RAMESH K. SINGH
Bangkok,10
Summary
Visionary leader with 28+ years of global experience in humanitarian aid, development, and nutrition across Asia and Africa. Expertise in managing multi-country portfolios exceeding $118M, supervising 2,500+ staff, and implementing MEAL systems and technical quality frameworks. Proven track record in impact strategy development, risk governance, and data-driven decision-making, ensuring sustainable organizational transformation. Strong focus on operational efficiency and cost reduction aligned with strategic goals.
Overview
29
29
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Regional Director, Asia
CARE
04.2024 - Current
- Enhanced program delivery by aligning regional architecture with global strategy across nine countries.
- Strengthened MEAL systems and technical quality to assure impact across regional operations.
- Reformed governance, improving risk management and safeguarding across a $118M portfolio.
- Facilitated donor engagement and represented CARE at key intergovernmental platforms.
- Transformed organizational operations through model redesign and cross-country learning initiatives.
Country Director
CARE Bangladesh
05.2020 - 04.2024
- Achieved alignment with CARE 2030 vision through a unified national strategy.
- Transformed organizational structure, enhancing agility and strategic coherence.
- Managed a $50M+ budget, impacting 8M participants with 1,000 staff.
- Secured over $200M in new funding, maintaining a robust $100-150M pipeline.
- Elected INGO Representative for Rohingya Response, engaging in UN climate initiatives.
- Strengthened safeguarding systems and crisis response protocols during COVID-19.
- Championed organization-wide cultural shifts towards gender, diversity, and inclusion.
Multiple Country Country Director Roles
Mercy Corps
01.2013 - 01.2020
- Secured $50M+ funding, building a robust $150M project pipeline.
- Enhanced government and donor alliances, driving strategic partnerships and collaborations.
- Revitalized strategy focused on resilience, market development, and peace-building initiatives.
- Championed livestock market systems, promoting national adoption of weather information tools.
- Influenced key legislation, including the Animal Health and Pastureland Laws.
- Delivered maternal and child health services impacting over 300,000 individuals.
- Pioneered Tajikistan’s first mHealth initiative, improving health communication and access.
Program Manager; Health Program Manager; Emergency Food Security; Program Manager
Mercy Corps – Tajikistan
01.2009 - 01.2013
- Managed multi-donor programs, enhancing health outcomes in 8–12 districts.
- Pioneered adaptive management, embedding iterative learning before sector adoption.
- Enhanced MEAL processes, establishing expertise through audits and evaluations.
- Initiated digital innovation via mHealth pilots and strategic partnerships.
- Cultivated crucial partnership skills through collaboration with UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA.
Field Office Director – Sumatra
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) – Indonesia
01.2008 - 01.2009
- Directed multi-field-office operations in post-conflict/post-disaster settings post Tsunami response of 128M USD reconstruction and rehabilitation.
- Oversaw health systems revitalization programs, working directly with District Health Offices and Ministry of Health—my early exposure to systems strengthening and government relations.
Program Manager
Medical Teams International – Indonesia
01.2008 - 01.2008
- Managed multi-sectoral programs (health, MCH, WASH, GIK distributions).
- Strengthened cross-sector coordination and response management competencies foundational for humanitarian quality standards.
Director, USAID Child Survival Program
HOPE Worldwide – India
01.2006 - 01.2008
- Led USAID’s flagship urban health initiative in North-East Delhi.
- Built technical rigor in MCH, community health systems, social behavior change, and data-driven accountability.
- Experience here seeded my later ability to align national-level programming with global frameworks.
Program Director
Counterpart International – India
01.2001 - 01.2006
- Managed one of India's earliest USAID-funded urban health programs—scaling community systems, health governance, and public–private collaboration.
- Coordinated post-earthquake recovery program in Gujarat—building your expertise in emergency–development nexus.
Program Officer
Catholic Relief Services – India
01.1997 - 01.2000
- Managed a USAID-funded child survival project across nine districts.
- Built foundational skills in project cycle management, monitoring, donor compliance, and partner capacity building.
