Pillar and Path Consulting brings together senior expertise and a curated associate network covering governance, GESI, climate, water resources, digital systems, agriculture, and public health.
Karim Gabol founded Pillar and Path Consulting after 25 years working across governance, gender equality and social inclusion, and environmental and social safeguards for international donors including UNDP, WWF, the UN International Trade Centre, the Better Cotton Initiative, ADB and IFAD.
His recent work includes GESI mainstreaming and ESMF design for UNDP's land and water resources programme in Balochistan, an endline evaluation of BCI's cotton programme with WWF Punjab, and a gender mainstreaming analysis for the UK Trade Partnership programme through UN-ITC. Earlier assignments took him through post-flood rural Sindh, remote northern highland communities, and Central Asian returnee economies, building a body of work in Gender Action Plans, Social and Environmental Screening, and PSEA compliance frameworks for major donors. He previously served as Head of the Senate Parliamentary Development Unit, giving the firm direct institutional familiarity with Pakistan's federal legislative architecture.
Hassan Hadi coordinates research and data functions, building the CAPI systems (KoboToolbox, mWater, SurveyCTO) that underpin field data collection. His project record includes the Better Cotton Initiative's Decent Work Baseline Study, FAO's Farmer Field School stocktaking exercise across the Asia-Pacific region, and the WFP-funded Benazir Nashonuma Programme. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Life Sciences and is co-author of peer-reviewed research on cervical cancer screening in rural Pakistan.
Sana Hadi serves as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing firm management, coordination and governance across Pillar and Path's active assignments. She holds a Master's degree in International Relations and serves as an authorised signatory of the firm.
Ahsan supports Pillar and Path's finance, procurement and logistics operations across active assignments. He holds a BSc from Iqra University, Karachi, and is currently completing his Master of Commerce (MCom) at the University of Karachi.
Pillar and Path draws on a curated network of national specialists assembled for each assignment based on the precise technical requirements of the work. The network spans governance, water sciences, environmental safeguards, gender economics, climate agriculture, GIS, digital systems, and public health.
With over 25 years in governance, legislative reform and crisis response across Pakistan and Somalia, Nazeer brings strategic and field expertise in democratic accountability system design, electoral law reform, programme design and evaluation, civil society strengthening, and high-stakes stakeholder engagement at national and international levels. He has designed flagship programmes for USAID, the EU and UNDP — including the UNDP National SDGs+ project, USAID's Citizen Voice Project, and the EU's Improving Parliamentary Performance initiative. His client roster spans USAID, FCDO, the EU, UNDP, UNODC, DAI, Chemonics, NDI, IFES, the British Council, MSI, Blumont, FES, The Asia Foundation and RTI International. He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and has completed executive education at Harvard Kennedy School, with 16 research publications to his credit.
A dual Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in both Pakistan and England & Wales, Omar Zia currently serves as Chief Audit Officer for the Global Fund (TB, AIDS & Malaria) in Pakistan. His expertise spans financial governance, internal controls, risk-based audit, due diligence, fraud risk management (CIPFA, UK, 2023), investment advisory and corporate governance across over 20 years of diversified local and international practice, including Big 4 assurance, public sector entities, NGOs, telecommunications and financial regulation. He is a Certified Internal Control Auditor (IIC, USA) and holds a BSc (Honours) in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University.
Hashim is a strategic finance and compliance leader who brings over two decades of expertise in managing multi-million-dollar donor-funded programmes and audit services. His technical strengths span multi-partner grant portfolio management, financial risk assessment, and strict donor compliance frameworks, including USAID, Global Fund, and UNDP regulations. With extensive field audit and advisory experience at KPMG Afghanistan and across complex operating environments in Pakistan, Hashim bridges rigorous financial oversight with practical field realities. Beyond finance, his deep integration with procurement, HR, and logistics functions allows him to drive holistic, efficient organisational management. Hashim holds APFA (PIPFA), CBA (ICAP), and CFC (IFC, Canada) credentials, alongside a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Peshawar.
A Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA — CIMA, UK) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Haseeb brings 15 years of experience managing donor portfolios exceeding US$100 million across UN agencies, INGOs and the corporate sector. His expertise spans IFRS and IPSAS compliance, sub-grantee oversight, ERP implementation (SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks), donor audits and due diligence, and financial capacity building. He has served as Finance and Admin Officer at UNDP Pakistan (Global Fund), Head of Finance at Development Strategies Associates, and Manager Contracts & Donor Reporting at TDEA — where he managed portfolios across USAID, GAC, EU and UNDP exceeding US$100 million. He has delivered financial compliance training to over 100 partner staff across Pakistan.
