Madhu Sudaan Gautam has over 15 years of extensive experience in resilience, and sustainable livelihoods consulting and advisory services. He has been significantly engaged in and contributed to green, resilient, and inclusive recovery policies, strategies, plans, and programs, working at local, provincial, and federal levels for community resilience.
Madhu provides technical advice to governments and donors, focusing on disaster- and climate risk-informed decisions, as well as institutional and public finance governance. He has led numerous donor-funded studies and contributed to government policies, strategies, planning, and capacity building at national and sub-national levels. He has managed multi-stakeholder projects funded by various organizations, supporting the mainstreaming of climate change and disaster risk management into national and local planning processes. He holds master’s degrees in economics and development studies.
Leadership: Madhu has successfully led several key initiatives, including the “Early Warning System Strengthening with UNICEF across Health & Nutrition, Education, WASH, Child Protection, Livelihood & Social Protection sections”, "Delivering Improved Emergency Preparedness & Response in Nepal through Enhanced Partnership between the Red Cross and the Government of Nepal," the "Enhancing Preparedness for Emergency Response through Stronger National Systems in Nepal with a Focus on the Far Western and Mid-Western Regions," and the "Promoting Resilient Cities and Sustainable Urban Growth by Strengthening DRR Capacity of Local Authorities through Active Private Sector Involvement," funded by EHO. He also led the "Urban DRR Project in Kathmandu Valley: Strengthening Urban Resilience through DRR in Kathmandu Valley," funded by a consortium of partners (LWR, ADRA, DCA, and VSO). Madhu recently led a study on Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) flows in Nepal for Start Network (SN) funded by FCDO, and the formulation of the National Anticipatory Framework and Roadmap (2025-2030) for the Disaster Authority of Nepal (NDRRMA) supported by IFRC and funded by FCDO.
Capacity Building: Madhu has supported the government at both national and subnational levels in building the capacity of government agencies and other stakeholders. He has led DRM capacity-building initiatives following the 2015 earthquake to strengthen the capabilities of provincial and local authorities. He developed training curricula and provided training to elected representatives and government staff. Additionally, he led the development of curricula and procedures aimed at strengthening the capacity of Emergency Operating Centres (EOCs) at district and local levels. He also offered capacity building of National Designated Authority (NDA) and other stakeholders on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness Project.
Monitoring & Evaluation: Madhu has expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research studies. He has led and served as a monitoring and evaluation expert on several donor-funded projects. He worked as a technical lead and climate change survey expert for the National Statistics Office (NSO) of Nepal, in a project ‘National Climate Change Survey’ with TA by UNDP. He also led the impact evaluation of the "Improve Technical and Vocational Education and Training" project funded by the World Bank. Additionally, he has conducted several baselines, midline, and endline studies funded by INGOs and other development partners.