Education
M.Phil. - Political Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi01-1995
M.A. - Political Studies
JNU
New Delhi01.1993
B.A. (Hons) - Political Science
University of Delhi
Delhi01.1991
Skills
Languages: English, Hindi (Bilingual), Bangla (Professional)
1 MEAL Systems Leadership & Evidence Architecture
Ability to design, harmonize, and steward enterprise-wide Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) systems that ensure data integrity, real-time performance tracking, and evidence-driven decision-making across multi-country portfolios
2 Advanced Project Cycle Management & Program Quality Assurance
Expert command of the full project cycle—from assessment and design to implementation, adaptation, and evaluation—grounded in global humanitarian standards
3 Board Engagement, Influence, & Executive Communication
Skill in engaging Board Members through high-level impact reporting, strategic dashboards, risk intelligence, thought leadership briefs, and narrative storytelling that translates field-level evidence into enterprise-level insights This includes the ability to advise the Board on strategic trade-offs, emerging risks, impact trajectories, and organizational priorities with clarity, authority, and analytical depth
4 Organizational Strategy Development & Enterprise Alignment
Capability to co-create, operationalize, and monitor organization-wide impact strategies that connect global ambitions to country-level execution
5 Systems Thinking & Cross-Country Integration
This includes understanding interdependencies across countries, partners, donors, and global frameworks; anticipating risks; and designing solutions that improve coherence, efficiency, and long-term resilience across diverse contexts
6 Partnership, Advocacy & External Positioning for Impact
Ability to influence donors, UN agencies, governments, research bodies, and global platforms by translating organizational evidence into compelling advocacy messages
Accomplishments
- Impact Leadership & Program Quality
- Strengthened technical, MEAL, and quality standards across Asia’s largest INGO portfolios.
- Built gender-transformative, locally-led, accountable program architectures.
- Scale & Systems Governance
- Managed 15+ countries, 2,500+ staff, nine Country Directors, and portfolios exceeding $118M.
- Strengthened safeguarding, risk, compliance, crisis management, and fiduciary systems.
- Resource Mobilization
- Secured $200M+ (Bangladesh), $50M+ (Ethiopia); built $150M+ multi-year pipelines.
- Maintained trusted donor relationships with USAID/BHA, ECHO, FCDO, Sida, DFAT, UN agencies, and foundations.
- Innovation & Systems Strengthening
- Led digital transformation pilots, mHealth solutions, weather information systems, and country structure redesigns.
- Created adaptive learning systems, dashboards, and evidence-to-action mechanisms.
- Policy Influence & Representation
- Influenced national legislation (Mongolia), SUN engagement (Tajikistan).
- Represented INGOs at SEG (Rohingya response), IASC, ASEAN/SARRC, high-level donor forums.
Certification
- PRINCE2 Practitioner (2015)
- PMD Pro Level 1 (2013)
Timeline
Regional Director, Asia
CARE
04.2024 - Current
Country Director
CARE Bangladesh
05.2020 - 04.2024
Multiple Country Country Director Roles
Mercy Corps
01.2013 - 01.2020
Program Manager; Health Program Manager; Emergency Food Security; Program Manager
Mercy Corps – Tajikistan
01.2009 - 01.2013
Field Office Director – Sumatra
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) – Indonesia
01.2008 - 01.2009
Program Manager
Medical Teams International – Indonesia
01.2008 - 01.2008
Director, USAID Child Survival Program
HOPE Worldwide – India
01.2006 - 01.2008
Program Director
Counterpart International – India
01.2001 - 01.2006
Program Officer
Catholic Relief Services – India
01.1997 - 01.2000
M.Phil. - Political Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
M.A. - Political Studies
JNU
B.A. (Hons) - Political Science
University of Delhi
CORE EXECUTIVE COMPETENCIES
- Impact Strategy & Systems Leadership — Designing and operationalizing multi-country impact strategies; embedding unified results frameworks, indicators, and learning systems.
- Program Quality Assurance — Setting and enforcing technical, MEAL, safeguarding, gender, and inclusion standards at scale.
- Data, Evaluation & MEAL Excellence — Building digital MEAL ecosystems, dashboards, evidence-to-action loops, and country accountability systems.
- Regional & Country Office Leadership — Holding CDs accountable for performance, compliance, safeguarding, impact and fiduciary governance.
- Risk, Safeguarding & Operational Integrity — Leading enterprise risk processes, crisis management, donor negotiations, and compliance recovery.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Thought Leadership — Elevating organizational presence with UN, donors, governments, and policy forums.
- Innovation & Change Management — Incubating digital, climate, and market systems innovations; redesigning structures for agile, future-fit organizations.
- People Leadership & Inclusive Culture — Building cohesive, values-driven, diverse, high-performing teams across complex contexts.
LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
I lead with clarity, evidence, and empathy, grounded in organizational values and the lived realities of communities. I believe impact comes from strong systems, inclusive culture, accountable leadership, and continuous learning. My north star is to help organizations deliver credible, measurable, scalable impact—ensuring they become partners of choice in achieving sustainable, people-centered change.