Aziza Umarova
Biography
She was born on April 26, 1982, in Tashkent.
From 1999 to 2004, she studied International Economics at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and graduated with honours.
From 2005 to 2006, she completed her Master’s degree at the University of St Andrews (United Kingdom) as a Chevening Scholar. During her studies, she was an active member of the Debate Team and the St Andrews Energy Security Unit.
From 2008 to 2016, she served as Portfolio Manager for Effective Governance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Uzbekistan.
In 2009, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
From 2015 to 2018, she participated as a monitoring expert in the OECD Anti-Corruption Network’s Istanbul Action Plan.
From 2017 to 2018, she worked at the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence in Singapore and contributed to GovInsider as a commentator.
She lectured at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
From 2022 to 2023, she served as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University.
Since 2023, she has been serving as Head of the Delivery Unit Project Office under the Agency for Strategic Reforms under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
From February 2025 to February 2026, she is pursuing an Executive Diploma in Strategy and Innovation at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
She currently serves as Executive Director of SMARTGOV.consulting (Singapore).
She is a certified independent director and serves as an independent member of the Board of Directors of “Uzbekistan Airports” JSC and “Toshshahartransxizmat” JSC.
She is the author of the Uzbekistan chapter in the book “Evolution of Public Administration in 15 Post-Soviet Countries: Diversity of Transformation”, published by Palgrave Macmillan.
She is an internationally recognized expert in public administration reform, modernization, e-government, and gender policy. She is also a Chatham House expert and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Astana Civil Service Hub (Kazakhstan).