Economist, Data Scientist & Policy Researcher

Building evidence into action.

For more than a decade I have directed large-scale research and analytics programs, coalescing original thinking, quantitative reasoning, advanced analytics, and strategic management. This work has percolated into key indicators, knowledge products, and strategies that engage interlocutors to strengthen human capital and manufacture economic momentum across global portfolios.

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Ahmed Raza
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Professional Summary

Ahmed is a Canadian citizen with extensive global policy and research experience enabling him to construct analytical systems and decision infrastructure through which institutions convert complex evidence into coherent strategy—grounded in economic theory, advanced quantitative reasoning, technology, and the principles of human-centered design. His work has shaped multi-country programs in international organization(s), country-level data systems, and flagship knowledge products that governments and international institutions rely upon to guide investment in education and human capital, advertently manufacturing momentum and cultivating economic gravitas.

He is a trained researcher with demonstrated expertise in navigating intricate data landscapes and implementation challenges. His sustained work advancing evidence-based policy-making has culminated in affiliations with renowned institutions including the World Bank Group, Harvard University’s Center for International Development (CID), CERP, and the Barcelona School of Economics.

Balancing Insights (foundation, rigor, and guardrails) with Belief and Vision (energy, creative spark, and conviction).

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Research Focus

Evidence-Based Policy-Making
Applied Econometrics, Causal Inference & Data Modeling
Finance, International Trade & Development Economics
Education & Human Capital Development
Governance & Sustainable Growth
Technology Policy & Artificial Intelligence
Research Design & Data Architecture
Multi-dimensional Indicator Creation & Market Mapping
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Work History

Consultant — Data & Strategy Lead World Bank Group (Development Economics & Education) April 2019 – June 2025
  • Led a cross-functional team of 20 economists, data scientists and analysts delivering policy analysis and multi-year impact assessments across a US$50M+ analytical portfolio that informed decisions in 100+ countries.
  • Co-architected and product-owned Data Depot-Pakistan — a national platform that harmonized publicly available micro-data (census, survey, administrative) to produce properitary panels, tools and analytical products to became the primary infrastructure for sub-national SDG reporting for results based programming of the education sector.
  • Provided technical leadership for the Global Education Policy Dashboard, translating complex multi-stage survey requirements into a shipped product now used as a monitoring tool by 20 + client countries.
  • Led the data harmonization and analytical architecture behind the Learning Poverty indicator and flagship report, creating a global benchmark that equipped 100+ governments with a 2030 learning-recovery evidence base and shifted the World Bank’s own operational strategy.
Research Manager — LEAPS Program Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan & Harvard July 2018 – March 2019
  • Held full accountability for a US$3M+ multi-donor research program across 112 villages reaching more than one million students — budgets, timelines, field teams, partners, and research agenda.
  • Designed automated QA protocols and data-tracking pipelines that cut field turnaround by 30% and sample attrition by 20%.
  • Mentored and directed cross-functional teams of 40+ field researchers, data professionals and analysts : exploring indepedent avenues of investigation of education marketplace using a systems approach.
  • Managed stakeholders, government relations, field strategy , research agenadas, and project outcomes by creating effective feedback loops .
Senior Research Associate — Education & Analytics Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan & Harvard June 2016 – March 2018
  • Owned survey methodology, field protocols and data-quality audits across research waves for multiple fintech and micro-finance projects.
  • Designed Ed-Tech products by managing all aspects related to UX/UI requirements by mapping out and analyzing user experiences through A/B testing, behavioral analysis and mix-method research initiatives.
  • Provided Data analytics support with monitoring and evaluation expertise to government and commercial-bank partners on multi-stakeholder programs, expanding institutional outreach by 30 %.
Teaching Fellow — Rethinking Financial Inclusion Harvard Kennedy School April 2016
  • Trained government officials, practitioners and bankers on smart policy design and research methodology; achieved 96% participant satisfaction across an international cohort.
Research Associate — State-Authority Project Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) June 2014 – June 2016
  • Co-designed behavioral-lab games and field experiments across 3 RCTs with 4,000+ respondents; contributed to a peer-reviewed paper on institutional trust published in the Journal of Political Economy.
  • Recruited, trained and managed an in-house field team of 30 enumerators and 2 supervisors — zero timeline slippage over 18 months.
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Selected Projects & Publications

Global Education Policy Dashboard (GEPD)

Served as Data & Strategy Lead for the World Bank's Global Education Policy Dashboard (GEPD), driving technical design, implementation strategy, data architecture, scalable anaytics, and cross-government alignment across 27 education systems in 5 regions. Transformed complex global research into a diagnostic framework mapping Practice, Policy, and Politics—enabling governments to track systemic drivers of foundational learning outcomes and inform policy decisions.

State of Global Learning Poverty — 2022 Update

Led the data harmonization and analytical architecture behind the Learning Poverty indicator and flagship report. Created a global benchmark that equipped 100+ governments with a 2030 learning-recovery evidence base and shifted the World Bank’s own operational strategy.

Pakistan – Human Capital Review

Designed the core econometric workstream and visualization strategy for the World Bank’s flagship country report on human capital. Applied advanced modeling to quantify returns to education and the role of cognitive and socioemotional skills, directly informing national policy priorities.

Data Depot Pakistan

Co-architected and product-owned a national data platform built from a blank page. Harmonized publicly available micro-datasets into an interactive ecosystem that became Pakistan’s primary infrastructure for sub-national SDG reporting and ongoing self-serve access to evidence.

Learning and Educational Achievement in Pakistan Schools (LEAPS)

Held full accountability for a US$3M+ multi-donor research program across 112 villages reaching more than one million students. Designed systems, directed field teams of 40+, and contributed to research design that produced an NBER working paper on education financing constraints.

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Skills

Strategic Capabilities

  • Problem framing & root-cause analysis
  • Rapid prototyping & build-test-learn cycles
  • Systems thinking & collaborative influence
  • Change management & stakeholder facilitation
  • Active listening & constructive communication
  • Executive presence & branding
  • Human centered design & institutional delivery
  • Pattern recognition & optimized analysis

Technical

  • Statistical Analysis — Stata, R, Python, SPSS, E-Views, Minitab
  • Scripting & Querying — Python, SQL, Cypher, Alteryx
  • Data Visualization — Tableau, Power BI, Neo4j, R Shiny
  • Data Collection — ODK, SurveyCTO, Survey Solutions
  • Version Control & Tools — GitHub, VS Code, ArcGIS
  • AI Tools — OpenAI, Grok, Claude, Gemini, n8n and others

Languages

  • English & Urdu — native
  • Spanish & French — intermediate
  • Arabic — basic
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Education & Recognition

Education

MSc in Specialized Economic Analysis Barcelona School of Economics — 2014 Concentration: International Trade, Finance & Development Economics
WES-evaluated as equivalent to a Canadian Master’s degree
BSc (Honors) in Economics & Finance Lahore School of Economics — 2013 Dean’s Honor List (2009–2013)
WES-evaluated as equivalent to a Canadian Bachelor’s degree

Certifications & Awards

  • Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner — IBM (2025)
  • VPU Best Team Award — World Bank Group (2023)
    Recognized for cross-unit collaboration on post-COVID human capital strategy
  • Project Management and Change Management for Development — World Bank Group (2025)
  • Cybersecurity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence — World Bank Group (2024)
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Other Interests

Longboarding Music Traveling Freestyle Football Squash Table Tennis Chess
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Connect

Thanks for stopping by. Let's build something meaningful. I’m always up for a good conversation on technology, data, economics, culture and design. Get in touch.