S.M. Zakaria Rahman

Mr. Zakaria Rahman is an accomplished technical advisor and program director with over 15 years of experience implementing education projects in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. He brings extensive experience working closely with ministry of education officials to develop education sector strategy and strengthen systems for improved service delivery. 

Mr. Rahman is currently Deputy Chief of Party of the USAID Shobai Miley Shikhi Activity, a project that is improving inclusive education, with a focus on children with disabilities, in primary schools in Bangladesh. 

Mr. Rahman’s expertise includes working with master trainers, teachers, and government officials to understand research-based best practice for inclusion. He has developed teaching, learning, and assessment materials based on best practices of Universal Designs for Learning (UDL) in early grade literacy, social and emotional learning (SEL), and language instruction. He is particularly passionate about the importance of building local capacity to support pre-primary students and education for girls of all ages. 

Prior to joining RTI in 2022, Mr. Rahman led Save the Children’s education portfolio in South Sudan; was Deputy Director of Programs for Plan International’s Rohingya response programs in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; and was the Education Advisor in Kabul, Afghanistan, for ChildFund. He is fluent in Bengali, Sadri, and has working knowledge of Arabic, Dari (Persian), Urdu, and Hindi.