Kathmandu, Nepal — open to evaluation and MEAL assignments

Man Bahadur Lama

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning Joint Programme M&E Consultant, UNICEF Nepal

Sixteen years building the systems that tell a development programme whether it actually worked — and getting the answer in front of the people who can act on it.

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Man Bahadur Lama photographed above the Kathmandu valley

Above the Kathmandu valley, 2024

Every post since 2006, plotted to scale

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UNICEF Nepal

Joint Programme Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant (part-time)

July 2026 — present

Leading joint monitoring, evaluation and research planning across four participating UN agencies, and designing the programme's endline study.

  • Programme valueUSD 19.5M over 4 years
  • Implementing partners24
  • Programme staff32
  • Local governments32 across 3 provinces

Scale of work

USD 45.8M Combined value of the three programmes I have led MEAL for since 2023
44 Implementing partners monitored and verified
67 Local governments monitored across those programmes
16 Years in monitoring, evaluation and learning roles

Figures cover UNICEF Nepal (2026–), REED Nepal (2025–26) and USAID Karnali Water Activity (2023–25). Full detail sits in the CV.

About

I design and run the measurement side of large development programmes: the frameworks, the indicators, the data that flows in from the field, and the verification that makes it trustworthy.

Most of my work has been in Nepal, across water and sanitation, education, health, livelihoods, governance and disaster resilience. I have built MEAL systems inside a UN joint programme, a USAID flagship activity, an international NGO country office and Nepali national NGOs — which means I have seen the same measurement problem from the donor side, the implementer side and the local government side.

Numbers only matter if someone can defend where they came from.

The part I care about most is verification. Reported results are easy to produce and hard to trust, so I spend my time on the unglamorous work: risk-rating partners so scrutiny goes where it is needed, reviewing the documentary evidence behind a milestone, going to the site to see whether the scheme was built, and triangulating what partners report against what the field data says. By the time a figure reaches a donor report I want to know exactly how it was arrived at.

Alongside that, I facilitate the learning: reflection workshops, review meetings, and the handover of data and documentation so knowledge survives the end of a programme cycle. I work in English and Nepali, and I have been part of building the evaluation profession here through the Nepal Evaluation Society and the Asia Pacific Evaluation Association.

Experience

Eight posts since 2006. Open any one for the detail.

  • USD 19.5 million over four years · 24 partners · 32 programme staff · 32 local governments in 3 provinces

    • Lead joint monitoring, evaluation and research planning across four participating UN agencies, embedding MER frameworks in annual and periodic workplans.
    • Lead the planning, design and delivery of the joint programme endline study — methodology, sampling frame, data collection tools and quality assurance.
    • Maintain and consolidate multi-agency data collection, verification and reporting systems so datasets stay reliable and comparable across agencies.
    • Act as focal point for participating agencies and implementing partners, chairing the joint M&E working group and technical working group with donor partners.
    • Produce progress, analytical and results reporting, including OPSYS updates carrying verified programme results.
    • Run joint learning events and knowledge management, including the systematic transfer of programme data and documentation at handover.

  • USD 1.5 million a year · 60 programme staff · 6 local governments in 2 provinces

    • Designed organisation-wide MEAL systems — logframes, indicator frameworks and performance monitoring plans.
    • Set up standardised data collection, verification and reporting so figures held up across every programme.
    • Led baseline, midline and endline evaluations, and turned the findings into programme changes.
    • Supported strategic planning and annual work planning, and tracked performance against strategic objectives.
    • Coordinated proposal development and donor reporting with the programme and finance teams.
    • Strengthened accountability and safeguarding through the monitoring and learning mechanisms.
    • Facilitated reflection workshops and documented what was working and what was not.

  • USD 24.79 million over five years · 20 partners · 70 programme staff · 29 local governments in 3 provinces

    • Led the design and rollout of the MERL system for a flagship USAID activity — performance monitoring framework, indicators and theory of change.
    • Built grant and partner monitoring so every reported output and milestone was verified before it went into a report.
    • Developed verification protocols covering documentary evidence review, field verification visits and triangulation of partner-reported data.
    • Introduced risk-based monitoring, rating partners on performance and compliance risk to decide how much verification each needed.
    • Verified key output and selected outcome indicators across field sites for accuracy and consistency.
    • Supervised the MEL team on structured verification visits and ran quarterly performance reviews to validate results before USAID reporting.
    • Worked with local governments, service providers and partners to strengthen delivery and performance monitoring.

  • Hygiene & health · recovery and resilient WASH · policy and advocacy · rural and urban WASH

    • Provided strategic leadership for national MEAL systems covering WASH, health and education programmes funded by FCDO, USAID and others.
    • Supported country strategy and plan development, and the performance monitoring frameworks behind them.
    • Designed partner monitoring and verification systems for NGOs, government-supported programmes and local implementing partners.
    • Monitored grant performance — progress reports, supporting documentation and field verification of reported results.
    • Built data verification and validation so field data, partner reports and central databases agreed with each other.
    • Ran routine verification visits to confirm service delivery outputs, infrastructure completion and community-level results.
    • Facilitated quarterly and annual performance validation workshops so achievements were confirmed before donor submission.
    • Led organisational learning and strategic reviews, and coordinated with government, donors and partners on programme quality.

  • SAMARTH · Flood Resilient · SWASTHA

    • Developed results chains, monitoring frameworks and evaluation plans across the portfolio.
    • Monitored partner organisations and held them to their performance indicators.
    • Led data analysis and reporting for quarterly and annual programme reviews.
    • Trained partners and staff on MEAL systems and reporting.
    • Contributed to programme quality assurance and learning processes.

