Lele engaged in research, operations, policy analysis and evaluation with the World Bank and other international organizations including the FAO, CGIAR, IFAD,
UNICEF, UNDP,
Rockefeller Foundation and
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A recurring theme of Lele's work was her willingness to test the assumptions underlying public interventions against actual conditions and outcomes in the field. She led complex evaluations leading to the rethinking of major global development programs such as the World Bank's Forest Strategy (2002) and
CGIAR (2003). Lele led the first comparative study to look at the design of rural development within Africa, and concluded that the bank's development approach was not effective in the African context, due to lack of infrastructure. In comparison, in countries like India, existing institutions were more stable and provided practical experience and support for the use of development funds. She recommended that projects needed "to build human and institutional development capacities" and to "build capacity before institutions could absorb large inflows of capital.” In this and in later work such as her comparisons of water-related policies in China and India, Lele emphasizes international diversity, the need to understand local conditions and suit interventions to circumstances Lele has also pointed out close links between agricultural sector performance and
macroeconomic performance and examined the roles that donors play in the successes and failures of development. As a Division Chief in the development research department, reorganized by
Anne Osborn Krueger in the 1980s, Lele carried out a comparative study on aid to African agriculture. The MADIA (Managing Agricultural Development in Africa) discussion papers examine the effectiveness of liberalisation and privatisation attempts in
agricultural marketing over 25 years by aid donors (the World Bank,
USAID,
UKODA, DANIDA, SIDA, France, Germany, and the
EEC) in six African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Senegal). Lele also independently published a book on aid and capital flows. and Senior Advisor in the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (later called the Independent Evaluation Group). Lele examined the impact of CGIAR's programs in a comparative context with other global programs. This analysis led to the identification of changes that had occurred over time and a rethinking of CGIAR's role. ==Awards and honors==