Sudipta Das

Program Lead

The YP Foundation

Sudipta (They/Them) is an anti-caste queer feminist, currently working on multiple aspects of gender, sexuality and sexual and reproductive health rights. They lead a leadership program at The YP Foundation that focuses on creating resources, platforms and leadership abilities to address critical issues of health, sexuality, prevention of violence and  discrimination and increase awareness about the lives and issues of LGBTQIA+ persons. They are also involved in international advocacy interventions to ensure sexual and reproductive health rights. Previously, Sudipta has worked on building awareness of comprehensive sexuality education including sessions on masculinities, gender, and sexuality with adolescents and young people in Rajasthan.

Sudipta is also an avid writer who enjoys writing on key issues of caste, queerness, sexuality, and pop culture. Most of their writings are informed by the lived experience of people impacted by the issues and critical reflections on social justice. They are an awardee of the 2021 SCARF Media For Mental Health Award for excellence in reporting on mental health and MaveliNadu’s non-fiction grant 2022 for contributing to their publication on Debrahmanising Gender.

Pankaj Ballabh

Director,  Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP)

Ashoka University

Pankaj Ballabh is currently the Director of the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) at Ashoka University. Pankaj has held leadership positions in CSR (for Bajaj group in Pune) and Sustainability (BP, Shell and BG-Group in India). He also spent 10 years working with grassroots organisations in Rajasthan.

Dr Pradeep Ramavath J

Associate Professor

Centre for Livelihood and Social Entrepreneurship

School of Social Work

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)

Pradeep Ramavath J is an Associate Professor with The Centre for Livelihood and Social Entrepreneurship (CLSE), School of Social Work (SSW), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati. Previously he worked as Assistant Professor and Assistant Director with the Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), National Law School of India University (NLSIU); his areas of specialization include Livelihoods, Public Policy, Education & Social Justice.

Amba Jamir

Designation: Vice President

Organization: Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI)

Amba Jamir is a development consulting expert with over 30 years of multidisciplinary and multi-team experience from policy formulation to project development and implementation, Amba is professionally trained as an environmental lawyer and development communicator. He is a grassroots convenor, trainer and facilitator with experience in the Asia Pacific and South Asian region in the areas of environmental education, development communication, rural development, community-based resource management, evidence-based policy formulation and envisioning. Amba works directly with policymakers, development organizations, communities, farmers, and the youth in mountain regions. He has extensive experience working in local, national and international organisations, the government and with advanced regional policy and research think tanks such as the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), in Japan. He is a founding member of the Sustainable Development Forum Nagaland (SDFN) and the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI).

Shalini Kala

Agriculture and Rural Development Specialist

Rural development, food security and agriculture are Shalini’s key areas of interest.  At IDRC, partnering with IFAD, she managed research in the use of information for farmers and farming towards poverty alleviation.  She set in place a knowledge management and exchange system among the field, national and regional level IFAD partners for improved rural development information flows across the Asia-Pacific. Further, she advised on similar initiatives in Africa and the Middle East.

Prior to this, at the UN World Food Program, she helped create evidence in refining its strategy for India towards a more holistic approach to support vulnerable populations in a food-surplus country. Most of her early years of over twenty years of professional life were spent researching agricultural issues and designing/implementing initiatives targeted at farmer wellbeing and improved farming methods.

She is currently an independent consultant and among other things is advising GIZ on the process of advocacy to promote better governance for climate change adaptation. She trained in economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (M.Phil.) and Delhi School of Economics (M.A.)

Prem Yadav

Co-founder and CEO, Pratham InfoTech Foundation-PIF

A firm believer in human potential, Prem Yadav has helped grow his team and the organization on the whole as a strong, motivated set of young minds determined to bring about a digital change across the underserved sections of society. Prem Yadav holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Economics and a Masters in Resource Mobilization and Management from S.P. Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai. Besides contributing to many educational publications, he has been the Area Coordinator, CORO (Committee of Resource Organization for Literacy). He was also Treasurer at Suvidha Co-operative, which was set up to operate the Integrated Waste Management Project under the leadership of the late prime minister of India Mr Rajiv Gandhi.

Prem Yadav is a recipient of the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship – USA in 2010 and also a TED speaker at World Economic Forum at Perm Region in Russia.

Tarun Kumar

Founder & Secretary, Nischay Foundation

Mr Tarun Kumar Founder Secretary of Nischay Foundation, has been working for rural development, especially for kids for the last 10 to 12 years, where they mostly focus on their education.

Anurag Kashyap

Founder & Director,

Shakti Foundation, India

An engineer-MBA by qualification, Anurag has more than 25 years of experience in diverse fields–from tennis coaching to selling pagers, internet and mobile connections; from advising governments on public-private partnerships to designing and implementing CSR programs. He is the Founder-Director of Shakti Foundation which broadly operates in the rehabilitation of children with special needs, alternative livelihood development for women, environment and sustainability, and remedial education and life skill development for children. Widely recognised for its varied, multi-sectoral, high impact and quickly scalable initiatives, Shakti Foundation and allied projects have received phenomenal recognition from independent quarters besides the stakeholders they directly impact.

Amita Joseph

Aspire Circle

Amita V. Joseph has an educational background in Management (PGDM), a degree in Law (LLB) from Delhi University, a PG in Human Rights Law from the Law Institute and completing her PhD (Deakin University), Australia. Her work experience spans the Corporate, development & legal sectors. She is on the board of MESH (Maximising Employment to Serve the Handicapped), FOD (Family of the Disabled), SRUTI, CEQUIN, CRB (Centre for Responsible Business), Business & Community Foundation (BCF), all nonprofit organizations & supports their work. Amita has been involved as a volunteer with the cause of Homeless citizens since 1999.