Background
Babu Ram Devkota has over 15 years experience of consultancy, project management and monitoring and evaluation covering wide range of project support. This includes strategic planning, technical assistance in monitoring and evaluations methods, data analysis and use of data for decision making and programme improvement. Countries supported include Nepal, India, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, Sri Lanka ,Palestine (West Bank and Gaza) and Zambia.
Trained and mentored on LQAS methodology by Professor Joe Valadez in 1997, Babu Ram successfully completed the planning and implementation of the Child Survival Project at Rautahat and Bara districts of rural Nepal (October 1997 to September 2001). He also managed a similar project for the next five years starting from October 2001 for a larger geographical area of Bara district.
He has conducted a series of periodical evaluations and surveys that also include Knowledge Practice and Coverage (KPC) surveys and Health Facility Assessments (IHFA). He also introduced biannual Lot Quality Assurance Surveys (LQAS) in 1999 for the project. Integration of data into health workers' routine was the innovation of Mr Devkota, which he designed and introduced in Nepal’s LQAS Project. This approach has helped to reduce the M&E cost substantially by spreading data collection cost across several other activities.
Recently Babu Ram successfully completed an LQAS project (October 2009 to March 2012) with the National Vector Borne Disease Programme (NVBDCP) in Odisha state, India. The project was funded by DFID and technical support was provided by LSTM. In last two years, 5 rounds of data collection have taken place (two times a year in nine districts covering a population of about 15 million) and like in Nepal, LQAS data collection work was integrated with health workers' routine work and health workers (interviewers) were also trained on data analysis, using the results to make decisions directly related to programme improvement.
With the success of this project, NVBDCP Odisha recently decided to upscale the programme to all districts of Odisha. Currently Babu Ram is managing LSTM's involvement in this LQAS scale-up project to improve Malaria Control Programme Management and Impact.