Fariya Mohiuddin

Posts

contact@fariyamohiuddin.com — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

My Story

contact@fariyamohiuddin.com — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a proud third culture kid – a person raised in a different culture than their parents, for a large part or the entirety of their childhood and adolescence. I was born in Canada, raised in Dubai, had a childhood of summers spent in Bangladesh, and an adult life working mostly in Africa and living in Europe. As one of my Senegalese colleagues once put it, “Fariya, you are a local wherever you go”.

This ability to be at ease anywhere has also translated to my work. While my strong sense of injustice led me to work in fiscal policy and governance, my skills and experiences are as geographically wide as my life.

1989 born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1992 – 2006 United Arab Emirates

I spent my formative years in the UAE . My high school in Dubai boasted students of 100 different nationalities. Another feature of my childhood in Dubai is that we were only a 4-hour flight from Bangladesh and so I spent almost every summer on my grandmother’s farm in Chittagong.

2006 – 2012 University of Toronto (HBA, MGA)

In 2006, I moved back to Toronto to attend Trinity College at the University of Toronto. I received my Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Relations in 2010. In the same year, I also Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award for leadership at both the university-wide level and college-level

In 2012, I received my Masters of Global Affairs from Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Between Year 1 and Year 2 of my MGA, I did a summer internship at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At CPD, I saw first hand the real impact of policy research and policy advocacy.

2012 – 2013 Getting my start (International Centre for Tax and Development, Engineers Without Borders Canada)

In 2012, I got my first real job as a Research Assistant at the International Centre for Tax and Development. As an RA, I helped to clean and standardise the underlying data for the first iteration of the UNU-WIDER Government Revenue Dataset - the GRD was created with the aim of producing a substantially more complete and accurate database of government revenues, allowing for more reliable and comparable cross-country tax research.

In 2013, I was a Social Change Fellow (Advocacy) at Engineers Without Borders Canada. This experience built my understanding of how to build campaigns, support networks of advocates, and plan convenings.

2014 – 2016 Ghana (Property Tax Reform Technical Advisor)

In 2014, I moved to Hohoe, Ghana as a technical advisor on a property tax reform project funded by the Canadian government. The goal of the project: to work with municipalities to update their maps with satellite imagery and GIS, label and name streets, enumerate plots, paint house numbers and run a large-scale valuation process. Working at the municipal level, I had to think creatively about how to achieve my goals in a low-tech, low-capacity, low-trust environment.

My experiences working in Ghana on property tax were the basis for this paper, co-authored with Prof. Frank Ohemeng: The Enigma of the Central–Local Government Relationship and its Impact on Property Tax Administration in Developing Countries: The Ghanaian Perspective

2016 – 2018 London (Tax Justice Network, International Centre for Tax and Development)

In 2018, I moved to London to put myself in the hub of tax justice work globally. I took on the role of Strategic Programmes Researcher at Tax Justice Network. My work had two major aspects: convenor and researcher. As a convenor, I co-organised three TJN Annual Research Conferences ( 2 in London, 1 in Peru). I also was the key organiser of the Women’s Rights and Tax Justice Conference held in Bogota, Colombia.

As a researcher, I supported the work of the Tax Justice and Human Rights programme (I co-authored a book chapter on this work). I also built out the work on tax and gender and was one of the key people in formalising the Global Working Group on Tax and Gender – leading the strategy process and an initial member of the Steering Committee.

My time in London was also characterised by freelance research work for or in partnership with the International Centre for Tax and Development.

I led the Ghana country research for this project: Enabling Tax Bargaining: Supporting More Meaningful Tax Transparency and Taxpayer Engagement in Ghana and Sierra Leone

In conjunction with the World Bank’s Global Tax Team and ICTD, I worked on a technical and political economy analysis to understand the bottlenecks in property tax administration in Kaduna State, Nigeria. You can see my work starting on Slide 8 here: Binding Constraints Analysis

2018 – present Berlin (International Budget Partnership, Tax Justice UK, Consultancy Work)

International Budget Partnership (2019 – 2024)

In 2019, after 3 years at Tax Justice Network, I was recruited by the International Budget Partnership to build out their new Tax Equity Initiative.

To understand the field we were entering, I built a database of 171 tax justice organisations and co-wrote a paper that identified the key bottlenecks faced by these organisations working nationally.

As one of the principal architects of the Tax Equity Initiative, the insights from the scan helped me shape a program strategy that could be effective nationally by leveraging IBP’s existing budget work and have impact globally by connecting national issues to global policy advocacy.

Once the program strategy was set, I played key roles in the recruitment, onboarding, and mentoring of our country Senior Program Officers across our focal countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania.

On the policy advocacy side, I elevated IBP’s profile and influence in regional and global policy arenas by navigating and shaping partnerships within major global networks and coalition spaces, including the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI), the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), and various United Nations mechanisms

Also, during my time at IBP (Aug 2021 – Jan 2023), on top of my full-time role within the Tax Equity Initiative, I was seconded to the Collaborating for Open and Accountable Budgets program team where I delivered a 6-week online training course and a 5 day in person training on budget advocacy for CSOs in 8 countries.

Consultancy Work (2025 – Present)

I left the International Budget Partnership at the end of November 2024 and started 2025 as a freelance consultant.

