Arqam Lodhi
- MA, Law and Diplomacy, The Fletcher School at Tufts University
- Cross registrant, Harvard Kennedy School, 2012-2013
- BSc, Lahore School of Management Sciences
Arqam Lodhi is the Director of DA’s strategic partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). He focuses on implementing results-based management for the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, impacting 15 IsDB member countries across the Middle East and Africa. This work supports projects in health, agriculture, and infrastructure, enabling effective impact tracking and fostering evidence-based decision-making among project leaders to enhance outcomes.
Prior to joining DA, Arqam co-led the Dutch Government’s Challenge Fund for Youth Employment. This Fund works with the private sector in 23 countries of the Middle East and Africa to support youth employment-focused business ventures aiming to reach 250,000 young people (including at least 125,000 young women). This is being done by co-investing $150 million and mobilizing $400 million of private capital. Arqam co-led a team of 75+ staff and specialists to develop and manage the investment portfolio. He also directed the fund’s technical assistance facility, which was responsible for co-designing and delivering customized support packages for investees and embedding social impact considerations in business models.
Arqam has worked extensively across the Middle East and East Africa. Prior to working with the Challenge Fund, he was based in Beirut and co-led a $20 million small business financing program creating employment opportunities for Lebanese workers and Syrian refugees. He led the design and iterative roll-out of financial products in collaboration with banks and microfinance institutions that led to supporting 500 businesses across the country. Given Lebanon's intricate political economy, the adaptive management approach Arqam implemented in this program was examined in a case study on effective delivery in fragile environments conducted by the Overseas Development Institute.
Before that, Arqam worked in the experimental policy research and public sector capacity building space while at Harvard's Centre for International Development and the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan. He has also led the World Bank’s Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results in South Asia.