Aaliyah Khwaja

Background

From global policy to local practice

Before starting Seven Summits Advisory, I worked with the United Nations Development Coordination Office in the Policy and Programming Branch, where I supported knowledge management for the Resident Coordinator system. I wrote The UN Knowledge Retention Framework: A Co-Created Guide, which replaced fragmented manual practices with one standardized approach, and supported the Interagency Knowledge Management Network and its Knowledge Retention Task Force. I also helped build and test an internal AI tool drawing on UN Country Team results reports from 130 Resident Coordinator Offices, edited the office's monthly policy bulletin and wrote its 2025 feedback report, and contributed to the UN Common Pledge 2025 Stocktaking Report for the Global Refugee Forum.

My research has taken me from more than thirty stakeholder interviews with international NGOs in Amman, Jordan, to policy tracking and Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C. In Jordan, I supported a graduate research team assessing how international NGOs coordinate support for Syrian refugees and co-authored the published report. As a National Security Policy Fellow in Washington, I wrote policy memos and quick-turn analyses of hearings and legislation. I wrote my honors thesis on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and have published commentary on conflict and human rights, including pieces on Sudan and Pakistan.

Leadership has been a constant thread. At Columbia University, I was President of the School of International and Public Affairs Student Association, representing more than 1,200 graduate students. I met every two weeks with school deans and Columbia's Acting President, worked with University Trustees, was selected as a student advisor to Acting President Claire Shipman, and served as a student speaker at my 2026 graduation ceremony. Today I manage operations for two free medical and dental clinics serving refugees, asylum seekers, veterans, and other underserved communities, from volunteer onboarding and compliance files to fundraisers and donor outreach. That work keeps me grounded in what small organizations need day to day.