- Team Members

Tasneem Ahmar
Founder and Director
A journalist by profession, Ms Ahmar’s passions and expertise include advocacy on gender equity, women and human rights, political rights, HIV/AIDS, health, violence against women, education, gender sensitization, radio productions and media monitoring. The founder of Uks Research Centre, she has over 25 years of experience of managing and leading advocacy-based projects across the country, within and through the media for gender justice and women’s rights. Through her extensive experience as a journalist, she is well-placed in the industry to highlight the ethical concerns and gaps. She is the editor/ writer of more than 50 publications disseminated extensively across the country, read her research papers in international conferences, held many national and international training on gender and women’s rights. Under her leadership, Uks has seen many firsts - its own in-house state-of-the-art radio studio, inclusion of Pakistan in the GMMP in the last two rounds, first-ever gender-sensitive code-of-ethics for the media in the South Asian region to name a few. Empowering women at grassroots level and engaging with marginalized communities on sensitive issues like VAW, SRHR and MNH has been her focus in recent projects. Ms. Tasneem Ahmar holds a Master’s Degree in Communication (1989 University of Hawaii, USA and Mass Communication 1978 University of Karachi, Pakistan) and started her career as a desk journalist from The Muslim, an English language daily in Pakistan. In 1998, she received Mary Morgan Hewett Award on Excellence in Feature Writing and in 2009, she received the prestigious International Media Leadership Award from Internews -USA. In 2018 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award by Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry for her contribution to women rights and the campaign to sensitise media on women issues.
Shaista Yasmeen-Projects Manager
Shaista, with a Master’s Degree in Political Science, initiated her professional career as a School Project Coordinator at SPARC (Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child) and later entered the media as a producer and worked with two esteemed TV news channels based in the capital (Dawn News, Radio Pakistan, AVT Channels network). She also writes online to express her views on the role of media on empowering women. She brings creative and innovative ideas using her expertise in the field of women and media. She has attended international trainings on human, women and child rights, adding to her flair in the respective field. A self-motivated and hardworking individual with zeal for career advancement through determination and dedication, she has been working for Uks as a Projects Coordinator since 2013. Her responsibilities include traveling to project locations for monitoring and evaluation, liaison with field coordinators, organizing events and also conduct trainings for the media – across the country. Uks believes that her skills in identifying and tracking progress in the field activities would ensure smooth implementation.
Saniya Jafree-Research Associate
Saniya, passionate about women’s rights and equity, began her career with Uks in 2007. Initially working as a content writer and website content developer, she honed her skills in report writing, project designing and planning, media monitoring and voicing concerns on women’s rights at Uks. Currently she is working on multiple fronts including preparing quarterly, bi-annual and annual project reports, conducting and compiling of project related researches and baseline surveys, media content analyses, timelines, writing project proposals and managing content for Uks’s official website. With contribution in more than ten publications by Uks, she has led the programs team at Uks since 2014. Her work includes creating survey tools and conducting analyses in focusing on just the right factors while carrying out baseline and situational analyses. Saniya holds a Degree in Software Engineering.
Shujaat Ali Assistant-Research Associate
Mr. Shujaat has been working with Uks 2012. A graduate in Business Administration (BBA Honors), he has quickly adapted his skills to manage the daily print media monitoring at Uks Research Centre. He has been involved in media monitoring and content analysis exercises and is also responsible for collating all content for Uks Annual Uks Diary. He led the Uks team for GMMP media monitoring in 2015 and also leads the monitoring team for daily media monitoring for UNICEF. In the past he has interned at SNGPL, Peshawar in the Logistic Support Department. In his academic career he has been awarded training certificates in recognition of his skills from National Productivity Organization and the Institute of Transformational Leadership at Preston University.
Mubashir Nawaz -Finance Officer
Mubashir is a young and energetic individual with experience in finance and audit. An Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA),he has served in finance department at multiple organizations in the past. He joined Uks in 2017 and is involved in preparation of financial reports, budgeting and forecasting, donor correspondence and bank reconciliation etc. He has an excellent command over International Financial Reporting Standards & International Auditing Standard and has a good understanding of Foreign Exchange Regulations, Companies Ordinance, Income Tax and Sales Tax Laws. With his expertise in managing project finances he has proved to be an asset to the team.
Syed Muhammad Ahsan-Finance consultant
Mr. Ahsan works at Uks as Consultant Audit who reviews and takes care of the organisation’s annual financial audits. Previously he was employed as Finance Manger with Uks in a wide range of capacities. He is an Associate Chartered Management Accountant ACMA and his previous work experience includes working for one year at NCHD as an Investment analyst and working for one year at Adetude Pvt Ltd. as a Tax officer.
Haya Tariq
Media Content Manager
Zafran Awan
Research Assistant
Ali Nisar
Research Assistant
With a bachelor of science (B.S) degree in Mass communication, Mr. Ali Nisar has been working with the Uks research center since 2020. He has developed proficient research skills while working with the program team at Uks Islamabad. He has significantly contributed to bringing out many research papers by Uks since 2020. He designs survey questionnaires, indicators, and research strategies and writes research reports, proposals, and project reports.
Basil Andrews
Media Monitor
Basil Andrews is a journalist reporting on the environment, urban landscapes and associated inequalities.
His work focuses on a transdisciplinary approach to understanding and reporting on the climate
emergency, health and the intersection of gender relations in a constantly evolving ecological landscape.
Shumaila Jafri
Media Monitor