Research

My research sits at the intersection of community development and public health, focusing on how small NGOs in rural Nepal plan, monitor, and evaluate their work.

Background

I completed my MA at Royal Roads University in 2017. My thesis examined NGO program efficacy and outcomes in eastern Nepal, looking specifically at the gap between what projects expected to achieve and what they actually produced, and what that gap meant for the communities left to live with the results.

Two projects formed the core of that work. The first was an assessment of a biogas digester and reedbed installation in Ilam, Nepal, a multi-partner effort that failed to be completed. The second was a sanitation initiative in the village of Namsaling, where I compared health outcome data from a 2008 baseline with data from a survey I conducted in 2016 and 2017. That second project introduced the survey instrument I am still using today.

Current Research

After finishing my MA, I intended to continue into a doctoral program. There was some interest, but the process moved slowly, and eventually other obligations took priority. I chose to continue the research independently instead, which has given me more flexibility than a formal program would have allowed.

Since 2017, I have been working with the Namsaling Community Development Committee (NCDC), a local NGO based in Namsaling, to design and implement a village-wide survey practice. Since 2023, I have been personally funding the fieldwork.

The survey runs twice a year. One round is conducted during the dry season and one during the monsoon. The timing is deliberate: seasonal conditions have a measurable effect on community health in rural Nepal, and a single annual data point would miss that variation. The instrument covers health indicators and household conditions, building a picture of how life in the village changes, or does not change, across time and seasons.

All data is anonymized before it is shared. Partner organizations, including the University of Colorado, receive the anonymized datasets for their own analysis.

Goals

The research has two practical endpoints. The first is a five-year baseline dataset tracking health and household outcomes in Namsaling. The second is a functioning, independent monitoring practice owned and operated by NCDC; one they can deploy before starting new projects and return to every six months to assess whether conditions warrant intervention.

The intent is for the tools and the practice to stay in the community after the formal research concludes.

Analysis of the accumulated data is ongoing. Publication is expected in 2027.