As Program Analyst, I support UNDP Pakistan in overall management, quality assurance and outreach of the Environment and Climate Change portfolio. The portfolio consists of sustainable forest management; climate change adaptation and mitigation; disaster risk reduction; land management; glacial lake outburst risk reduction; enhancing resilience and natural resource management projects. I closely work with Ministry of Climate Change, and Provincial Forest, Wildlife and Environment Departments to support development and implementation of ‘Climate Change and Resilience’ component of UNDP\'s Strategic Plan  in view of the host government priorities.
My major role as Programme Analyst is Quality Assurance of the Environment and Climate Change portfolio, which, inter alia, includes risk analysis and management, ensuring implementing partners’ compliance with social and environmental safeguards criteria (SESP), and gender mainstreaming across ECC programme/projects. This means that I work with program stakeholders including local communities and government/non-government counterparts to build consensus on prioritizing activities leading towards conservation of natural resources. Further, I support the government and other UNDP Country Offices on technical and policy matters pertinent to CC adaptation/mitigation; sustainable land and forest management; and mobilizing green finances. I conceptualize, design and formulate proposals to acces green finance supporting the UN 2030 Agenda (SDGs). Liaison and coordination with regional office/ HQs and other international organizations/donors constitutes substantial part of my work. I organize and participate in formal sessions including project board meetings, technical workshops, and expert groups meetings together with the government and other counterparts.
 
I also serve as focal point for preparing annual progress reports/ Project Implementation Review (PIR) of Vertical Funds (VF) and bilateral donor reports especially covering my input on quality assurance and implementing partners’ compliance with UNDP’s Social and Environmental Screening Procedures (SESP).

As REDD+ Specialist, I supported the Regional REDD+ Programme in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, i.e. Bhutan, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan and facilitated developing analytical, monitoring and reporting frameworks, and methodologies for implementation of the REDD+ Programme in the mentioned countries.

Apart from the core support, I have been coordinating the ‘Regional Knowledge Management Platform’ to promote South-South Learning whereby focal points from regional countries were engaged and encouraged to share knowledge and experiences on REDD+ and Landscape Management frameworks by compiling, documenting and disseminating experiences from pilot areas.

I also led the Myanmar and Pakistan Country Components and coordinated with MOCC (Pakistan) and Ministry of Natural Resources, Land Management and Environmental Conservation (Myanmar), as well as with German Cooperation (GIZ) . I provided both policy and technical support to the Govt. of Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan to facilitate their REDD readiness phases.

I managed the first ever REDD+ readiness project in Pakistan. I have been closely coordinating with REDD focal point at Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), Govt. of Pakistan, ICIMOD and UNDP. I initiated the technical consultation process with all stakeholders and successfully led execution of the project strategy leading development of Pakistan’s Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP), was submitted to World Bank in 2014. Resultantly, the Govt of Pakistan secured US$ 7.8 million as financial assistance from FCPF for Pakistan’s REDD+ Readiness.

As the Manager of national project, inter alia, I collaborated with international bodies particularly the UN-REDD and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to access updated technical and financial support.

I co-authored Pakistan’s National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and its framework for implementation. I substantially contributed towards drafting chapters on Forestry, Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Finance, Mountain and other Vulnerable Ecosystems, Land Degradation, Adaptation and Mitigation. I kept abreast the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) on status of global climate change regimes. Developing the national policy was a result of extensive consultation meetings with federal entities and provincial governments, and other stakeholders across the country. I, together with my team, organized and convened all consultation workshops and presented findings to the MoCC. Submitting the final Climate Change Policy document to the Govt. of Pakistan and UNDP was the final task that I performed under this assignment.

As Senior Officer, I was responsible for preparing concept notes and design proposals for conservation of natural resources in Pakistan based on the trending degradation land and forests across the country. I was also assisting my team in reviewing, analysing and preparing policy papers on the work of WWF-Pakistan and contribute towards its global efforts on nature conservation. Liaison and coordination with UN agencies, local and INGOs, government line departments and other stakeholders was another area wherein I would take lead and present findings of our work as and when required.

As a consultant, I coordinated with the government of Malaysia and other partners of FACE Foundation for certification of the INFAPRO forestry project against the Verified Carbon Standards (VCS). I also visited the project sites in Borneo, Malaysia to assess and report the status of biodiversity conservation as a result of the improved forest management introduced under the INFAPRO project. I was responsible to present and communicate the key findings to FACE Foundation and the Sabah Forestry Department, Malaysia.
I furnished the final report on the results of BD conservation and submitted to FACE Foundation, these findings were part of other requirements based on which the project was verified by VCS.

As a science guest research, I was taking stock and analysing various European policies pertinent to Climate and Forests. I also provided administrative and technical assistance to the project on Global Biomass burning (GLOBIOM). I would also collaborate with IIASA’s researchers in projects related to ecosystem system services and management of natural resources. At IIASA, I was introduced to the emerging concept of REDD+ and the relevant decisions of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
This was the first time I worked with an international organization and was introduced to the concept of science-policy-practice in the context of climate change and management of natural resources. Keeping my learning at IIASA abreast, I worked with various international organizations throughout my career in various capacities bringing visible changes in policies and practices in the South Asian region particularly Pakistan.

As Coordinator of the UNDP funded project, my job description included the following:

• Overall management and coordination of Participatory Forest Management Project
• Designing Village Land Use Plans (VLUP) for the project area.
• Strategize advocacy and outreach campaigns to sensitize locals on better and wise management of the land and other natural resources.
• Provide leadership to the project team in establishing community-based management committees to effectively implement and monitor the project activities.
• Networking and coordination with UN agencies, government line departments and partner NGOs.
• Capacity building of and awareness raising on forestry, land management and effects of climate change the local communities.