A principal-led firm, supported by a curated network of national and international associates whose collective experience covers the full spectrum of sustainable development.
Abdul 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.
Karim leads every Pillar and Path assignment directly. Nothing is handed off to junior staff partway through, a deliberate choice that keeps senior judgement in the room from the first scoping call to the final report.
Hassan Hadi coordinates Pillar and Path's research and data functions, building the CAPI systems (KoboToolbox, mWater, SurveyCTO) that underpin the firm's field data collection. His project record includes the Better Cotton Initiative's Decent Work Baseline Study and FAO's Farmer Field School stocktaking exercise across the Asia-Pacific region. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Life Sciences.
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.
Pillar and Path draws on a curated network of national specialists assembled for each assignment based on the precise technical requirements of the work. No associate is presented to a client before Karim has personally assessed their fit for the specific scope.
Over 25 years in governance, legislative reform and crisis response across Pakistan and Somalia. His positions include Chief of Party for USAID's Bar Ama Baro programme in Somalia, Governance Advisor to the USAID Pakistan Mission, Team Leader for the EU Delegation in Pakistan, and Country Director for Democracy Reporting 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.
Twenty years of livelihoods, SME development and gender-responsive community engagement across Pakistan's coastal regions, with postings at WWF-Pakistan, Oxfam, Khushhali Bank and the Balochistan Rural Support Programme. She has trained over 500 women artisans in product development and market linkages, and led vulnerability assessments across flood-prone and coastal communities in Sindh and Balochistan. She holds an MBA and a Diploma in Integrated Coastal Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
Executive Director of WEDO (Women Entrepreneurship and Development Organization) and a sociologist with over two decades of experience in livelihoods programming, gender-responsive enterprise development and community mobilisation. Her field career spans WWF-Pakistan, Oxfam, and OMV Pakistan across Sindh and Balochistan, including impact studies for AKF and vulnerability assessments in flood-affected coastal districts. She holds an MSc in Development and has documented community livelihood strategies across the Indus Eco-region.
Rector's Gold Medallist with a BEng in Environmental Engineering from NUST, currently serving as Programme Analyst on a GIZ-funded building sector energy efficiency project at UET Peshawar. Her work covers MEL, stakeholder coordination and CAPI-based data collection, with field experience across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She is Pashto-fluent and certified in child safeguarding.
Currently Assistant Director at the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, applying satellite-based analysis to groundwater and irrigation studies. He holds an MSc in Integrated Water Resource Management from Mehran University, with his thesis on crop water stress detection through remote sensing completed during a USAID exchange at Colorado State University. Proficient in ESRI ArcGIS, HEC-RAS, GroundWater Vistas and Python, with peer-reviewed publications on groundwater hydrochemistry and satellite-based water demand assessment.
Deputy Director (Environment) at the Sindh Barrages Improvement Project, Sindh Irrigation Department. His research covers flood routing on the Indus River, canal water management and environmental impacts on Ramsar wetland sites, with over 35 peer-reviewed publications. He holds a PhD in Hydraulics and Irrigation Engineering from Mehran University, with additional postgraduate qualifications in Economics and Law, and serves as Visiting Faculty at Sindh Madressatul Islam University.
PhD in Economics from Clark University (USA), with an MPhil in Environmental Economics from PIDE. Eight years as Senior Research Associate at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, leading research funded by UNDP, USAID, WFP and FCDO on gender-responsive education financing, trade policy and social protection. More than 30 peer-reviewed publications, with presentations at UN ESCAP and the South Asia Economic Summit.
System Engineer Tech Lead at Stewart Pakistan with a decade of experience in IT infrastructure, application deployment and configuration management across development, testing and production environments. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Allama Iqbal Open University and certifications including Azure Administrator, ITIL v4 Foundation and ISC2 Cyber Security, and was recognised as Performer of the Year at Stewart in 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Principal QA Engineer at Stewart Title Pakistan with 14 years in software quality assurance and agile project management, currently leading TMMi process maturity appraisal and quality assurance for AML compliance systems on Microsoft Dynamics 365. He holds an MSc in Electronic Commerce from Punjab University and is certified as a PMP, Certified ScrumMaster and ISTQB Generative AI Tester. Stewart Global Gold Award recipient in 2024 and 2026.
PMP-certified development professional with over 20 years in climate-resilient agriculture and rural livelihoods. Currently serving as Programme Specialist at FAO, leading Farmer Field Schools and climate-smart agriculture initiatives that have reached more than 37,000 households across Sindh. Previous roles at CABI and CottonConnect International covered regenerative agriculture and sustainable cotton programmes benefiting over 60,000 farmers. He holds an MSc in Agriculture (SAU), an MSc in Economics (University of Sindh), and is completing a PhD in Agricultural Extension at AIOU.
PhD in Soil and Environmental Sciences from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, specialising in carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics. He has contributed to World Bank and ADB-financed ESIA and IEE studies across the energy, industrial and infrastructure sectors, including the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant and the UEP Wind Power Plant. An HEC-approved PhD supervisor and former Visiting Scholar at Ohio State University under an HEC-funded fellowship.
MBBS from Wah Medical College with clinical rotations across medicine, paediatrics, surgery and community health. Currently pursuing an MSPH at the Health Services Academy, Islamabad, with a focus on epidemiology, health policy and health systems strengthening. She holds WHO certifications in Health Emergencies and Infodemic Management, has conducted community health needs assessments, and brings practical experience in disease surveillance and evidence-based intervention design.
Agriculture Officer with CWS-A in Umerkot, working directly with smallholder farming communities on soil health, crop management and sustainable agricultural practices. She holds a BSc (Honours) in Soil Science and is recognised as an International Master Trainer by Huazhong Agricultural University, China.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam. A native Dhatki and Sindhi speaker, she supports livestock and poultry training programmes across Umerkot district, working with smallholder farmers on animal health and productivity practices where language access and community trust are often the limiting factors for field delivery.
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