Ananya Asad

Ananya is an intersectional global health, and gender expert with over 11 years of experience in programme management, monitoring and evaluation, and applied research across gender, health, climate resilience, and humanitarian response. Her work spans diverse regions—including South Asia, Eastern Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe—with a strong focus on gender-transformative approaches in adolescent and youth-centred programming, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and climate change in both development and crisis contexts.

Before joining ICIMOD, Ananya worked as both an independent consultant, and full-time professional with organisations such as International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Pathfinder International, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) International, and Plan International. She has led complex evaluations on the performance, governance, and outcomes of humanitarian funding mechanisms in conflict-affected and fragile settings, including Syria and Ukraine, designed context-specific interventions aligned with global standards, managed multisectoral projects, contributed to the development of Bangladesh’s National Adolescent Health Strategy, and conducted landscape analyses on climate change mitigation and inclusive systems strengthening.

Ananya holds a master’s degree in Global Health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and a specialised master’s degree in Research Methodology from Université Libre de Bruxelles. A Bangladeshi national, she currently collaborates with the University of Geneva and Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) as a regional SRHR-in-emergencies expert for the Eastern Mediterranean region and is an active member of the Young Researchers’ Forum at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.