Dr Aslam Jarwar holds a PhD in Aquaculture from Auburn University, USA, specialising in farming of shrimp and marine fish in saline groundwater. His career spans over 25 years, with most of his work in the fisheries sector where he served as Director Marine and in multiple other senior roles. He also worked in WWF-Pakistan, IUCN Pakistan, and the World Bank and FAO, where he served as National Aquaculture Consultant on the LIVAQUA (Livestock & Aquaculture Sectors Transformation) project for the Government of Sindh. His technical skills cover aquaculture planning and feasibility, hatchery and farm design and business modelling, fish and shrimp farm management, cage culture and crab fattening, and post-harvest operations, value chains and fisheries governance. He has experience in project feasibilities and strategic planning, policy and regulatory framework development, and institutional development. He has authored over 50 extension and training publications and contributed to national and international forums. He has a special interest in integration of aquaculture with rice crop, kitchen gardening, and poultry and livestock. He managed digitisation of aquaculture data, developed an aquaculture dashboard, and is currently developing an App for Aquaculture and Agriculture Farm Management.
Ikram Ali has over 15 years of experience in governance, electoral processes, climate policy and community development. As Training Officer at UNDP's Strengthening Electoral and Legislative Processes (SELP) project (2016–2020), he designed and managed capacity development for over 800,000 polling staff nationwide and led training for aspiring women candidates and ECP officers. An accredited BRIDGE workshop facilitator, he has mainstreamed gender across electoral policy frameworks and legal structures. He previously served as Senior Project Officer at IFES (2012–2015) and Programme Officer at Democracy Reporting International (2011). He currently supports climate risk management and stakeholder engagement in AJK through CPDR, with field experience across Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and KP.
Founder and Executive Director of DOCH Pvt Ltd, Deedar Mengal builds sustainable livelihoods for indigenous artisans across all 32 districts of Balochistan. Her work integrates craft enterprise development, market access and women's economic empowerment through partnerships with NAVTTC, SMEDA, BRSP, the British Council and PPAF. She has trained over 1,600 women through vocational and entrepreneurship programmes and organised Pakistan's two largest women-only business platforms — the Meri Pechaan Women Expo (15,000 and 20,000 footfall in 2022–23). She holds the Karandaz Women Entrepreneurship Challenge Award (2017), the Lift Pakistan Social Entrepreneurship Award (2019) and the Chief Minister Balochistan Award (2024). She currently serves as Head of Women Wing at the Pakistan Business Forum (Balochistan) and Standing Committee Member for E-Commerce under the Chief Secretary of Balochistan.
With over 25 years of experience across UN agencies, INGOs and bilateral donor programmes, Shahzadi's core expertise covers gender analysis and mainstreaming, GESI-responsive project design, gender-transformative approaches to livelihoods and climate resilience, GBV prevention, women's leadership development and gender-sensitive natural resource management in fisheries, eco-tourism and blue/green economy contexts. She has held full-time and consultancy roles with Oxfam, UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women, AKU, IOM, ADB, the World Bank, GIZ, the EU, USAID, NRSP, WWF and Khushhali Bank. She has trained over 3,000 women artisans and conducted vulnerability assessments in flood-prone and coastal communities across Sindh and Balochistan. She holds an MBA from the University of Sindh and is certified in Coastal Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (2015), Emergency Response and DRR (USA, 2010), and Women Entrepreneurship Development from the East-West Center, Hawaii (2009).
Badar Un Nisa is a senior social development and gender specialist with over 20 years of experience in gender-responsive programming, GBV prevention and safeguarding, education sector interventions, livelihoods development, and disaster resilience across Pakistan. She has worked with the World Bank, UN Women, WWF-Pakistan, CARE International, IUCN, ILO and government institutions. Most recently she served as Communication and Documentation Expert on a World Bank-funded Gender Mainstreaming and GBV project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's education sector, developing training manuals for teachers, students, district coordinators and construction workers on GBV prevention and safe learning environments. Her technical skills span gender analysis and GESI frameworks, GBV prevention and safeguarding tools, training design and facilitation, Logical Framework Analysis, Theory of Change, Results-Based Management, and qualitative research methods including FGDs and KIIs. She has led baseline and endline assessments, feasibility studies and M&E framework design for programmes in the coastal communities of Sindh and Balochistan, and served as Provincial ILO Coordinator for International Labour Standards at the Sindh Labour Department. She holds a strong track record in donor reporting, case study development and knowledge product production.
Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Dr Fardaus Ara holds a PhD in Sociology from Murdoch University (Western Australia) and an MPhil in Public Administration from the University of Bergen, Norway. Her research spans women's political participation, gender mainstreaming in public administration and civil service, local government reform and development policy across South Asia. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on women in governance and political systems, and serves on the International Advisory Board of the South Asia Research Journal (Sage). She brings a rigorous comparative South Asian governance perspective to gender equality and institutional capacity programming.
Holding an MS in Public Health, Ali Shoaib brings over two decades of experience in monitoring, evaluation and learning, research management, impact measurement and knowledge systems. His technical skills cover results-based M&E framework design, large-scale survey management, CAPI-based data collection, enumerator training, baseline and endline evaluation, and centralised M&E system development. At PRIME Consulting Islamabad, he has led 24 large-scale surveys and research studies across Pakistan for WHO, ADB, BISP, the Punjab Population Innovation Fund and multiple UN agencies. He is a national-level Best Performance Award recipient (NCHD, evaluated by ADB, NUST and Shell Pakistan) for operational achievement in hard and remote areas of Balochistan.
A development economist specialising in gender, labour markets, social protection and environmental economics, Dr Rabia Manzoor holds a PhD in Economics from Clark University, USA, and an MPhil in Environmental Economics from PIDE. Her eight years as Senior Research Associate at SDPI, Islamabad included leading multi-donor research for UNDP, USAID, WFP and FCDO on gender-responsive education financing, trade policy, social protection systems and labour economics. Her research skills span econometric modelling, gender-differentiated welfare analysis, household surveys, policy impact assessment and systematic literature review. She has over 30 peer-reviewed publications and has presented at UN ESCAP and the South Asia Economic Summit.
Deputy Director (Environment) at the Sindh Barrages Improvement Project, Sindh Irrigation Department, Dr Mahessar's expertise covers irrigation system management, flood routing, drainage engineering, wetland environmental assessment and water policy. His research spans Indus River hydraulics, canal water distribution modelling and environmental impacts on Ramsar-designated wetland sites in Sindh. He has directed flood forecasting studies and contributed to provincial water governance frameworks. He holds a PhD in Hydraulics and Irrigation Engineering from Mehran University, with postgraduate qualifications in Economics and Law, and is Visiting Faculty at Sindh Madressatul Islam University. Over 35 peer-reviewed publications.
A PMP-certified development professional with over 20 years in climate-resilient agriculture, NRM and rural livelihoods, Ayaz currently serves as Programme Specialist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization leading Farmer Field School networks and climate-smart agriculture initiatives across Sindh. His technical skills span climate adaptation programme design, sustainable cotton and regenerative agriculture, anticipatory action programming, value chain development and farmer organisation. At CABI and CottonConnect International, he led programmes reaching over 60,000 farmers. He holds FAO's Anticipatory Action Systems credential and an MSc in Agriculture (SAU) and MSc in Economics (University of Sindh). His FAO programmes have reached more than 37,000 households in Sindh's most flood-vulnerable districts.
Assistant Director at PCRWR, Nabeel applies satellite-based analysis to groundwater and irrigation resource studies across Pakistan. His technical skills include ESRI ArcGIS (advanced), HEC-RAS, GroundWater Vistas, remote sensing-based crop water stress detection, hydrological modelling, GIS-based spatial data analysis, SQL (BigQuery), Python, R and SPSS. His MSc research on crop water stress detection through remote sensing (Mehran University) was completed during a USAID exchange fellowship at Colorado State University. He has co-authored peer-reviewed research in ACS Omega on groundwater hydrochemistry in flood-prone districts of Sindh (2026).
A Rector's Gold Medallist in Environmental Engineering from NUST, Fouzia currently serves as Programme Analyst on a GIZ-funded building sector energy efficiency and decarbonisation project at UET Peshawar. Her skills span environmental monitoring and compliance, MEL framework development, CAPI-based field data collection, stakeholder coordination and building sector energy performance assessment. She has field experience across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is certified in child safeguarding, and brings Pashto language fluency that enables direct community engagement in KP and FATA without translation — a practical asset in communities where women's programme access depends on trusted communication.
