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).