In 2025, my longest consultancy engagement was 9 months (Feb – Nov) as Interim Deputy Director (External Affairs) at Tax Justice UK. I stepped into this role during a period of organisational transition, to provide strategic direction and people management for the External Affairs function (policy, advocacy, campaigning). During this time, I led a strategy refresh to better fit our programming to the current political context. I also developed the Head of Policy Advocacy (in post only four months at the time) into my successor as Deputy Director.

I also did short policy research consultancies for Greenpeace and ActionAid International.

In 2026, I upskilled with a Data Analytics Certificate from le Wagon. This 9-week course covered tools such as SQL, python, and PowerBI for effective data analysis and visualisation. It culminated in a group project on the dimensions of the housing crisis in Europe.

I also joined the roster of Global Learning Partners - consultancy that helps organisations integrate adult learning principles and practices into trainings, staff and leadership coaching, organisational development, and evaluations.

I have stayed on at Tax Justice UK as a Technical Advisor on Illicit Financial Flows (short consultancy) and have taken on training and facilitation consultancies for Amnesty International (Tax Justice and Human Rights) and GIZ Morocco (Gender Mainstreaming in Policy).

Testimonials

contact@fariyamohiuddin.com — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Fariya is not simply a tax expert and advocacy strategist; she is a visionary builder who infuses every program with energy, technical rigor, and an unwavering commitment to social justice.

She was a principal architect of IBP’s Tax Equity Initiative, breathing life into what began as a nascent Africa regional program and scaling it into one of the organization’s most dynamic global portfolios. She mentored and empowered Senior Program Officers across four African countries, enabling them to build deep alliances with grassroots groups while elevating IBP’s influence in global tax governance. As a certified facilitator, she also designed and led dozens of transformative workshops, demystifying complex public finance concepts for audiences ranging from grassroots organizers to United Nations delegates. Fariya combines sharp strategic thinking, profound technical expertise, and authentic passion for grassroots empowerment with world-class facilitation skills.”

Austin Ndiokwelu

Former Former Director of Policy & Global Advocacy, International Budget Partnership

“Fariya is an exceptional strategic thinker, facilitator, and collaborator. I worked with her at the International Budget Partnership on initiatives related to debt accountability and budget credibility, and also engaged closely with work she led on tax equity. Across these different areas, I was consistently impressed by the depth and care she brought to complex systemic questions, and by her ability to guide colleagues through difficult and consequential organizational discussions in a genuinely collaborative way. Fariya combines strategic insight with an unusual ability to build relationships and move day-to-day work forward. She is an exceptionally warm, generous, and inspiring partner, and it is always a pleasure to collaborate with her.”

Sally Torbert

Global Lead, Policy and Research, International Budget Partnership

“Working with Fariya, both as a colleague and as her manager, was consistently reassuring in the way that only genuine competence can be. She joined a complex, multi-country programme and quickly took ownership of her portfolio with minimal need for oversight or handholding, absorbing the many moving parts, multiple CSOs, donor requirements, varied country contexts - and quickly organizing them into something manageable.

Where Fariya really distinguished herself is as a facilitator. She has an instinct for reading a room: sensing when a discussion needs more space to breathe, when participants need a different kind of prompt, or when the agenda itself needs to flex to serve the people in it – then adapts in real time rather than sticking rigidly to a plan. That flexibility, paired with her underlying organization and rigour, meant that the learning events and workshops she led didn’t just run smoothly; they produced genuine engagement and usable outcomes for participants across very different country contexts. The impact of that combination, meticulous preparation and responsive, people-centered facilitation, showed up in the quality and uptake of the learning exchanges she led. I count her as one of the strongest facilitators I’ve worked with in this space.”

Aideen Gilmore

Director of Partnerships and Capacity Development, International Budget Partnership

“It was an absolute pleasure working alongside Fariya Mohiuddin at Tax Justice UK. Fariya possesses an exceptional blend of technical tax policy expertise, rigorous and attention to detail, a generous and collaborative approach to movement campaigning, and effective leadership skills. Her policy knowledge spans complex areas including extreme wealth, property tax reform, global avoidance mechanisms, illicit financial flows and international tax cooperation. As my Line Manager and Team Lead, Fariya consistently empowered her team, balancing care and support with the space and autonomy necessary to help us grow. This fostered a team culture rooted in trust, shared power, open communication and effective collaboration. I strongly recommend Fariya for any leadership or strategic role relating to technical research, policy advocacy, coalition convening, or movement campaigning.”

Caitlin Boswell

Deputy Director (External Affairs), Tax Justice UK

“I’ve witnessed Fariya’s leadership and facilitation practice in action when we were both at Tax Justice UK. She’s an incredibly empowering leader, coaching and championing colleagues to build their expertise and grow their own leadership skills. When she facilitates, she injects fun while keeping people focused on purpose, and creates spaces that are inclusive and safe. If you’re looking for someone that is visionary and operational, Fariya is just the right fit.”

Aleema Shivji

Former Interim Executive Director, Tax Justice UK

“Fariya has a flexible and fresh approach to facilitation. Fariya [also] ensures clarity of purpose and outcomes in training preparation. She is highly knowledgeable about the issues and the advocacy spaces. Her training gave clear direction for how to understand the issues and where to seek further support/ information. She is able to gauge her audience and to adjust accordingly. Highly recommended for any training on tax / budget justice and any related issues.”

Riva Jalipa

Researcher/Adviser – Taxation and Human Rights, Amnesty International