Kazim Habib
Senior Officer, Board and Innovation
Kazim Habib is Senior Officer, Board and Innovation at the Airbel Impact Lab, within the Humanitarian Systems Change team. He supports the scaling of evidence-based solutions across the humanitarian sector and facilitates the management of the Airbel Advisory Board. Born and raised in a suburb of Toronto, Canada, he spent several years in Canadian politics, serving as an Advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during COVID on systemic racism and community engagement, Policy Advisor to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada on $300M+ in settlement programs and the country’s asylum determination body, among other policy design roles.
Kazim also drove fundraising in large-scale community sponsorship of Hazara Afghan refugees in 2021, worked with US & Canadian nonprofits to hone their influence and business development strategies including in digital international development, and consulted on climate financing and informal settlement policy in West Africa. Kazim holds a Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Political Science from the University of Waterloo. He resides in New York City.
Related Projects
Dioptra
A multi-agency tool to simplify cost analysis and improve value for money of humanitarian and development interventions.
Explore ProjectHumanitarian Debt Swaps
An innovative transaction to refinance sovereign debt in fragile contexts, resulting in new funding streams for communities at the frontline of conflict and climate crisis.
Explore ProjectInnovative Finance Advisory Model
A pioneering new approach to scale the impact of multilateral development bank, development finance institution, or private sector investments for social impact projects in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Explore ProjectPublications
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White Paper on Humanitarian Debt Swap
"IRC is aiming to replicate an innovative transaction to refinance sovereign debt in fragile contexts, resulting in new funding streams for communities at the frontlines of conflict and the climate crisis. Based on recent examples of sovereign ‘debt for nature’ restructuring, we propose a ‘humanitarian debt swap’ that will help targeted countries restructure outstanding below investment-grade commercial sovereign debt, freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars for conflict-affected, refugee-hosting, climate-prone communities."
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Follow the Forecast: Anticipatory Action in Fragile Settings (pg 12)
"Based on parametric triggers and early warning systems, at least half of humanitarian crises are foreseeable and more than 20% of disasters highly predictable. If we know where and when shocks are highly likely to occur, why not act now?"
External link