Manish Patel
A senior field-operations and research professional with more than fifteen years of experience in managing, coordinating and supervising large-scale surveys, monitoring studies, evaluations and development-sector assignments across India.
His experience has been built where large research assignments become operational realities — through state-level coordination, field-team management, government liaison, investigator training, quality checks, logistics and the day-to-day judgement required to keep complex fieldwork moving.
← Back to Our TeamSome credentials speak more clearly than a long introduction.
Two assignments in particular show the level at which Manish has handled field responsibility — one through recognition from a Government of India body and another through a state-wide survey recognised by the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh.
for Women
Government of India
Manish was identified as Survey Coordinator for a women’s safety survey assignment in Raipur commissioned through the National Commission for Women. The responsibility involved coordination of field activity and liaison required for carrying out a government-commissioned study in an urban environment.
Social Welfare
Chhattisgarh
A Certificate of Appreciation issued by the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh, recognises his role as State Coordinator in the large-scale exercise undertaken to identify and collect information on Persons with Disabilities across the state. The assignment combined household coverage, field-team coordination, stakeholder engagement and awareness-related activity at very large scale.
Experience built by managing the work, not just observing it.
Manish’s professional career has been closely associated with large-scale research and field operations. His earlier work with the Academy of Management Studies involved responsibilities across survey coordination, field management, supervision, training, monitoring and quality assurance.
Over time, his work moved beyond individual assignments and into broader operational responsibility. At different stages he has worked in capacities described across professional project documents as Senior Field Officer, Field Coordinator, Field Manager, State Coordinator, State Level Manager and Survey Coordinator.
During a substantial part of this period, he was responsible for coordinating field operations across a multi-state portfolio, including responsibility spanning fourteen states. That meant dealing not only with questionnaires and targets, but with teams, routes, state-level coordination, training, field problems, reporting and quality issues across very different operating environments.
His experience crosses public health, nutrition, financial inclusion, livelihoods, rural development, disability, women and child development, education, skills, agriculture, water and sanitation, social protection and technology-related studies.
Field Operations
Ground-level planning, survey execution, investigator deployment and day-to-day coordination across large research assignments.
State Coordination
State and district-level responsibility involving field teams, logistics, institutional coordination and execution monitoring.
Quality & Training
Training field supervisors and investigators, field testing, random checks, back-checks and review of data-quality concerns.
Government Liaison
Coordination with government departments, institutions and other stakeholders required to execute community and household studies.
The part of research that has to work after the proposal is approved.
Manish’s strongest value lies in the space between research plans and field execution. His professional records repeatedly place him in roles involving field coordination, survey training, quality checks, team management and state-level responsibility.
Large Field-Team Management
Experience working with distributed field structures, supervisors, investigators and state-level teams, including assignments involving several hundred field personnel.
Survey Implementation
Translating survey design into deployment plans, field routes, respondent coverage, training requirements and daily operating systems.
Training & Briefing
Classroom and field-level training of supervisors, investigators, listers and other field personnel before and during data collection.
Quality Assurance
Random field checks, back-checks, verification of deployment protocols and early identification of data or execution problems.
Government Coordination
Working with government departments and officials where permissions, cooperation, access or programme coordination are part of the assignment.
Problem Resolution
Handling field grievances, team issues, logistics and unexpected operating constraints without allowing them to quietly become data-quality problems.
Mixed-Method Fieldwork
Experience with quantitative and qualitative data collection, structured interviews, in-depth interviews, focus-group tools and participatory field approaches.
CAPI & Digital Surveys
Management of survey environments involving computer-assisted, handheld-device and digital data-collection processes.
Reporting & Review
Data synthesis, field reporting, interpretation support and practical inputs required by project leadership during execution and reporting.
More than a project list — a record of operating across sectors, scales and institutions.
Manish’s professional record contains a much larger body of work. The assignments below are selected because they illustrate the scale, diversity and type of responsibility most relevant to MFRS’s work today.
State-wide Door-to-Door Survey for Persons with Disabilities
One of the clearest examples of the scale at which Manish has operated. The assignment covered 82,76,246 households across Chhattisgarh for identification and collection of information relating to Persons with Disabilities.
- State-level coordination of a very large door-to-door field operation.
- Oversight of field deployment, execution and communication across locations.
- Coordination with government and other stakeholders during implementation.
- Supported awareness and outreach activity linked with disability rights and identification.
- Received formal appreciation recognising commitment, leadership and execution of the assignment.
Women’s Safety Survey Research
A government-commissioned women’s safety study in which Manish was identified in project communication as Survey Coordinator. The assignment required field coordination along with engagement with the administrative and institutional environment in which the survey was being conducted.
- Coordinated survey execution in Raipur.
- Supported cooperation required from relevant departments and local authorities.
- Managed field-team coordination for a sensitive subject requiring disciplined respondent handling.
NABARD All India Rural / Financial Inclusion Survey
Part of his financial-inclusion portfolio, involving large-scale household survey operations and coordination of field structures working across multiple states.
- Field-operation planning and supervisory coordination.
- Training and guidance for supervisors and investigators.
