Zeenat Niazi
Zeenat Niazi, Chief Knowledge Officer, DA & Senior Vice President of Development Alternatives Group, has over 26 years’ experience in the social and environment development sector. She is an architect and a planner by training, with a specialization in Housing and habitat development issues and additional training in policy analysis and advocacy. She has over two decades of experience in design and strategic action in the area of sustainable rural development. This has included design of affordable eco-housing delivery models, post natural disaster housing reconstruction interventions, habitat policy development at the national level and sustainability assessments of construction technology and housing projects. In the last decade, her work has extended to design and coordination of low carbon development strategies for the central Indian region of Bundelkhand and coordination of climate change adaptation, action and communication, knowledge management and knowledge dissemination for promoting national and global sustainable development strategies.
Her current work involves guiding regional planning and institutional strengthening processes focused on local and national action for sustainable development. She represents Development Alternatives in the core team of the Independent Research Forum, a group of International Research Organisations developing frameworks and methodologies for Sustainable Development Goals providing inputs to the United Nations processes for the Global Sustainable Development Agenda, 2030. She also represents the organisation at the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Government of India as a member in the Technology Committee for rural housing and is a member of the Multi Stakeholder Advisory Committee of the UNEP for Sustainable Buildings in their 10 year Framework programme. She is also a founder coordinator of the basin-South Asia – a regional knowledge platform for housing and habitat and represents Development Alternatives at the Climate Action Network South Asia of which she was the co-chair of the Board from 2013 to 2015.
Her key interests lie in the area of resource efficient and people-nature centric development planning. She is a trained moderator and facilitator.
She leads the policy studies and communication, knowledge management and development action initiatives at the Development Alternatives Group.