  • Education and health portfolio

    • Supported cooperation strategy development and coordination with government and development partners.
    • Assisted project monitoring and evaluation, including ex-post evaluation data collection.
    • Coordinated the deployment and monitoring of international volunteers in local institutions.
    • Supported programme reporting and stakeholder engagement.

  • Education · health · governance and accountability · livelihoods · disaster risk reduction and climate change · GEDSI

    • Led planning, monitoring and evaluation across the full programme portfolio.
    • Developed MEAL frameworks aligned to the organisational strategy.
    • Built staff and partner capacity on MEAL tools and reporting systems.
    • Strengthened results-based planning, monitoring and reporting.
    • Supported donor reporting, proposal development and knowledge management.

  • Education · child health · livelihoods · community development

    • Coordinated education, health, livelihoods and child rights programmes at district level.
    • Managed partner coordination and stakeholder engagement with government and local institutions.
    • Contributed to monitoring and reporting of field-level activity.
    • Built the capacity of field teams and community facilitators.

What I do

Four things organisations usually bring me in for.

Build the MEAL system

Start from the theory of change and work down to something a field officer can actually fill in.

  • Theory of change and performance frameworks
  • Indicator development and results measurement
  • Logframes and performance monitoring plans
  • Accountability and safeguarding mechanisms

Verify what gets reported

The part that decides whether a results table can survive an audit.

  • Grant and partner monitoring and verification
  • Field-based verification and data quality assurance
  • Risk-based monitoring and partner risk rating
  • Donor compliance and performance reporting

Run the evaluation

Baselines, midlines, endlines and independent evaluations, mixed-methods and designed for use.

  • Mixed-methods research and evaluation
  • Outcome and impact assessment
  • Sampling, tools and quality assurance
  • Evaluation coordination across agencies

Make it get used

Evidence that stays in a report changes nothing. This is the follow-through.

  • Adaptive management and learning systems
  • Reflection workshops and review meetings
  • Knowledge management and evidence synthesis
  • Partner and staff capacity strengthening

Tools and cross-cutting practice

KoboToolbox mWater Solstice Advanced Excel OPSYS reporting AI in MEL and data management Gender equality & social inclusion Multi-stakeholder coordination Team leadership & field supervision

Evaluations & studies

Assignments I led or coordinated. Reports belong to the commissioning organisations — ask and I will point you to what is public.

  • 2026 Joint Programme endline study — design and deliveryUNICEF Nepal, four participating UN agencies Study
  • 2025–26 Evaluation of two education projectsREED Nepal Evaluation
  • 2024 Data quality assessment and annual monitoring surveyUSAID Karnali Water Activity Study
  • 2022 Country programme evaluation — national evaluation coordinatorWaterAid Nepal Evaluation
  • 2019 Evaluation of the Inclusive Development of Children with Disabilities projectHRDC Nepal Evaluation
  • 2018 WASH resilience framework developmentWaterAid Nepal Framework
  • 2015–23 Assessments and evaluations across a dozen projectsWaterAid Nepal Evaluation
  • 2009 Community-led sanitation studyNepal Study

Showing all 8 assignments.

Training

Training I have taken

  • Generative AI Mastermind — Outskill2026
  • MEL 102, Operationalizing MEL Systems — DAI2024
  • Justice-Based Approach, PMD Pro and PMER ToT — WaterAid2015–23
  • mWater administration — WaterAid India2017
  • DCED results measurement training and seminar — Bangkok2014
  • Participatory M&E — ELD2011
  • Human rights based approach — Plan Nepal2009

Training I have delivered

  • Nepal Evaluation Society trainings2016–26
  • Review and planning meetings, facilitated annually2015–26
  • Results-based monitoring & evaluation — HRDC Nepal
  • Planning, monitoring & evaluation — Caritas Nepal
  • Monitoring & evaluation — United Mission to Nepal

Recommendations

Written by people who managed, commissioned or served alongside me.

Man is an experienced MEL professional. He has a range of skills from survey design and analysis to designing and implementing M&E frameworks for complex programmes. He is detail-oriented and a pleasure to collaborate with when working on MEL deliverables. He is always keen to build his skills and expertise and never stops learning. He would be a true asset to any organisation that is lucky enough to have him work with them.

Ben Robinson Ben Robinson Head of Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning, TRAFFIC

Mr. Lama and I have worked together at WaterAid. I am a great admirer of his proactiveness. He is highly skilful in M&E approaches, methodologies and surveys, with a wealth of knowledge in using IT for M&E. Lama is a fast learner and remained a great contributor to the M&E initiatives we started from the HQ office. Any organisation would be proud to have Mr. Lama on the team.

Sabir Hussain Sabir Hussain MEAL Advisor, Médecins Sans Frontières

I have known Man Bahadur Lama as an executive member and later as treasurer of the Nepal Evaluation Society for more than three years. He has provided technical input to several project evaluation engagements. I have found him a committed monitoring and evaluation professional, very good at identifying the issues at hand and quickly designing the approach — including training staff and conducting the studies themselves. He is cooperative and amicable. I wish him greater success.

Dr. Bhuban B. Bajracharya Dr. Bhuban B. Bajracharya Chairperson, Nepal Evaluation Society

Contact

Let's talk about the assignment

Evaluations, MEAL system design, data quality reviews, or training for your team — tell me what you need and by when. I reply within two working days.

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