Srilatha Batliwala, Director Knowledge Building & Feminist Leadership, CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action)
Srilatha Batliwala is the Director of Knowledge Building and Feminist Leadership with CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action), an international organization based in New Delhi that works at the intersection of gender, sexuality and human rights. Her current work focuses on capacity building and mentoring of young women activists in the Global South, and on building new knowledge from the practice and insights of activists working with the most marginalized people. Prior to CREA, Srilatha worked as Scholar Associate in AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development) from 2008 – 2016, as Civil Society Research Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations in Harvard University (2000 – 2007), and Civil Society Program Officer at the Ford Foundation (1997-2000). Up to the mid-90s, Srilatha was involved in grassroots work in India, where she was involved in building large-scale women’s movements that mobilized and empowered thousands of the poorest rural and urban women. Through the past four decades, Srilatha’s work has bridged practice and theory, spanning grassroots activism, advocacy, teaching, research, training, grant-making and scholarly work.
Srilatha has published extensively on a range of women’s issues, and is best known for her work on women’s empowerment. Her most recent publication is a collection of her writings, “Engaging with Empowerment – An Intellectual and Experiential Journey” (Women Unlimited, 2014, and eBook version 2015). She has also served on the governing boards of a number of international and Indian human rights, women’s rights and development organizations.
Dr. Rajshri Mahtani, Founder Convenor; Researcher/Scientist, Knowledge Whiteboard, Mumbai
Dr. Rajshri Mahtani is the founder of Knowledge Whiteboard. With a vision of strengthening Social Development Organizations, the mission of the organization is to strengthen organizations in the social development sectors through qualitative research and capacity-development in the area of strategic management. Her work focuses on research, consultancy and training in development. She has a Doctorate in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, India.
Dr. Arnab Mukherji, Associate Professor, Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB)
Dr. Arnab Mukherji is an applied microeconomist whose earlier work has focused on the economics of healthcare and governance with a focus on India. He is also the Chairperson of Centre for Public Policy at IIMB. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals and as book-chapters that are targeted to an academic audience. Some of this has been cited in the media in places as diverse as the Wall Street Journal, Knowledge@Wharton, Business Standard, and the World Bank Blog. He also writes popular pieces in the Hindu Business Line and has been a part of the organizing committee for the IIMB Policy Hackathon since its inception.
Dr. Mukherji is interested in how survey and administrative data can be used to inform public policy. He has been using this in the context of health where he has been studying the impact of social policy on health outcomes and also in the context of how governance impacts economic growth.
Dr. Shobha Raghuram, Independent Consultant, Development Studies and Philosophy; Social Justice and Public Policy
Dr. Shobha Raghuram is trained in philosophy and development studies. She received her PhD from the University of Pune and did her post-doctoral work at the University of Sorbonne, Paris in the History of Ideas and Ethics on a Government of France Fellowship. She was a Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi before returning to Bangalore. She decided to leave formal academics to work in an international non- government organisation, the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos). She became the first Indian to become Director for the country office. Here, she worked in policy extensively with civil society partners in development sectors spread over ten states and totalling around 92 organisations which received financial support from Hivos.
She was on the Steering Committee of ICSSR for Indo-Dutch Research collaborations (IDPAD) apart from holding several other public positions including being in the policy board of NWO, the Dutch Ministry of Science and Technology grant -making body for research an NCPCR. She is on the International Board of the Development Journal of Macmillan and on the Advisory Committee of the National Law School, Bangalore for the Centre for Child and the Law. She is a Founder Member of SAAPE (South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication) which is now a well- established network based in Kathmandu, Nepal and devoted to human development efforts. She is a member of the Institutional Ethics Committee, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai.
As an independent consultant, Shobha has worked for the Government of India, for private foreign foundations, for Universities and research centres, for multilaterals and for national/international non-government organisations. Her research interests include development policies, globalisation, institutional development and governance, role of development aid and civil society, gender equality, livelihood concerns and ethics in public life.
Dr. Gita Sen, Distinguished Professor & Director of Ramalingaswami Centre on Equity & Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India
Dr. Gita Sen is the founder-member of the Executive Committee of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). The United Nations System has sought out her expertise in a number of ways, including during intergovernmental processes, high-level events and as an advisor to policies and programmes. She was lead consultant for drafting UNFPA’s India Country Population Assessment document for the 2003-2007period. She currently serves on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and is co-chair of PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Gender Equality and Health.
In India, she has been a member of the Mission Steering Group for the National Rural Health Mission, and is on the Governing Board of the National Health Systems Resource Centre. She was a member of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Care set up by the Indian Planning Commission. She served on the Governing Boards of UNRISD and of the UN University. Her numerous book publications include among others Gender Equity in Health: the Shifting Frontiers of Evidence and Action (Routledge, 2010), Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Processes- Moving Beyond Cairo (Oxford University Press/IUSSP, 2000), and Population Policies Reconsidered: Health, Empowerment and Rights (Harvard University Press, 1994).
She has received honorary doctorates from the University of East Anglia, the Karolinka Institute (Stockholm), the Open University (United Kingdom) and the University of Sussex. She was a recipient of the Volvo Environment Prize for her work on women, population and development.