Kouta Ohyama started his career in a non-profit organisation in the Lao PDR after earning his undergraduate degree in public policy at Princeton University.

As a programme officer, Kouta worked on official developmental aid projects in sectors ranging from maternal and child health, pre-k to secondary education to youth empowerment.

Working in field offices with small teams, his responsibilities extended beyond programmes to communications, donor relations, and monitoring and evaluation.

At the Blavatnik School of Government, Kouta wishes to gain insight into quantitative and qualitative methodologies that can assess the effectiveness of policy interventions in resource-constrained environments.

His interests extend to regional integration frameworks, negotiations of trade agreements, developmental finance and other policy sectors that concern the cross-border movement of goods, capital, services and migration.