Azfar Karim is a MEL Specialist at I4DI, where he leads stakeholder engagement, manages data collection processes, and supports program evaluation across the firm’s South Asia portfolio. He brings nearly a decade of experience building MEL systems and leading field teams across Asia and Africa — with a focus on turning raw data into recommendations that programs can actually act on.

Before joining I4DI, Azfar held MEL and technical advisory roles across a range of organizations and sectors. At One Acre Fund, he led a 25-member data collection team across Zambia and Nigeria, designing and analyzing studies that helped 20,000 smallholder farmers achieve 30% better yields than control groups. At Innovations for Poverty Action, he provided technical guidance on theory of change design, indicator development, and evaluation planning for the Lego Foundation’s Playful Learning in Crisis Settings initiative in Uganda. He has also led impact and evidence work for migrant social protection programming in India and developed monitoring strategies for educational technology platforms. His experience with the C&A Foundation in sustainability evaluation — including greenhouse gas emission estimation and organic farming impact — adds an environmental dimension to his MEL toolkit.

Azfar holds a B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering. He speaks English, Hindi, and Urdu.