What are the main challenges you face?

As much as I love what I do, our work work isn’t easy. It takes a lot of persistence, and can be frustrating at times.“That can’t be done,” is one of the most common things we hear. In the past, barriers were often accepted, problems were intractable, and because it often seemed like too much hard work, nobody really tried. Reversing this mindset has been one of our biggest challenges. We still hear these kinds of phrases every once in a while, but this just serves to further galvanise us to achieve what we would be led to believe was impossible.

When I first started at Acasus, I found it really difficult to accept that you can’t solve every problem straight away. It would really frustrate me, and sometimes I’d take it pretty hard, especially because knowing the details meant knowing the cost of any delay or inaction. As in most cases, experience has served me well, and I now know that prioritising what initiatives we do and when we do them is critical. This can be tough – choosing your focus areas and their respective battles is not an easy task. We have to constantly put aside any emotional arguments and objectively assess what can realistically be achieved with our limited resources.

Can you tell me any personal stories, do you ever work at ground level, meeting families?

In any given week, I’d say that 80% of the team’s time is spent in the office or with government. The remaining 20% is spent going out into the field across Punjab. The time we spend in the field is always humbling; you're constantly exposed to families living in extreme poverty, striving to do the best for their children. This is a powerful reminder of the day-to-day realities, and a great motivator to make sure the interventions we design work for the people who need them.

What’s it like to live in Punjab day to day?

I’ve been in Punjab for around six months. I had little idea what to expect upon arrival, but I’ve really come to love Lahore – it’s an incredible place and has begun to feel quite homely.

Social life in Lahore revolves around a buzzing café and restaurant culture. Lahore has some surprisingly good cafes, my favourite being a minimal, Scando coffee joint that wouldn't look a touch out of place in Hackney. The food on offer is generally excellent, although Punjabi cuisine has a tendency to be incredibly rich, with salads existing only as a subtle garnishes to (consistently delicious and often insanely spicy) bbq dishes. My new found fondness for nihari or rich buttery daal has had the annoying consequence of totally ruining any beach body I was hoping to cultivate.

Thankfully, to accommodate my ghee-led weight gain, sport, and in particular cricket, is a big deal here. Although my technique is dire and my free time scarce, I play as much as I can. The last time we played, we drove off into the wilderness to play at a private ground someone had booked. On arrival, one of the groundsmen met us on a battered motorbike, sporting an AK 47 and a bulletproof vest. He guided us in to the compound, before promptly warning us to be careful of fetching any balls that cleared the boundary wall, as the owner kept lions in the next field. Sport in Pakistan is fun. This probably wouldn't fly on the village green back home, but I’ll continue to blame the distant roars (albeit in my head) on my numerous dropped catches.