Ms. Lazima Onta-Bhatta has worked extensively in the areas of livelihood, poverty, gender equality, school education, results-based management and monitoring, and project and programme management.

 Lazima assumed her position as Deputy Resident Representative in Timor-Leste in August 2019. Prior to joining UNDP in Timor-Leste, she was in UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH) from 2016-2019 as the Country Programme Specialist supporting UNDP’s programmes in Myanmar, Iran and Bhutan, and as the Results-based Management Specialist supporting 24 UNDP Country Offices in the Asia Pacific to strengthen their monitoring systems and capacities.

Between 2005 and 2016, Lazima worked in Nepal as a project manager for a UNDP project and assumed various roles in the UNDP Country Office. She was the Assistant Country Director heading the Strategic Planning unit, Assistant Resident Representative heading the Poverty and inclusion portfolio, and Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist supporting in mainstreaming gender in the entire programme. Prior to joining UNDP, she worked for DANIDa’s advisory team to the Ministry of Education in Nepal from 2002 to 2005. 

A national of Nepal, Lazima holds a Ph. D. in Anthropology from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA. She has published in the areas of gender, social inclusion, livelihoods, monitoring, and cultural politics of childhood.