Rajani Shrestha

Rajani Shrestha is a seasoned education and research professional with 18 years of experience implementing large-scale education initiatives across diverse regions. With a wealth of experience in Asia and the Middle East, Ms. Shrestha has cultivated robust institutional relationships with local non-governmental organizations, high-ranking Ministry officials, donors, and the private sector to enhance learning outcomes in conflict and crises affected nations. She has worked with multiple funding entities, including USAID, the Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Porticus Foundation, and the LEGO Foundation.

Ms. Shrestha joined RTI in 2022 and is currently the Project Manager for the USAID-funded Quality Instruction Towards Access and Basic Education Improvement (QITABI) 3 Program in Lebanon. In this role, Ms. Shrestha oversees the overall performance of QITABI 3 playing a pivotal role in ensuring implementation excellence and quality control. Within the framework of QITABI 3, she also offers technical support on system strengthening and leads the program’s research, monitoring, and evaluation initiatives. 

Prior to joining RTI, Ms. Shrestha served as Project Director at World Learning, where she led the education portfolio in Lebanon. Before joining World Learning, she held the position of Research Manager at Creative Associates International for the USAID-funded School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program. In this capacity Ms. Shrestha collaborated with country teams in Cambodia, India, Tajikistan, and Timor-Leste to evaluate the effectiveness of dropout prevention interventions through randomized control trials.  

Ms. Shrestha is deeply committed to fostering inclusion, especially among vulnerable populations such as children with disabilities and girls. A strong advocate for the transformative power of education, she has taught high-school and undergraduate students in Nepal. Ms. Shrestha brings a diverse linguistic skill set with conversational fluency in Nepali, Hindi, and Urdu.