report• Interviewed tenant farmers with BRAC Tenant Farmers Development Project (BCUP); attended research presentations and workshops on STATA Statistical Software

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Interviewed distinguished national diplomats and policy-makers for international water sharing research project with Chatham House, London, UK. Additionally, researched drivers of violence/violence counter-narrative

Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Wrote and designed a guide to e-waste recycling in Bangladesh, aimed at policy makers, local recycling professionals and citizens of all backgrounds, in collaboration with e-waste researchers and practitioners

Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Taught 85 students at international school and prepared daily lessons for class 7 and 8• Prepared math syllabi for middle-school students; kept accurate records of their class progress

Master In Public Policy - Mpp, Economic Policy And Development

Chang Yung Fa Scholarship 2017/19

Master In Public Policy, Exchange Semester With Focus On Migration Policy, Trade And Development, And Poverty Measurement

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Politics, Philosophy And Economics, Cgpa: 3.99/4.30

3Rd Year Undergraduate Exchange Program, Political Science And Government, Economics

Advanced Level, Gce

Ordinary Levels, Gce, Mathematics, Economics, Accouting, Physics, Chemistry, And Others