MPhil Class of 2016

Zainab Altaf is currently the Communication, Community, and Gender Specialist for PICIIP II, a Government of the Punjab and Asian Development Bank project for improving municipal service delivery in 7 cities. She also holds a doctoral place at the University of Edinburgh’s prestigious School of Social and Political Sciences.

“As a development practitioner, I owe the ability to synthesise policy frameworks with the situational context to CPPG’s interdisciplinary approach to teaching public policy and governance. The Centre’s focus on research methodologies gave me not just the skill set, but also the confidence, to undertake empirical research in Gilgit-Baltistan, a project that informed my subsequent work in the education sector in Punjab. CPPG does not simply teach the theoretics of public policy. It also presents its students with the opportunity to interact with leading development practitioners and academics through policy dialogues and seminars. Participating in those consultations empowered me to engage with not just policy makers, but also the diverse socio-economic communities impacted by policy decisions. The hands-on learning experience at CPPG has enabled me to conduct multiple FGDs, write policy briefs, and provide evidence-based recommendations to policy makers on topics as diverse as innovation in education, local governance, and sustainable livelihoods”