Lila Kumar Khatiwada

Senior Researcher

Areas of Expertise: Agriculture; Food and Hunger Issues; Natural Resource Management; Gender Equality; Technology for Development; Inequality; Local Capacity Building; Poverty; Peacebuilding; Water Security and Management

Lila Kumar Khatiwada, a senior researcher with the Evidence and Learning Division, has been with the Institute since 2013.

With a commitment to addressing global challenges, Lila’s extensive expertise spans a range of critical areas, including poverty and inequality, microfinance, natural resource management, agriculture, disaster risk reduction, gender, peacebuilding, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). His most notable contributions have been in impact assessment, where he’s leveraged knowledge of quasi-experimental design and mixed methods to conceive, execute, and evaluate global projects and programs.

Lila’s international portfolio includes countries such as Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Nepal, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. He has collaborated with an array of renowned organizations, including the National Science Foundation, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Department for International Development, U.S. Agency for International Development, United Nations Development Programme, European Union, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa, U.S. Department of Labor, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Canadian International Development Agency, and International Finance Corporation — the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.

From 2010 to 2012, Lila worked with the University of Maryland College Park, where he engaged in policy research on the international stage. From 1993 to 2001, he helped implement development projects in rural areas focusing on microfinance, agricultural development, community forestry, WASH, and gender empowerment — all topics that deeply resonate with communities in his native country, Nepal.

Lila holds a Ph. D. in rural sociology specializing in community development from the University of Missouri and a master’s in rural sociology and environmental science from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. He also received a bachelor’s in agriculture from Nepal’s esteemed Tribhuvan University. Lila’s skill set is bolstered by a graduate certificate in geographic information systems (GIS) from the University of Missouri.

Lila’s research is widely published. His work has appeared in American Behavioral Scientists, Journal of Regional Analysis and Planning, Maternal and Child Health, Journal of International Tourism Research, Africa Today, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Reconsidering Development, and World Development Perspectives. He has also been a reviewer for World Development Perspectives, International Journal of Tourism Research, Experimental Agriculture, and Community Informatics.