Zahra Lodhi

Zahra Lodhi,
Islamabad, Pakistan

Zahra, an Economist, holds a post graduate degree from the top university of Pakistan, Lahore University of Management Sciences, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Finance from London School of Economics (LSE). She started her career as a Research Associate at Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Government of Pakistan. She has taught graduate and postgraduate subjects at different universities. Zahra has authored and co-authored a number of publications and writes regularly in English and Urdu newspapers. She is acknowledged in the development sector for her Public Budget Analysis skills. While working for a National Endowment for Democracy (NED, US Congress) project as a Project Manager, she developed a district level Open Budget Index for her country. Her struggle for open, transparent and participatory budgeting is lauded by the civil society. She formulated a network of 23 nonprofit organizations known as the Citizens Network for Budget Accountability to monitor government budgets. This network finds loop holes in the budget making process, identifies leakages and holds government accountable for misusing taxpayers money.

Zahra has also worked as an Economist for the Korea International Cooperation Agency where she managed various ODA projects (including technical cooperation, loans and grant aid) in the area of economic policy and development sectors such as Education, Energy & Infrastructure, and Health & Sanitation. She has also worked with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), International Growth Center (IGC), British Council, UK Department for International Development (DFID), Save the Children, Citizen Voice Project USAid and World Food Program in different capacities.

Recently Zahra has joined UNDP's Crises Prevention and Recovery Unit. Also, she is the General Secretary of Rotaract Club of Islamabad. Her areas of interest are Democratic Development, Government Budget, Aid Effectiveness, Financial Economics, and Health Economics.