Naomi M. Saville - Senior Research Associate at University College London - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Educated to PhD level at Cambridge University, UK, Naomi has 23 years cross-cultural experience in research and development based in low-income countries, particularly Nepal but including Somaliland, India, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Trinidad and Tobago. Specialised in community-interventions for maternal and child health last 11 years. Previous specialisation: livelihood diversification using natural resources, especially beekeeping (12 years).
Professional Skills:
26-years experience in quantitative and qualitative research in Nepal, India, Somalia, Caribbean and Europe.
Topics: public health intervention trials for improving birth weight and neonatal survival; health inequalities; postnatal mental health; food security; beekeeping indigenous technical knowledge; farmer-led extension; appropriate technology; pro-poor tourism.
Designed/ implemented large-scale electronic data capture on mobile devices.
Design / implementation of community-based public health interventions for improved maternal, newborn, child and adolescent (MNCA) health / nutrition.
Management of teams conducting complex interventions.
Participatory Approaches: engaging beneficiaries to change their own communities.
Capacity Building: training, working through counterparts, mentorship.
Communications: Stakeholder engagement, communication strategies. Specialist skills in beekeeping:
Sustainable building with Rammed Earth: http://www.rammedearthsolutions.org
Natural resource product promotion and enterprise development. Gender-based violence: counselling survivors of rape & sexual abuse. Permaculture: trained in Permaculture Design.
Language Skills: Extremely fluent spoken Nepali. Also able to read questionnaires and documents and complete basic writing tasks in Nepali. Mother-tongue: English.
Previous Clients:
2012-2016: Principal Investigator on the Low Birth Weight South Asia Trial Nepal investigating the impact on birth weight and infant nutrition of interventions to improve maternal nutrition. Interventions involved participatory learning and action women’s groups (PLA) with and without transfers of food or cash to pregnant women. PLA focused on improvement of maternal nutrition and determinants of low birth weight. Using novel mobile phone data collection systems, the study monitored 63800 women for pregnancy, enrolled > 25000 pregnant women and measured >19000 children.
2005-2011: Technical Advisor to Mother and Infant Research Activities running a cluster-randomised controlled trial to reduce neonatal mortality and improve maternal and child nutritional status through PLA.
2002-2004: Project manager to a Livelihood diversification project in Somaliland promoting beekeeping and natural resource products (herbs, gums and resins)