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At IRL, we believe that people and knowledge are at the core of sustainable change. Our diverse team of leaders, advisors, and consultants brings deep expertise across sectors, while our resources provide practical tools and frameworks to strengthen learning and development worldwide.
At IRL, we believe that people and knowledge are at the core of sustainable change. Our diverse team of leaders, advisors, and consultants brings deep expertise across sectors, while our resources provide practical tools and frameworks to strengthen learning and development worldwide.
Arif Jabbar Khan is a seasoned humanitarian and development leader with over 25 years of global, regional, and country-level leadership experience across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. His career reflects a strong commitment to advancing humanitarian effectiveness, local leadership, gender equality, and rights-based development—values that are central to the vision of the Institute of Research and Learning (IRL).
He has held senior leadership roles including Country Director for War Child Alliance (Yemen), WaterAid (Pakistan), Oxfam (Pakistan), Voluntary Service Overseas (Pakistan), and Save the Children (Sri Lanka). In these roles, he successfully led strategy development, large-scale program delivery, fundraising, advocacy, security management, and institutional strengthening. His achievements include mobilizing multi-million-dollar funding from the EU, ECHO, World Bank, JICA, bilateral donors, and foundations, as well as expanding program portfolios in child protection, WASH, climate resilience, food security, governance, and humanitarian response.
At the global and regional levels, Arif has served as Head of Humanitarian Campaigns at Oxfam International, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator (East Asia and Southern Africa) with Oxfam GB, and Regional Grants Manager (Asia) for ChildFund International. He has led large, multi-country humanitarian responses, influenced policy at the UN, ASEAN, and donor forums, and championed stronger Southern voices in global humanitarian advocacy. His leadership of emergency responses—including the Pakistan floods (2010), Typhoon Ketsana (Philippines, 2009), and multiple crises in Africa and South Asia—demonstrates his expertise in managing complex emergencies with large-scale impact.
Beyond operational leadership, Arif is deeply committed to capacity building, knowledge generation, and learning. He has designed and delivered training programs on leadership, humanitarian response, and organizational effectiveness, and has served as visiting faculty at the National Institute of Management, training senior government officials. As an international consultant, he has supported program design, evaluations, and leadership coaching, strengthening local organizations’ ability to deliver and sustain impact.
With a strong academic foundation, including an MPhil in Government and Public Policy (Gold Medalist, NDU Islamabad) and an MEng in Water Resources Development (AIT Bangkok), Arif combines intellectual rigor with practical leadership. His experience in policy advocacy, program innovation, leadership coaching, and institution building positions him as a valuable contributor to IRL’s mission of advancing research, learning, and advocacy for humanitarian and development excellence.
Arif is the Founding Director of IRL, and he provides governance support and advice on strategising IRL programs and ensuring the programmes are in line with the vision and mission of the organisation.
Manzoor Ahmed is a seasoned humanitarian and development leader with more than 25 years of experience across Asia and the Middle East, driving strategic leadership, programme operations, peacebuilding, rights-based advocacy, and disaster risk management. He has served in senior leadership roles such as Country Director, Deputy Country Director, and Head of Programs with international organisations including Oxfam, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Search for Common Ground, Global Communities, and Sungi Development Foundation.
His expertise spans humanitarian coordination, sustainable development, climate adaptation, gender justice, protection, governance, and peacebuilding. He has led large-scale, multi-sector programmes in complex emergencies, including the Pakistan earthquake (2005), mega floods (2010), humanitarian crises and conflicts in Pakistan and Yemen, and Afghanistan. His leadership has mobilised significant funding from the EU, ECHO, World Bank, UN agencies, and bilateral donors, and expanded programmes in WASH, health, food security, livelihoods, governance, social cohesion, peacebuilding, and women’s empowerment.
As Founding Chair of the National Humanitarian Network (NHN) and a former Board Member of HAP International (CHS Alliance), and being part of international forums like ICVA and GHP, Manzoor has been at the forefront of strengthening humanitarian accountability, localisation, and civil society voice in global humanitarian processes. He has also contributed to policy development on climate change, disaster risk reduction, gender justice, peacebuilding, and urban programming in partnership with governments and international actors. His leadership has bridged the humanitarian-development-peace (triple nexus) approach, ensuring integration of climate, conflict sensitivity, and governance dimensions. His published works and policy contributions on disaster risk reduction, humanitarian capacity, poverty, participation, and governance underscore his commitment to research and evidence-based advocacy. He has led and managed a number of research and evaluation studies during his career and has effectively led participatory action research and behaviour change communication programs with communities.
