Launch of Afghanistan Welfare Monitoring Survey – Round 2

Dr. William Byrd is a development economist whose academic background includes a doctorate in economics from Harvard University and a master's degree in East Asian Regional Studies from the same institution. He joined USIP in April 2012 as a senior expert, working on Afghanistan. Dr. Byrd had long experience at the World Bank, where most of his work was country-focused, including China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He lived for significant lengths of time in all of these countries and speaks Dari and Chinese, with some knowledge of other languages. During 2002-2006, he was stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he served as the World Bank’s country manager for Afghanistan and then as economic adviser.

Melinda Good is Country Director for Afghanistan for the South Asia region at the World Bank Group. Prior to this, she was the Operations Manager for Pakistan. She joined the World Bank in 2005 and has worked in several leadership positions across the World Bank, including in South Asia.  Before joining the World Bank, she worked with the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington, DC. She began her career as a private-sector lawyer in New York and Singapore. She has worked in South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific Islands, and North America.

Mr. Alakbarov brings 25 years of experience in executive leadership, strategic planning and policy making, development programming and management, and humanitarian response, including as the Director of the Policy and Strategy Division in New York and the Country Representative in Haiti for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  From February to July 2020, he was Deputy Executive Director for Management and Assistant Secretary-General, ad interim, for UNFPA.  Since August 2020 he was the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, ad interim.  Mr. Alakbarov has also served as UNFPA Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Office for Arab States (2014–2015) and Head of the Office in South Sudan (2010).  Mr. Alakbarov holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, United States, and a Medical Degree and Doctorate from Azerbaijan Medical University, Azerbaijan. 

Andrea coordinates a portfolio of analytical, advisory and project activities in his role at the Bank. His areas of interest are microeconomic determinants of enterprise performance, business environment, access to finance, development of supply chains including extractive industries, privatization of state-owned assets and reform of pension systems. Andrea has extensive work experience at the World Bank Group working in the Europe, Africa, and Central Asia regions. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Andrea worked at McKinsey and Co, where he advised top-tier European banks and financial institutions on credit and risk management issues.

Ghazala Mansuri is a Lead Economist and a Global Lead for the Welfare Impacts of Climate Change in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice. Her work at the intersection of research and policy, has been published in leading journals in economics and development, including the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Her research interests include the effect of public policies on poverty and inequality, institutional and governance reforms for development, the political economy of participatory development, shocks and economic welfare and gender relations and development. She holds a PhD in economics from Boston University. 

Dr Orzala Nemat is an internationally known scholar & think tank leader from Afghanistan. She is an expert in political ethnography, holding a PhD in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and an MSc in Development Planning from the University College London (UCL). Dr Nemat served as director of Afghanistan's leading Think Tank, AREU between 2016-2022. Dr Nemat also worked with various national and international organizations for over 22 years. She served on various development organizations’ governance boards and attended numerous international and national conferences representing the voices of Afghanistan and Afghan women. Dr Nemat is an experienced professional in leadership, research management, fundraising, development program and policy assessments with a keen interest in bridging between academia and policy expertise in conflict-affected contexts. Her subject expertise includes political economy, local governance, gender, and conflict.

Fiona Gall has more than 20 years’ experience in humanitarian and development programmes in Asia (Afghanistan, India and Pakistan) and North Africa, in relief and rehabilitation, health, disability and gender in challenging environments. Specializes in project management, monitoring and evaluation, donor relations, pro-poor policy development, advocacy, capacity building and mentoring of local partner organisations. Currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan as Director of Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development (ACBAR) for international and national NGOS.