Ahmed Raza

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:

Ahmed is a global citizen - a structured thinker, trained in economics, finance, data science and technology. He is skilled in econometric modeling, design thinking, building data pipelines for optimized workflows, innovation with AI, and stakeholder management. He is a trained researcher with proven expertise in advanced analytics and navigating complex data landscapes and implementation challenges. His research interests usually lie where development and data meet. His work on promoting evidence based policy-making has allowed him to culminate affiliations with renowned institution(s) such as World Bank Group, CID-Harvard, CERP, & BSE.

He enjoys longboarding for balance and good music for harmony.

🌍 Global Experience: 🇵🇰 || 🇪🇸 || 🇨🇦 || 🇺🇸 ||

RESEARCH FOCUS:

Evidence-based policy making, Applied Econometrics , Financial Economics, International Trade, Education , ESG , Human Capital Strategy, Technology Policy, Research Design & Ariticial Intelligence.

WORK HISTORY:

Consultant Economist & Data Scientist @ World Bank Group(WBG)

(April 2019 - June 2025)

Project Manager @ Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP)

(July 2018 - April 2019)

Senior Research Associate @ Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP)

(June 2016 - July 2018)

Teaching Fellow - Rethinking Financial Inclusion @ Harvard Kennedy School

(April 2016 - April 2016)

Based on my work at CERP, I was invited to be a teaching fellow for an executive course at the Kennedy School, where I taught the smart design for policy design & practice to an eclectic mix of senior regulators & practitioners , engaging them on cutting-edge frameworks and methodologies in micro-finance and behavioral economics.

Research Associate @ Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP)

(June 2014 - June 2016)

EDUCATION:

Degree: MSc in Specialized Economic Analysis with a concentration on International Trade, Economics and Development Economics
Institution: Barcelona School of Economics
Graduation Date: June 2014

(Evaluated by World Education Services (WES), as equivalent to a Canadian master’s degree)

Degree: BSc (Honors) in Economics & Finance
Institution: Lahore School of Economics
Graduation Date: June 2013

(Evaluated by World Education Services (WES), as equivalent to a Canadian bachelor’s degree)

CERTIFICATIONS & RECOGNITION:

Certificate: Project Management and Change management
Institution: World Bank Group

Certificate: Cybersecurity in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Institution: World Bank Group

Certificate: Social Media Engagement
Institution: World Bank Group

Award: VPU Team Awards Winner - June 2023
Institution: World Bank Group

PROJECTS & PUBLICATIONS:

Global Education Policy Dashboard - (GEPD)

Guiding the methodology, implementation, & analysis of the Global Education Policy Dashboard in Pakistan.

This project combines several data iniatives at the Education Global Practice to give a detailed systematic overview of education sector and offers a strong basis for identifying priorities for investment in education eco-system at country - level , and policy reforms that are suited to a country-specific context.

State of Global Learning Poverty - 2022 Update

The Learning Poverty indicator combines primary-aged children out-of-school and pupils below a minimum proficiency in reading.

Focuses on both “more schooling” and “better learning” for a holistic perspective on education.

Utilizes data from the Global Learning Assessment Database (GLAD).

Three complementary concepts: Learning poverty level, gap, and severity.

This flagship report informs Post-COVID education policy priorities and urges stakeholders for joint action.

Pakistan – Human Capital Review: Building Capabilities Throughout Life

Contributed to the production: analysis, data visualizations and write-up of the Human Capital Review.

This report calls for a long-term commitment to building human capital throughout life and advocates for intersectoral linkages and continuity of policies to enhance human capital in Pakistan.

Data - Depot Pakistan

Devised & implemented a systematic & scaleable data cleaning, harmonization, and analysis strategy for the assembly and aggregation of 100+ complex micro-datasets from multiple data sources like household surveys, government censuses, and administrative/monitoring datasets. All applicable code behind this initiative is open-source and available on GitHub.
Calulated standardized key indicators on education with open access to standardized micro-datasets by developing a scalable platform using r(shiny) app for proactive tracking of indicators and open access standardized micro-data.
Added value in the data landscape by creating public data good for informed decision-making in the education sector.

Learning and Educational Achievement in Paksitan Schools (LEAPS)

With 20+ years of high-impact education research, LEAPS is the largest body of education research in Pakistan and one of the largest in any low-income country.

I was involved in the latest round of LEAPS, and contributed significantly towards tracking and tagging students of the panel study, deploying the latest round of questionnaires to measure cognitive and non-cognitive skills of the sample, building culturally sensitive teams for qualitative and quantitative data analysis, stakeholder management, and research design to answer key education and labor market questions.

State Authority in Pakistan

Monitored, evaluated, and conducted field experiments and behavioral lab games to assess the logic behind citizens’ interaction with state resources in both urban and rural settings.
This paper explores the determinants of trust in state institutions in Pakistan by investigating whether positive engagement can revitalize a citizen’s sense of trust in the state.

SKILLS:

Technical Skills:

Statistical Analysis: Stata, R, E-Views,
Scripting & Data Querying Languages: Python, SQL, Cypher, SPSS
Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, Neo4j
Data Collection: ODK, Survey CTO, Survey Solutions
Version Control: Github, Visual Studio Code
Office Suites: Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
Artificial Intelligence: OpenAI playground, Grok, DeepSeek, Claude, Gemini, Dall-E, Copilot, Jasper, Midjourney, n8n & others.
Languages: English (native), Urdu and Punjabi ((proficient), Spanish (intermediate), and Arabic (basic).

Areas of Expertise:

Program and Project Management,
Change Management, Stakeholder Facilitation,
Strategic Alignment,
Organizational Development,
Executive Communication,
Advanced Analysis,
Fund Raising and Donor Engagement,
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (M&E),
Impact Evaluation & Field Coordination,
Development Economics, and
Data pipeline architecture

OTHER INTERESTS:

Traveling
Music
Longboarding
Freestyle Football
Squash
Table Tennis
Chess