Priya Naik

CEO & Founder

Samhita Social Ventures is a social sector consulting firm that collaborates with
companies, government and social organizations to co-create and implement impactful
initiatives. Samhita is supported by Indian and global foundations such as USAID, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, UNDP, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar
Network India.
Previously, Priya co-founded The Spark Group, an education incubator that delivered
affordable education to low-income communities in India. She has worked with the
International Finance Corporation, the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) and at Arthur Andersen. Priya has a Master’s degree in economics
from Yale University, a Master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor and a Master’s degree (and a Gold Medal) in Commerce from Mumbai
University. She also holds an Executive Education degree from Harvard Business School.

Madhu Bahl

Executive Director

Madhu Bahl has totally more than 30 + years of experience in the education space which includes teaching, designing, training, content creation and building profitable models and interventions that are both scalable and sustainable. She has worked independently as a design and training consultant with well-known funding agencies and social organizations. She also has 15 years of corporate experience at senior management level where she was responsible for profitability along with a deep focus on product development and business delivery. Her corporate responsibilities include experience in working with both the private and the government sector. She has built and worked extensively with large teams, both across physical geography and social demography.

Sudhir Naik

Advisor – Finance

A qualified finance professional (ACA, AICWA, ACS), Sudhir has served articles with A F Ferguson & Co and served MNCs – Shell, Siemens, Ferodo, Colgate Palmolive and Heinz (as CFO and Finance Director) as well as Owner Managed groups – Mittals, Bahwans and Mustafa Sultan as Group CFO. He has worked briefly in Australia, Mexico and for 22 years in the Middle East before joining Samhita.

Sanjay Joshi

Senior Advisor – Strategic Initiatives

Sanjay comes with over three decades of experience in management consulting. He is also a Trustee at Pratham – Ahmedabad Chapter (a leading Indian NGO in the field of Education). Sanjay has been instrumental in creating Samhita’s CSR footprint in Ahmedabad with corporates like Arvind Ltd. to develop, execute, and expand a unique women empowerment model for the all-round growth of their female factory workers, who are between the age-group of 18-23 years.

Sanjay joined the IL&FS Group in the year 1999 as Regional Head of IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd. Subsequently was given the charge of overseeing the Education and Training related activities across the country in the capacity of the National Head. He has been responsible for conceptualizing and implementing large-scale, long term & scalable training and capacity building mandates (Soft skills, ICT, English language skills, technical skills, management skills, etc) which have been translated into a sustainable revenue generating stream for the organization.

Karuna Ahuja

Chief Human Resources Officer

Karuna is a global HR leader with 18 years of experience in successfully performing global projects in top leadership roles with organizations like Bose, Eaton, Evalueserve and Arvato Bertelsmann. For last 3 years, she has been an entrepreneur and contributed to building organizations through HR consulting. She has a vast experience in building human potential in diverse  industries  and  cultures.

Karuna holds an MBA from IP University  and  has completed her Executive Program in HR  from IIM  Lucknow. 

She  enjoys  travelling  and  is  passionate  about  holistic  health  and  leveraging  mindfulness  to  create  sustainable  work  life  balance.

Suyash Apte

Director – Technology

Suyash has been associated with Mastek since 1996 and was the Senior Technical Architect before joining Samhita. He has over 21 years of experience in software development, with expertise that included mentoring individuals & teams in their journey of Agile Consulting and engineering excellence. He was responsible for providing thought leadership and strategizing delivery.

rohan sarma

Associate Director and Head – Research, Knowledge Management and Strategy

rohan sarma is a social scientist with more than a decade’s experience in academia, public institutions and social impact consulting practice. He was one of the founding members of the first government supported Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) thinktanks in India at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. As a CSR and non-profit management specialist, his core competencies include participatory and action research, people-centered policy and programme design, strategies for change management and knowledge management.

While he has served on the CII National Aspirational Districts Development Committee for 2019-2020 as the only non-Industry representative, he has been consecutively invited as a social sector expert on the CII Rural and District Economy Council for 2020-21 and 2021 – 22.

His contribution to the development sector has been through training a cadre of human development professionals through ‘communities of learning’ and advocating support to neglected thematics and geographies. rohan is deeply concerned with issues of human dignity, inequality, diversity, ethics and social justice.

rohan leads and mentors the Research and Knowledge teams at Samhita – CGF.

Vaibhav Gupta

Associate Director – Strategic Partnerships

Vaibhav has 7 years of experience in governance and public policy working across NGOs, State Governments, Union Government and Governance Consulting organizations. As part of his responsibilities, Vaibhav was working with Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to drive private sector engagement in Tuberculosis, wherein he collaborated with multiple governmental and non-governmental partners to manage end-to-end execution of strategic projects. Prior to that, he was a Consultant with Samagra, working closely as a member of the Skills & Employment Cell of the Chief Minister of Haryana wherein he enabled Government & Private recruitments of over 50,000 people in the State. He has also worked as a Consultant to the Union Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in Govt. of India, wherein he was primarily entrusted with policy research and strategy. Vaibhav was a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament (LAMP) fellow 2014-15, assisting the MP in parliamentary business. A PGP graduate from ISB and an engineer from DCE, Vaibhav has keen interest in Public Policy research,discussions and implementation. His research and case studies on public health (TB), low cost Jugaad strategies, CSR for skill development, and social enterprising organizations have been published and presented at various international journals and forums. Vaibhav likes travelling and is an avid follower of Indian politics. He deeply enjoys Bollywood, Cricket and long conversations over a cup of tea 😊

Sandip Kumar Katna

Associate Director – Implementation

Sandip brings more than two decades of rich multi-faceted experience as a senior professional in functions as diverse as Business Operations, Strategy Planning & Development, P&L Management, M&E, Quality Management Systems, Business Management, Process Improvement and Hybrid Training Delivery Model with leading Training & Development and Skill Development industry. He has been associated with leading companies like Jetking, NIIT, IndiaCan (A Pearson Company), Times Group and LabourNet in his past engagements. Sandip has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration – Operations Management from Symbiosis – Pune. He loves to meet new people and learn new things.

