Barmak Pazhwak

Barmak Pazhwak, USIP Program Officer (Afghanistan).

"Barmak Pazhwak is an international development specialist with more than 18 years of experience of work in the management of international humanitarian relief and socio-economic development programs. Pazhwak has worked in senior management positions for a number of prominent international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in South and Central Asia, Great Lakes Region of Africa and the United Kingdom. As a staff member of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) until most recently, Pazhwak worked as the senior international advisor to the Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development of Afghanistan.

"Pazhwak has a master’s degree (with distinction) in rural social/international development from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. The dissertation of his MA degree was a study of the role of NGOs in situations of armed conflicts and political emergencies with particular reference to Afghanistan. Through his international development career, Pazhwak has initiated programs in food security and agriculture, micro-credit and savings, vocational training and rural entrepreneurship, conflict resolution, human resource and institutional capacity development, mine awareness and public health.

"Pazhwak has a good understanding of the current international political issues with particular focus on South and Central Asia and the Middle East. As an Afghan-American he is well versed in the political history as well as the cultural and traditional heritages of Afghanistan and has a native command of Dari and Pashto languages, including good understanding of literature and folklore. Pazhwak has attended numerous Afghanistan related international conferences and seminars on a variety of topics including civil society, community level peacebuilding and conflict resolution, and most recently co-authored a paper on "a social justice rights-based approach to disability in Afghanistan," presented to the Tri-lateral International Conference in Calgary, Canada.

"Pazhwak has recently moved from Tucson, Arizona to Fairfax, Virginia. He worked as a teacher for a local college in Tucson in between his international assignments."