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Syed Muntasir Ridwan

CEO

Syed Muntasir Ridwan

CEO

Syed Muntasir Ridwan is a seasoned development professional with multifarious experience in research, private sector engagement, business incubation, and activism. Ridwan blends his extensive knowledge of market systems and economic development with critical intellectual hindsight on equality, ecological balance, and justice.

He is the co-founder and board of trustee member of Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI), one of the pioneering youth environmental organizations shaping the thoughts on critical environmental discourse and the practice of environmental stewardship.

Ridwan was the Country Coordinator for the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (SBN), a private sector network co-convened by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Ridwan has orchestrated the strategic path of SBN Bangladesh towards influencing the private sector towards investing in nutrition and facilitated policy support to enable the shift toward a healthier diet. Ridwan is a graduate in Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) specializing in natural resource management and environment.

Email:smridwan [at] cast-network.com

Shamir Shehab

Managing Partner

Shamir Shehab

Managing Partner

Shamir Shehab is a public policy analyst in the intersection of climate change, environment, and development. He has over ten years of experience working on climate finance, governance, and resilience projects and programmes for international development organizations such as the World Bank, FCDO/DFID, GIZ, GCF, and others

Shamir is an adjunct lecturer at North South University. Up until recently, he worked as a consultant with oxford Policy Management’s s climate change and disaster risk team on a range of projects related to climate finance, disaster risk management, adaptive social protection, renewable energy, among others, for a wide range of clients including FCDO, GIZ, World Bank and others. Shamir is also a ‘Non-resident Researcher – Climate Policy and Finance’ at the International Center for Climate Change and Development (ICCCCAD). Previously, he worked as a Researcher at the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Shamir has extensive experience in research methods, specifically in conducting stakeholder mapping, capacity assessment, literature reviews, and primary and secondary research analysis as part of large multilateral funded climate change projects.

Shamir holds an MPA with a specialisation in environmental policy from Cornell University. He read politics and international affairs as a Yenching Scholar at Peking University and leadership at Cambridge University.

Email:sshehab [at] cast-network.com

Abdullah All Shakil

Research Director and Health Systems Expert

Abdullah All Shakil

Research Director and Health Systems Expert

Abdullah All Shakil is a Medical Anthropologist with more than ten years of experience in health research and development project evaluation. He worked in national and international development agencies and NGOs on public health, gender and health, immunization, infectious disease, health financing, and development project R&D. He worked with organizations such as GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, Islamic Development Bank, Ecohealth Alliance, and BRAC. As the Research and Insights Lead at the BRAC Social Innovation Lab, Shakil designed, implemented, and evaluated new approaches for community-engaged development initiatives in his last role. Shakil did his Master's in Anthropology and Sociology of Development at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva, Switzerland, where he was a Hans Wilsdorf Scholar. He is doing his Ph.D. on the burden of chronic health conditions for women in Bangladesh at the University of Connecticut, USA.

Email:abdullah.shakil31 [at] gmail.com

Kazi M Rahman

Business and Entreprenuership Expert

Kazi M Rahman

Business and Entreprenuership Expert

Kazi M Rahman is a veteran of the development sector with over a decade of experience. He has extensive experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research, private sector engagement, business incubation and marketing. Kazi has a background in law, economics, and finance, which he has successfully integrated with his passion for making a difference in Bangladesh to promote green and gainful employment among the youth of marginalized communities in Bangladesh. He also has in-depth knowledge of managing multi-million-dollar projects in collaboration with national and international partners.

Kazi completed his Executive MBA from Institute of Business Administration (Dhaka University), and he has completed his LLM from McGill University (Canada) and LLB from Reading University (UK).

Email:krahman [at] cast-network.com

Dr Nabila Idris

Social Protection Expert

Dr Nabila Idris

Social Protection Expert

Dr Nabila Idris completed a Ph.D. in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge where she studied the politics of social protection policymaking in Bangladesh. Since then, she has been a Visiting Fellow at the Open University in the UK, researching the possibilities of a global fund for social protection. Previously, she completed a Masters with distinction in Social Policy from the University of York and another Masters in International Journalism and Communication from the Communication University of China, where she graduated at the top of her class. In her professional life, she has worked in Bangladesh, China, UK, and Thailand. She is an International Visitors Leadership Program alumnus. It is the US State Department’s invite-only premier professional exchange program; hundreds of previous participants later became heads of states. She has also served in the Ambassador’s Youth Council of the US Embassy-Dhaka. Whilst Dr Idris is keenly interested in researching politics, policymaking, and social protection, she moonlights as a collector of really old books too – even owning books printed in the 1700s.

Sara Mahedi

Climate Communication Expert

Sara Mahedi

Climate Communication Expert

Sara is a multidisciplinary researcher and political ecologist with a focus climate communication. In her work she mixes natural and social sciences, getting audiences to join the dots between climate change, race, inequality, and social justice. Sara has consulted on programmes at the Natural History Museum, debated economic growth on Channel 4 and bridged the gap between urban researchers and policymakers at LSE Cities and the World Resources Institute’s Ross Centre. Prior to finishing her MSc at UCL, Sara spent a decade as a conservationist in India, using communications to protect endangered species, help draft policy, fundraise, leading campaigns for change, engaging with the public and policymakers, among much more. Sara is currently researching inequality x climate crises x social justice at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Joy Bhowmick

Climate Education Expert

Mezanur Rahman

WASH and Sanitation Expert

Mezanur Rahman

WASH and Sanitation Expert

Mezanur Rahman has over a decade of experience WASH and Sanitation infrastructure designs and management. His expertise is in designing integrated waste management (IWM) plant, faecal sludge treatment plant, composting/co-composting plant, plasma gasification/combustion, omni processor, safely managed sanitation, safely managed surface and groundwater supply. Mr. Mezan has extensive experience of working with the Municipality and in facilitating public private partnerships in urban infrastructure development. Besides, he is an passionate advocate of Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) and Environmental business model using WASH in Bangladesh.

Warefta Rahman

Junior Governance Specialist

Warefta Rahman

Junior Governance Specialist

Warefta Rahman research explores the motivational factors contributing to individual and organizational performances in the public sector. She has conducted research on several topics related to public management including organizational goal and role ambiguity, sustainable development goals, national and international governance framework, internet governance, American politics, and public service motivation. Her further interests include Public governance, Organizational behavioral issues, International political economy, Migration and development. earned NASPAA accredited Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. She is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at Jagannath University, Dhaka.

Shahriar Rahman

Research Assistant

Shahriar Rahman

Research Assistant

Shahriar Rahman strives to work with issues related to climate change, waste management and population, poverty & environment. Having completed his Bachelors in Environmental Science from North South University, Shahriar has embarked upon becoming a critical researcher to unravel ways to solve the challenging environmental problems of the globe. He has worked in the waste management sector to develop an operational plan for faecal sludge management for city corporations. Shahriar has also conducted impact evaluations of different development programs.

Email:shahriar.rahman240 [at] gmail.com

Maisha Zahir

Research Assistant

Bayizid Mahmud

Research Assistant

CaST Network

Policy Research, Advocacy and Consulting Firm

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Catalyzing Sustainable Transformation (CaST) Network is an action and policy research and advocacy institution that provides systematic and evidence-driven solutions to some of the complex development challenges of the Global South.

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