- Monitoring of survey implementation and field quality.
- Worked within a project framework with national geographic coverage.
Centre for Financial Literacy — Impact Assessment
An evaluation-oriented financial-literacy assignment involving field operations across different geographies and assessment of programme reach and awareness.
- Coordinated survey field operations and team deployment.
- Supported investigator training and implementation monitoring.
- Conducted and supervised quality-control activity during fieldwork.
Social Audit of Child Care Institutions
A major multi-state social audit covering Child Care Institutions across 28 states and 4 Union Territories, illustrating his exposure to nationally distributed research and monitoring operations.
Verification of Disbursement-Linked Indicators — Nai Manzil
Verification work linked to education and skill-training outcomes under a major programme for minority communities, implemented across 21 states.
Evaluation of Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme
Evaluation experience within the disability and social-protection sector, forming part of a study covering 23 states and one Union Territory.
National Family Health Survey
Experience within one of India’s major structured household-survey environments, requiring disciplined training, supervision, protocols and quality monitoring.
Annual Health Survey
Professional experience with household-based health survey activity requiring large field structures, standardised survey procedures and close supervision.
District Level Household Survey — Reproductive & Child Health
Work involving household surveys as well as public-health facility coverage, with field responsibilities including mapper/lister training, supervision, back-checks and assistance in identifying sample households and respondents.
Rapid Survey on Children
A multi-state study focused on children, pregnant women, lactating women and implementation of child-development services, combining large sample coverage with structured household data collection.
Independent Monitoring of National Deworming Day
Monitoring of programme implementation within schools and Anganwadi settings, requiring independent observation and field-level verification.
Third-Party Evaluation of 102 & 108 Ambulance Services
Evaluation exposure within emergency and maternal-health transport services, adding service-delivery assessment to his broader public-health portfolio.
MGNREGA Monitoring & Verification Assignments
Experience with monitoring and verification assignments relating to one of India’s largest rural-development programmes, including verification-oriented field processes.
GIS-Based Survey of Urban Homeless Population
Survey work across 45 Urban Local Bodies aimed at identifying and mapping homeless populations, understanding demographic profiles and supporting planning for shelters and access to entitlements.
Independent Verification — Chhattisgarh Public Financial Management & Accountability Project
Verification work connected with a World Bank and State Government supported public-finance reform programme.
Nutrition & Maternal Health Monitoring Studies
Professional exposure includes anaemia, micronutrient supplementation, maternal health, child nutrition and programme monitoring studies across multiple states.
Skill Development & Employment Studies
His wider experience includes skill-development and employment studies, verification exercises and field research involving trainees, institutions, programme participants and local stakeholders.
The breadth matters because field problems rarely arrive in one standard form.
Some of the people working with him then are building MFRS with him now.
A working relationship built before MFRS existed.
Manish’s connection with the present MFRS field structure did not begin with the company’s incorporation. During their earlier professional careers, several assignments undertaken by Mohit Sagar and Anil Kumar were carried out within field structures coordinated and supervised by Manish.
That history matters operationally. It means the senior team has already worked together under real survey conditions — with targets, travel, respondent issues, team management, reporting requirements and quality pressures — rather than meeting for the first time after forming a company.
Mohit’s progression through investigator, supervisory and state-level responsibilities took place on assignments where Manish was part of the senior field-coordination structure. Anil’s own experience across NAFIS, financial-literacy monitoring, skill-development surveys, disability surveys, NFHS and other assignments was likewise developed through field structures in which Manish held senior coordinating responsibility.
Chief Strategy & Operations Officer
At MFRS, Manish brings senior operational judgement into decisions that have to survive contact with the field. His role sits across strategy and execution rather than being limited to either one.
Senior experience is meant to influence the work.
Manish works with the Founder, Directors and relevant members of the project team on operational planning, execution strategy and field readiness. Where an assignment involves difficult geography, large field deployment, government coordination, tight timelines or complex supervision, his experience provides an important practical layer in deciding how the work should be organised.
- Project feasibility and operational review. Assessing whether proposed timelines, sample structures, geographies, manpower requirements and reporting expectations are workable in practice.
- Field strategy. Supporting decisions on deployment structure, supervisory hierarchy, team requirements and state or district coordination.
- Senior review of difficult assignments. Providing practical input where field complexity or scale requires experience beyond standard project planning.
- Team preparedness. Supporting training, supervisor readiness and the operating discipline required before deployment begins.
- Quality and escalation. Helping ensure that problems identified in the field reach the right level early enough for corrective action.
- Government and stakeholder coordination. Bringing long experience of working around administrative systems, institutions and programme stakeholders into relevant assignments.
- Institutional development. Contributing to the long-term operating systems through which MFRS intends to scale its research and field capability responsibly.
Formal social-sector education backed by long field experience.
Experience becomes valuable when it helps the next project run better.
Manish brings to MFRS years of field judgement earned across households, villages, districts, states, large teams and government programmes. His role is not to make the organisation look experienced on paper. It is to help ensure that when MFRS commits to an assignment, the planning behind that commitment understands what execution will actually require.