Anila Ajmal is a Social and Environmental Safeguards Specialist at the United Nations Capital Development Fund.

Before joining UNCDF, Anila worked at UNDP-Maldives as Head of the Resilience and Climate Change Unit and UNDP Pakistan as Programme Analyst for the Environment and Climate Change Unit, where she managed multi-donor projects and mobilized $18 million from key donors in Pakistan and SIDS countries. Prior to UNDP, Anila held various leading roles at international organisations, including START Network, WaterAid International, Médecins Sans Frontières, HelpAge International, Welthungerhilfe, and The Nature Conservancy, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Germany, and the USA. She has published several peer-reviewed research articles in international journals focusing on climate change adaptation.

Anila joined UNCDF in 2025 and oversees the UNCDF’s compliance with Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS), ensuring that all programmes, projects, and investments across the organisation adhere to the highest international ES standards. She leads the development, effective implementation and management of safeguard systems to promote sustainability and social inclusion across UNCDF’s programmes. Her expertise encompasses managing large-scale, complex international projects across various high-impact sectors, including infrastructure (energy, transportation, water, and sanitation), oil and gas, construction, and financial institutions.

She is a Pakistani national with over 16 years of experience in the development and humanitarian sectors, holding an M.Phil in Environmental Sciences and a Diploma in Climate Change Adaptation from Quaid-I-Azam University and the University of Oklahoma, USA. She speaks English, Urdu, and Punjabi.