Holding advanced degrees in Program Development (University of Reading, UK), Public Health, and Educational Planning and Management, Manzoor combines academic grounding with practical leadership.
As CEO of the Institute of Research and Learning (IRL), Manzoor envisions a strong cadre of professionals and institutions capable of creating lasting changes in the lives of marginalised communities, uplifting their livelihoods and environments to live empowered lives in peace and dignity. He is leading IRL in engaging highly experienced national and international professionals, managers, and leaders to provide services to the humanitarian, development, peace, and corporate sectors in research, capacity building, advocacy, and knowledge management, fostering inclusive and sustainable solutions for humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding challenges.
Ms. Irnum Malik is a development and humanitarian professional with over 15 years of experience specializing in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), programme design, and quality assurance across humanitarian, development, and influencing contexts.
With an MPhil in International Development Studies and a Master’s in Agricultural Economics, she brings both academic rigor and practical expertise to advancing evidence-based programming, institutional learning, and impactful partnerships.
She has held senior MEAL and advisory roles with organisations including Oxfam International, Oxfam GB, World Vision, USAID projects, IMC Worldwide, and the National Rural Support Programme, where she has designed and implemented MEAL systems, developed theories of change, and embedded results-based management approaches.
Her portfolio spans thematic areas such as gender justice, child protection, livelihoods, WASH, climate change, governance, humanitarian response, and women’s rights.
Ms. Malik has contributed to more than 25 successful proposals and strategies, and authored widely cited reports on gender in emergencies and disaster response, published through Oxfam.
She has extensive experience with donor compliance and MEAL frameworks for ECHO, USAID, EU, DFID, AusAID, CIDA, World Bank, and IFAD.
Her leadership includes building MEAL working groups, conducting evaluations, developing accountability frameworks, and mentoring national partners and staff to strengthen organisational effectiveness.
With a strong track record of integrating gender-sensitive and conflict-sensitive approaches into monitoring and accountability systems, Ms. Malik has worked extensively in both development settings and major humanitarian emergencies in Pakistan, including floods, earthquakes, and displacement crises.
Her commitment to learning, accountability, and transformative change makes her a valuable contributor to IRL’s mission of advancing research, capacity building, and evidence-based action for inclusive development and humanitarian effectiveness.
Tefera Mekonnen Akalu is a seasoned development and humanitarian professional from Ethiopia with more than eighteen years of progressive experience in program quality, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL). His work spans across Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, where he has contributed to strengthening evidence-based programming, research, and learning systems in complex and fragile contexts.
He holds a Master of Science degree in Rural Development (2009) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Extension (1999), both from Haramaya University, Ethiopia. Over the course of his career, Tefera has developed strong expertise in designing and managing monitoring and evaluation systems, including the development of Management Information Systems (MIS) for tracking project and program performance. He has extensive experience in data collection, processing, statistical analysis, and interpretation using software such as SPSS, Sphinx, VSLA MIS, and MS Excel.
Beyond technical expertise, Tefera is a skilled trainer and facilitator. He has delivered training on Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), Sphere Standards, rights-based approaches, community self-help saving group methodologies, and related humanitarian principles. He has also led work on survey design, sampling methodologies, and research tool development, as well as conducting case studies, success stories, and Data Quality Assessments for programs. His knowledge of the humanitarian code of conduct, emergency preparedness, and response mechanisms has made him a valuable advisor and manager in diverse settings.
Professionally, Tefera has held senior roles with leading international organizations. Most recently, he served as Senior Country MEAL Manager with Global Communities in Yemen and Ukraine (2021–2024) and earlier as Country MEAL Manager in Yemen (2019–2021). He worked as a Global Program Quality, Learning, and Impact Advisor with ActionAid’s Global Secretariat, providing global technical support and guidance in 2018. He has also contributed as a Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor with Mercy Corps in Nigeria and as Country Program Quality (MEAL) Coordinator with Oxfam GB in Syria and Yemen. From 2014 to 2015, he was the Country MEAL Manager for Oxfam Intermón in South Sudan, following several years with CARE International in Ethiopia, where he served in multiple leadership roles including Learning, Design, and Measurement Advisor/Manager, Project Manager, Project Team Leader, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.
