Siya is a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) professional with over six years of experience generating evidence to inform development programmes and policy. She works across the full evaluation cycle, from design and data collection to analysis and reporting, with particular strength in advanced data analytics and mixed-methods research. More recently, she has extended this evidence-based approach into enterprise support and accelerator programmes for women-led and women-impact enterprises.

Data is her core strength, whether working with structured datasets or drawing insight from unstructured sources. Siya designs and manages large-scale quantitative and qualitative data systems, builds composite indicators and measurement frameworks, and produces disaggregated analysis across gender, age, and other equity dimensions. She is increasingly focused on how technology and AI can strengthen the way evidence is collected, analysed, and used, and has applied behavioural and segmentation approaches to turn complex data into practical insights for programme design and targeting. Beyond these, she has used emerging techniques such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and AI agentic systems to develop solutions that support impact evaluations and enterprise support.

Her thematic focus spans health, nutrition, and gender, from maternal and child nutrition to gender-responsive school feeding and women’s economic empowerment, with equity and inclusion consistently embedded in her work.

Siya has worked with UN agencies and multilateral partners including WFP, UNICEF, UN Women, and JICA, alongside foundations and civil society organisations, across Asia and Africa, including India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. She has led end-to-end multiple WFP and UNICEF evaluations, including multi-country assessments and school feeding studies.

A strong communicator, she has co-authored several multilateral agency reports and excels at turning large volumes of evidence into clear briefs and presentations. She holds a Master’s in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

When she’s not deep in datasets, you’ll find Siya chasing whatever’s new and curious, listening to music on cassette tapes and vinyl, or doing something delightfully against the grain. She loves long drives and can stay behind the wheel for 12 hours or more. She’s happiest trying something she hasn’t tried before.