Aarya is a policy analyst, currently associated with the University of California San Diego, assisting Afghan government’s reform on financial digitization. She is also a Founding Partner at Duran, a Kabul based research firm, and a policy analyst in governance, leadership and transboundary waters.

Prior to that, she was Director Institutional Development and Policy at the Government of Afghanistan, where she pioneered a key institutional reform on workplace harassment and was part of the team that developed Afghanistan’s Sub National Governance Policy. She has advised most major international organizations working in Afghanistan, and has supported the Afghan Government in developing one of its long-term national programs focusing on women’s economic empowerment.

Aarya has published on governance and leadership with AREU (https://areu.org.af/advanced-publication-search?publ_author=aarya-nijat) and USIP (https://www.usip.org/publications/2015/09/womens-leadership-roles-afghanistan), and holds MPA from Harvard, MSc. in International Relations and double bachelor in law and political science.