The vartaLeap Coalition Members

-

Ashwin Makwana is born and brought up in Sara village of surendranagar district in Gujarat. After completing his Masters, he joined Gandhi Fellowship to explore and get exposure of the ground reality in order to part the gap of theoretical knowledge and experiential learning. During this journey he has been a part of projects and events like Quality in Education through E-Smart Class, Environment Exhibition and creation of a teaching module for EVS teachers.

Biraj Patnaik is Executive Director, National Foundation of India and was Amnesty International's South Asia Director. He was formerly the Principal Adviser to the Commissioners of the Indian Supreme Court in the Right to food case for close to a decade. A well known human rights activist in India and abroad, his work has largely been in Economic, Culture Social and Cultural rights (ESCR) over the past two decades.

-

I am a library educator and have been working with children from rural and forest dwelling communities in the space of education. I personally believe in learning from children and believe in youth as someone who can be strong mobilizers and motivator for their communities.

-

Naghma Mulla, serving as the COO and Board member of EdelGive Foundation, brings a wealth of expertise as a Chartered Accountant with a Masters in Commerce. Over the span of eight years, Naghma has been instrumental in driving the growth and scalability of EdelGive's model of collaborative philanthropy. Through her strategic leadership, she has significantly contributed to the development and expansion of EdelGive's portfolio as a philanthropic manager, advisor, and partner to both institutional and individual grantmakers across India.

PhD in Sociology and at present associated with ICRW working in the capacity of Chief of Project for Umang project for empowering girls to end child marriages in Jharkhand, supported by IKEA Foundation. Has been working in the development sector for over 20 years on issues like Women empowerment, Child protection, Sexual & Reproductive health, Education & Social Inclusion and Livelihoods.

Dr. P. Sivakumar, serving as faculty and Head of the Centre for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Analysis (CMEIA) at RGNIYD, along with being the Head in-charge of the Department of Development Studies, brings a wealth of expertise to his roles. With a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Dr. Sivakumar has established himself as a distinguished scholar in the field.

-

Pranami Garg, the current Executive Director of the ant, boasts an extensive 18-year tenure as a seasoned development professional. Throughout her career, she has left indelible marks in the sector, notably spearheading the School and Adolescent Health Program in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Her breadth of expertise spans across various domains, where she has served as a Trainer for initiatives encompassing Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health, and Behaviour Change Communication, among others.

x

She is a senior program advisor with AJWS, specializing in sexual health and rights in India. Rama has deep experience of working on gender with young women and men. In her previous avatar’s Rama has worked with ComMutiny and played a key role during its incubation years.

A dreamer, a reader, and a Delhite, Saloni is a Young India Fellow, Class of 2020 and an Economics graduate from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. She is someone who is always looking out for new things to try out, ideas to work on and finding people crazy enough to try them out with. From very early on, she has always been very firm on creating and walking on her path. 

-

Sinjini Mookherjee is a development sector professional and currently heads the Youth Resource Centre of Centre for Youth Development and Activities(CYDA). She has completed her MSW from TISS, Mumbai and has 10 years of experience on working with issues of child rights, protection issues, youth, livelihood and gender. She is part of the senior management team of CYDA.

-

-