• About
• People
• Maps
• 24Biz Co
• Publications
• News
• Contact
• Resources

LEAPS Project - People

Principal Investigators

Tahir Andrabi is Associate Professor of Economics at Pomona College. Professor Andrabi is a graduate of Swarthmore College and holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his research, Professor Andrabi analyzes the education of young women in Pakistan, industrial subcontracting in developing countries and private and NGO provision of education. He was the founding director of the ALIF project, which aimed to develop learning initiatives in Pakistan through creative uses of the media. He was a member of the economic advisory board of the government of Pakistan in 1999-2000. He has been a visiting scholar at MIT, a research associate at LSE and a consultant for the World Bank. Along with Asim Khwaja, he is the Principal Investigator for the LEAPS project. Download his CV. 

Asim Ijaz Khwaja is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. His areas of interest include economic development, contract theory, industrial organization, mechanism design, and computational economics. His recent work ranges from understanding what determines a group's collective success and the private provision of public services, to examining contracts between firms, business groups, and financial markets in low-income countries. He received BS degrees in economics and mathematics with computer science from MIT, and a PhD in economics from Harvard. Download his CV.

Jishnu Das graduated from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi n 1992, completed his masters from Cambridge University in 1994 and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 2001. He is now in the research department at the World Bank in Washington DC. His interests are education and health, and he has worked in a number of countries, including India, Zambia, Nepal, Paraguay and Pakistan. Some of his recent work includes work on doctors in Delhi and schools in Zambia. See some of his recent work. 

Tara Vishwanath is a lead economist at the World Bank in the South Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management group. Before joining the Bank, she was a professor at Northwestern University and has published widely in international journals. She has been actively involved in Pakistan and was the task team leader for the Poverty Assessment and recently completed the Gender Assessment for the country.

 

 

Tristan Zajonc has been with the project since its inception, and is the overall data manager and coordinator.  He has a MPA in International Development from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Pomona College.  He is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy at Harvard University. See some of his recent work.

 

 

The LEAPS Team, Pakistan

Irfan Ahmed graduated from Punjab University in 1996 and then joined the Ali Institute where he studied a post-graduate diploma in primary education. After completing his studies, Irfan continued with the Ali Institute and was closely involved in establishing and improving training and resource centers for teachers in 12 districts of Punjab in a project funded by UNDP. He joined the LEAPS team in 2002 with the piloting of our tests, and is currently the Punjab Coordinator for the project.

Kashif Abid graduated from Helliay College Punjab University in 1999 and completed his masters from SYSTEX College for Computer sciences in 2001. He then joined the Idara e Taleem o Agahi as IT coordinator. He joined the LEAPS team in 2003 and is currently the District Coordinator, Faisalabad for the project.

 

 

Sarfraz Bhatti graduated from Punjab University in 1996 and completed his masters from Imperial College for Business Studies in 2002. He joined the LEAPS team in 2003 and is currently the District Coordinator, Attock for the project.

 

 

 

Abdul Basit graduated from Punjab University in 1995. After that, Abdul gained valuable experience in the private sector by forming and running his own company for 8 years. He joined the LEAPS team in 2004 and is currently the District Coordinator, Rahim Yar Khan for the project.

 

Babar Raza graduated from Punjab University in 1998 and completed his masters from Imperial College for Business Studies in 2002. He joined the LEAPS team in 2004 and is currently the Assistant District Coordinator, Attock for the project.

 

 

 

Tanveer Asghar graduated from Punjab University in 1994. He joined the LEAPS team in 2004 and is currently the Assistant District Coordinator, Faisalabad for the project.

 

 

Tahir Ansari completed his Intermediate in 1998 and then He joined Fatima Jinnah Old Graduate Association as accountant. He joined the LEAPS team in 2004 and is currently the Accountant for the project.

 

 

Syed Ali Asjad Naqvi graduated from Lahore University of Management and Sciences and has since been working as data manager of various projects at LUMS and as a lecturer. He joined the team in 2005, and is the data manager in Lahore.

 

 

 

Intzar Hussain Butt graduated from Islamia College in 1989, completed his masters in Mathematics from Government College Lahore in 1993 and his masters in education in 1999 from Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. He is currently working at the University of Education Lahore as Academic Project Manager. He joined the LEAPS team in 2002 and was with the project till 2004 as project coordinator.

Research Assistants

Nick Eubank, Ina Ganguly and Amer Hasan are the newest members of the team. All three joined in 2006 and work part-time on the LEAPS project. Ina Ganguly and Amer Hasan are completing their courses at Harvard University and University of Chicago respectively, while Nick Eubank works as a Consultant with the World Bank.

Samia Amin and Zahra Siddique worked previously on various components of the LEAPS report and the household datasets.

 

Natalie Bau and Erum Haider provided research assistance in 2009-10 on the papers published during that period. Erum Haider has a Masters in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago (2009); Natalie Bau will begin her Phd in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in September 2010.

www.LeapsProject.org © 2025