System Engineer Tech Lead at Stewart Pakistan, Zulqarnain brings over a decade of expertise in enterprise IT infrastructure, application deployment, configuration management and disaster recovery architecture. His technical skills include middleware configuration (IIS, MSMQ), multi-vendor systems integration, business continuity planning, automated build and release management, Azure cloud administration and SSL and security compliance. He holds a BSc in Computer Science (Allama Iqbal Open University) and certifications including Azure Administrator (Az-104), ITIL v4 Foundation, ISC2 Cyber Security and Wireshark Certified Network Analyst. Recognised as Performer of the Year at Stewart Pakistan in 2018 and promoted to Technical Lead in 2022.
Principal QA Engineer at Stewart Title Pakistan with 14 years in software quality assurance, test management and agile delivery. His skills span TMMi appraisal leadership, test planning and execution, ISTQB generative AI testing, agile and scrum methodology, AML compliance system QA (Microsoft Dynamics 365) and process maturity frameworks. He holds an MSc in Electronic Commerce from PUCIT Lahore and certifications as PMP (ID 3651860), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), CTFL (ISTQB) and ISTQB Generative AI Tester — one of the earliest in Pakistan to hold this designation. Stewart Global Gold Award recipient in 2024 and 2026 for leadership on major technology initiatives.
Dr Zainab Naveed holds an MBBS from Wah Medical College and is currently completing an MSPH at the Health Services Academy, Islamabad, with a focus on epidemiology, health systems strengthening and health policy. Her skills cover community health needs assessment, disease surveillance, evidence-based health programme design, epidemiological research methods, and health systems analysis. She holds WHO certifications in Health Emergencies and Infodemic Management and has conducted community-level health assessments across Pakistan. She provides the firm with public health and health GESI expertise for programmes in the nutrition, WASH and primary health sectors.
Hira Sajjad holds a BS (Hons) in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore (CGPA 3.40) and is completing an MSPH at the Health Services Academy, Islamabad (CGPA 3.92). She currently serves as Lecturer in Human Nutrition and Dietetics at Yashfeen College of Allied Health Sciences and is Associate Editor of the Yashfeen Journal. Her expertise spans clinical and community nutrition, maternal and child nutrition assessment, dietary pattern analysis, public health nutrition programme design and nutrition-sensitive development interventions. She is the firm's lead resource on nutrition-sensitive programming and food security assessments across development projects.
Taseer Ali Mahesar holds a BSc in City and Regional Planning from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and an MSc in Transportation Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi (CGPA 3.1). His academic training covers master planning, transportation planning, land use and development management and construction technology, with applied skills in AutoCAD and GIS. He has professional exposure through internships with the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and the National Highway Authority, Islamabad. His planning background provides the firm with technical capacity in urban and regional land use assessment, spatial analysis and infrastructure feasibility studies relevant to climate adaptation and NRM programming.
Kainat Halepoto holds a BSc (Honours) in Soil Science from Sindh Agriculture University and is recognised as an International Master Trainer by Huazhong Agricultural University, China (2025). Currently serving as Agriculture Officer with CWS-A in Umerkot district, she works with smallholder farming communities on soil health management, sustainable crop management and farmer field school facilitation. Her practical skills include soil quality assessment, organic farming techniques, training of trainers facilitation, and community-level agricultural extension. Her specialist soil science knowledge combined with certified international training methodology makes her a highly practical resource for agricultural livelihoods programming in interior Sindh.
Shari Vishni holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam. Her technical expertise covers small ruminant and poultry health management, animal disease surveillance, backyard livestock systems, animal nutrition and productivity improvement, and smallholder livestock enterprise development. A native Dhatki and Sindhi speaker alongside Urdu, she delivers training and facilitation in interior Sindh communities where language barriers routinely limit the reach of formal livestock programmes. Her veterinary qualifications and community language access make her particularly effective for livelihoods programmes in the Tharparkar, Umerkot and Mirpurkhas belt.
