Muhammad Zia Muneer is a development economist and researcher specializing in behavioral and experimental economics, social protection, and the monitoring and evaluation of public service delivery programs. His work focuses on applying behavioral insights and rigorous impact evaluation methods to improve development outcomes and inform policy in low-resource settings.

Over the past decade, Zia has led and supported large-scale research and implementation initiatives funded by partners such as GiveWell, Wellcome Trust, GIZ, the European Union, and others. His portfolio spans mobile conditional cash transfer (mCCT) programs incentivizing childhood immunization, cluster randomized controlled trials to improve occupational health among textile workers, and evaluations of social health protection schemes—to name a few. He has designed and implemented mixed-methods M&E frameworks, developed theories of change and logframes, and collaborated closely with government agencies, evaluation teams, and community stakeholders.

At Grassroots, Zia serves as an Associate, contributing his expertise in monitoring and evaluation, impact measurement, and economic analysis. He has helped design project-level M&E frameworks (including logframes, theories of change, and KPI templates) and supports the integration of learning and evidence into program design, implementation, and scale-up.

Zia holds an MPhil in Economics (Gold Medalist) and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi and is an alumnus of the U.S. Department of State’s Global UGRAD Exchange Program. He has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications on occupational health, workplace bullying, and social protection, and is passionate about advancing innovative, evidence-based solutions at the intersection of health and labor economics, social protection, and inequality.