Tefera is fluent in English and a native speaker of Amharic and support IRL remotely as well as looking after programs in Africa region. His career reflects a strong commitment to improving accountability, learning, and impact in humanitarian and development programs, ensuring that interventions are not only effective but also responsive to the needs and rights of communities.
Engr. Shah Faisal is a seasoned civil engineer and development professional with nearly two decades of experience in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), community infra structure, and resilient construction across Pakistan, Afghanistan, and in other humanitarian contexts in Asia.With a strong academic foundation, holding a Bachelor in Civil Engineering (UET Peshawar), an MSc in Economics (University of Peshawar), and a Master’s in Water Resource and Engineering Management (NUST Islamabad), he brings a rare blend of technical expertise, strategic planning, and socio-economic understanding to his work.
Over the course of his career, Shah Faisal has served in senior technical and advisory roles with leading international organisations including Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam Novib, Qatar Charity, CARE International, and Relief International.He has successfully led the design and implementation of large-scale WASH and infrastructure programmes—from flood-resilient shelters and earthquake-resistant schools to solar-powered water filtration plants, micro-hydel systems, irrigation channels, and hospital infrastructure.
His expertise spans:
⦁ Programme design, management, and fundraising for WASH and infrastructure initiatives.
⦁ Technical leadership in site assessments, engineering design, tendering, procurement, and contract management.
⦁ Capacity building of engineering teams, government departments, and local NGOs.
⦁ Policy and advocacy, including leadership roles in the National WASH Cluster and contribution to water supply guidelines for tribal districts.
⦁ Humanitarian response and resilience building, integrating DRR and climate change adaptation into WASH programming.
Shah Faisal has also played a pivotal role in establishing water quality laboratories with the Public Health Engineering Department (KP & AJK), advancing evidence-based approaches to water safety.His career highlights include completing 3,500 flood-resilient shelters, designing earthquake-resilient school infrastructure approved by ERRA, and representing organisations at UN clusters, technical forums, and government platforms.
A registered Professional Engineer (PEC) and an alumnus of Danida Fellowships on DRR and Climate Change Adaptation, he is deeply committed to building resilient, sustainable, and community-driven infrastructure that improves lives and safeguards futures.
At IRL, as freelaunce part time consultant, Shah Faisal leads as WASH and Community Infrastructure Expert, bringing his wealth of global and local experience to strengthen organisational strategies, community resilience, and impactful programming.
Umer Khanzada is an accomplished Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) professional with over 22 years of international experience across South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. He holds an MSc in Social Sciences with a specialization in poverty alleviation and regional planning, and has dedicated his career to advancing program quality, research, and evidence-driven decision-making for humanitarian and developm ent impact.
Umer has worked extensively with FCDO, USAID, UNICEF, the World Bank, and international NGOs, leading evaluations, third-party monitoring, and multi-country research initiatives. He has designed and managed impact evaluations, theory-based evaluations, rapid assessments, and value-for-money (VfM) frameworks, ensuring that complex evidence translates into actionable insights for governments, UN agencies, and civil society. His sectoral expertise spans governance, education, health, child protection, humanitarian programming, and climate adaptation.
As a MEL leader, Umer has built and overseen comprehensive evidence systems, MEL frameworks, and digital dashboards (Power BI) that strengthen accountability and learning across large, multi-partner portfolios. He is widely recognised for embedding rights-based participatory approaches and GEDSI principles into programme evaluations, ensuring inclusivity and relevance for marginalised and vulnerable populations.
With 12 years of dedicated evaluation leadership, Umer has directed teams across Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and beyond, cultivating strategic partnerships with donors, UN agencies, and local institutions. He has consistently championed capacity building, systems strengthening, and organisational learning, enabling programmes to adapt and scale effectively.
At IRL, Umer is freelance, part time counsultant and brings his blend of technical expertise, leadership, and global experience to advance program quality, rigorous research, and evidence-based advocacy. His ability to synthesize data, design innovative evaluation tools, and drive organisational learning makes him a key contributor to IRL’s mission of strengthening humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding practice through knowledge, accountability, and impact.
