
Khan, Shanza. Harvard Kennedy School, USA: Undertaking research on the Pakistan Post Office with the purpose to produce a case study to be taught at graduate-level public policy and public management classes. The project is lead by Prof. Guy Stuart. The focus of the project will be on the past and current role of the Pakistan Post Office in serving as a platform for the delivery of non-postal services to the people of Pakistan, with a special emphasis on its role in serving as a platform for the delivery of financial services.
Khan, Shanza and Sara Qutub. Overseas Development Institute, UK: Analyzing the political economy of gender and social protection in Pakistan through a desk-based review of published and grey literature as well as key informant interviews with stakeholders at the national and sub-national level. Exploring the pathways through which policy is informed by sex disagregrated data and analysis and identifying the institutional responses to such information (e.g. entry points and resistance) with a particular focus on the Zakat and the Benazir Income Support Programme. Providing policy recommendations for strengthening the integration of gender into mainstream social protection activities.
Aftab, Safiya. World Bank: Consultant working on the proposed Pakistan Education Sector Review. Responsibilities preparation of TORs for other consultant teams, and eventually, assisting the Task Leader in writing the Review.
Aftab, Safiya. Halcrow Pakistan: Economist for Community Infrastructure Implementation Review: A Case of Pakistan. This is a World Bank sponsored assignment involving the preparation of two technical notes on small-scale community infrastructure projects being implemented by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), the World Bank’s Community Infrastructure Project II (CIP II) in NWFP, and the World Bank’s Community Infrastructure Services Project (CISP) being implemented in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The two technical notes will cover project impacts; and assessment of planning, implementation and O&M processes respectively.
Aftab, Safiya. World Bank: Consultant on Punjab Education Sector Project. Key task is provision of technical inputs to the Government of Punjab to update the Medium Term Sector Framework (MTSF) for the school education department. Responsibilities include using the Government of Punjab’s school education MIS system to assess medium term requirements for school upgradation, additional classrooms, and teacher needs. In addition, will also be responsible for contributing to the development of a public expenditure review for the school education department, and designing a third party field review to assess the implementation of program interventions.
Aftab, Safiya. Innovative Development Strategies: Consultant on a PPAF sponsored project on poverty ranking of Union Councils in three districts of NWFP. Responsibilities include analysis of mauza level secondary data to rank settlements according to set criteria, design of a survey for administration of the poverty scorecard in two districts, and assessment of a sample of small infrastructure schemes in two districts.
Yusuf, Moeed. Co-authoring a paper on “The Phenomena of Nuclear Testing: Examining the ‘Push Factors’. This undertaking is being conducted in collaboration with a senior researcher from the University of Tokyo. This research paper, which we plan to publish both in English and Japanese journals, looks to answer the question of ‘why countries test nuclear weapons’. The paper takes a case study approach and compares cases from the Cold War with the second age nuclear states (predominantly Pakistan and India).
Yusuf, Moeed. Undertaking a research study on “Nuclear Deterrence and the Role of National Psyche and Culture.” This paper looks to study the role that national culture and psychology play in the decision of a country to go nuclear and subsequently on its ability to make its deterrent factor credible. The paper takes a case study approach, studying countries generally believed to be pacifist versus those exhibiting classic realist tendencies.
Yusuf, Moeed. Conducting a co-authored study on the ‘Future of Pakistan’. The paper applies a scenario building lens and entertains a mix of variables to understand the possible trajectories that Pakistan can proceed on over the next two to three decades. Ultimately, the paper will reflect a policy analysis of what measures Pakistan needs to take to move from the undesirable path that it seems to be on at present to one that would make the country a stable and prosperous one.
Yusuf, Moeed. This paper, to be published as a book chapter looks at the future of the India-Pakistan nuclear rivalry. It analyzes the impact of India’s force modernization on Pakistan’s strategic calculus and evaluates Pakistani options should India continue to expand its defense capability as expected. The findings will be generalized to other second-age nuclear powers.