Based in Quetta, Safia Zubair brings 15 years of practice-based expertise across fashion design, beautician services, dress design, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, cutting and stitching, and netting. She delivers vocational training to women in Balochistan, combining artisan skill transfer with entrepreneurship orientation to enable income generation and self-employment. Her training approach is grounded in direct skills demonstration and mentorship, making her effective in low-literacy environments. Multilingual in Urdu, Punjabi and Persian, she works effectively across diverse community contexts in the province and is a key resource for women's economic empowerment programmes targeting Balochistan's urban and peri-urban communities.
Dr Jamshaid Iqbal holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from NUST and is an HEC-approved PhD supervisor. His field is environmental and social safeguards, with specialisation in Environmental Impact Assessments, ESIAs, IEEs, Environmental and Social Management Frameworks, and Stakeholder Engagement Plans across the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors. His interventions include EIA and ESIA assignments financed by the World Bank, IFC, ADB and USAID, working alongside major international contractors including Ramboll-UK and CMEC-China on coal, gas, hydro, wind and solar projects across Pakistan. He also holds a patent in textile waste recycling.
Dr Atif Javed holds a PhD in Soil and Environmental Sciences from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, specialising in carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics. His field covers environmental and social impact assessment, soil quality and pollution assessment, carbon footprint analysis, environmental screening and sustainability reporting. His interventions include World Bank and ADB-financed ESIA and IEE studies, including the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant and the UEP Wind Power Plant. He is an HEC-approved PhD supervisor and completed a Visiting Scholar fellowship at Ohio State University under an HEC-funded grant.
Dr Ghulam Murtaza holds a PhD in Spectroscopic and Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Metal Ions from the University of Sindh. His field is hydrogeochemistry and water quality, spanning trace metal detection in water, drinking water safety assessment, coastal and groundwater quality monitoring, and laboratory quality management. His interventions include major water quality assessments for UNICEF, WHO and the Government of Sindh in flood-affected districts and coastal zones facing seawater intrusion, and he served as Amicus Curiae to the Judicial Water Commission constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He has authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications on groundwater hydrochemistry and drinking water safety.
Masood Ahmed Lohar brings over 20 years of experience in climate finance, environmental governance, nature-based solutions and community-led climate resilience. He served for 14 years as Country Programme Manager for the UNDP/UNOPS GEF Small Grants Programme in Pakistan (2006–2020), directing a national portfolio of 221 climate resilience projects, mobilising over US$6 million in climate finance with US$2.3 million in government co-financing, restoring 25,000 acres of mangroves, and extending solar energy access to over 20,000 households. He has served as Project Coordinator for IFC-compliant wind power projects (Hagler Bailley), Senior Consultant on circular economy and waste-to-energy programmes (TearFund/UKAID), and CSR Advisor at Eni Pakistan where he led IFC Performance Standards compliance and community risk management. He holds a BE in Petroleum and Gas Engineering from Mehran University and an MSc in International Relations from the University of Sindh, with certifications in Eco-Governance (AIT Thailand) and GHG Accounting (World Bank).
Muhammad Shahryar Khan holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of London and has completed the Refugee Protection Course at LUMS (2025) and a World Bank-organised training on Prevention and Mitigation of GBV, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (2025). His field covers international refugee law, protection frameworks under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, non-refoulement principles, and legal representation at federal courts and tribunals. His most recent position was Deputy Director (Legal, Protection and Relief) at the Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CCAR), Islamabad (2024–2026), where he represented CCAR and the Ministry of SAFRON at legal and grievance forums, managed provincial legal coordination across all Provincial Commissionerates, and liaised with UNHCR, IOM and GIZ on refugee protection matters. He previously interned at Aitzaz Ahsan and Associates and represented Pakistan at the South Korea Youth Conference (Ministry of Youth Affairs, Seoul).
Usman Shoaib is a Senior Flutter Developer with over six years of experience building cross-platform mobile applications in the fintech, banking and e-commerce domains, currently based in Islamabad. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology. His technical expertise covers Flutter with MVVM, MVC and BLoC architectures, SSL Pinning and application security (DexGuard, IxGuard, Guardsquare), CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins), RESTful API integration, Firebase, Payment Gateways and real-time data systems. He currently serves as Software Engineer and Flutter Developer at DPL (working with Axian Group), where he has developed fintech applications deployed across Tanzania, Senegal and Togo. His project portfolio includes TIGO PESA Tanzania, MVola, TMoney and the YAS Agent Apps for SIM registration and telco services across West Africa.
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