Heena Panchal

Associate Director – Industry Engagement

Heena has 27 years  experience in Strategic Planning, B2B  Sales & Marketing, Channel Management & Relationship Management. Worked for Retail Sector Skill Council as Head Industry Engagement.  Pioneered in redefining vocation in higher education, with Industry-Academia collaboration to create a talent pool of “Supervisory Cadre”.  Strategic Tie-ups with various  Brands  across  sectors  to  support  them  with  right  talent  pool  having  requisite  skills as  per  the  industry  demand

She holds B Sc in Chemistry from Mumbai University and MBA in Marketing from NMIMS Deemed  University.  Degree  in  Operations  Management  from  IIM  Kozihkode

Some  of  her  hobbies  include  painting  and  pencil  sketch  drawings

Rinky Siddharthan

Head – HR and Admin

Rinky comes with over 14 years of experience in driving organization’s talent strategies and HR solutions across various industries. Prior to joining Samhita and CGF, she was the HR for Wadhwani Foundation where she was instrumental in implementation of the HR function globally for the organisation. Rinky holds a PG in HR from Symbiosis, Pune and is also a Thomas Profile analysis certified. Outside of work, her life revolves around her two little munchkins..☺ She is a vivid reader, nature enthusiast with interest in cultural and historical places.

Prashant Chavan

Senior Manager – Marketing & Communications

Prashant comes with a seasoned experience of 15+ years in Design and Art and has worked for some prominent advertising agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Advertising, Quadrant Communications and MCW Medianomics Pvt. Ltd. His career growth has been steady with a humble start as an illustrator to Creative Director. He firmly believes that this journey was possible because of his innate strengths, sincerity & perseverance. Prashant has graduated from L. S. Raheja School of Arts, Mumbai. Prashant feels lucky to have his passion and work go inline through design and associated technology and he loves to keep himself updated with current trends in the space. He feels satisfied when he spreads and shares his thoughts in some random forms & colours.

Dhatri Kotak

Senior Manager – Finance

Dhatri is rank holder of the Gujarat Board and a qualified Chartered Accountant with a Bachelors in Commerce. She has worked for more than 7 years in the Accounts & Finance sector. She has 3 years of experience as an article assistant and more than 4 years of post qualifications experience. Prior to Samhita, she was part of the Accounts and Finance team of Backbone Construction Private Limited and Jain Wealth Managers Private Limited where she looked after the finalisation of accounts, auditing and taxation work. She is fond of travelling to places of natural beauty and loves dancing.

Shagorika Ghosh

Senior Manager – Implementation 

Shiv Kumar Pandey

Senior Manager – Skilling

Shiv has  10  years of experience, He was designated as DGM in Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) handling  Standards,  Operations  &  Special  projects  i.e  RPL,  NAPS  &  Strategic  projects.

He  holds  an  MBA – PGDM  in  Telecom  from  MITSOT,  Pune  and  Engineering  degree  in  Electronics  &  Communications  from  RGPV  University. 

Some  of  his  hobbies  include  Watching  Sci-Fi  movies  and  love  to read on innovative products

Venkatesh Sitale

Program  Coordinator – Skilling

Venkatesh has overall 9 years of work experience in livelihood ,project operations and Skill Development domain  and  his  top  skills  are project management, operations and implementation.

He has completed his graduation in Bachelors of Business Administration from Annamalai University  and  Master  Degree  MBA  in  Project  Management  from  Mumbai  University.

His hobbies are – playing Football, Reading Books, playing Cricket, Long Drive and Cooking.

Raveena Joseph

Communication Specialist

Raveena Joseph is passionate and curious, and loves to deconstruct social complexities through thoughtful dialogue. She has written features for The Hindu, impact journalism stories for The Lede and has delved into policy research for UNESCO’s Social Sciences Unit. She has a Communication degree from St. Xavier’s Mumbai and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford. With specialised training in State Capacity Building, Policy Design and Design Thinking, she is keen to contribute meaningfully to solution building efforts in India’s policy and development landscape. Raveena believes in the power of words and strongly resonates with Margaret Mead’s words: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”When she isn’t being idealistic about social change, Raveena likes meeting interesting people, having new experiences and discovering different types of tea.

Avantika Seth

Communication Specialist

Avantika has a vast experience as a Journalist, Researcher, Oral Historian, Documentary Filmmaker, and Podcaster. She  is  a  staunch  believer  in  the  power  of  storytelling  and  her primary interest lies in recording, archiving, and communicating personal life stories of people or organizations. 

She is a graduate from Asian College of Journalism  where  she  specialized in New  Media. Before she made  this  switch  in  her life, she finished her degree  as Bachelors  of Commerce  Honors from  Delhi  University. 

Apart from documenting  family  histories  and archiving objects, She loves to indulge in the world of psychology, neuroscience, and narrative therapy. She spends a lot of time communicating  with  auto-rickshaw   drivers  and  writing  their  life  histories.

Mona Patel

Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Neerajha

Manager – Research & Knowledge

Neerajha has an undergraduate degree in engineering, and has done her postgraduate education in Development Leadership. She has nearly 4 years of experience working at Tata Consultancy Services. Apart from her professional career, Neerajha co-founded ‘Vizhudhugal’, a voluntary youth organization that supports students in various sports and extracurricular programmes. The exposure she gained through this experience furthered her interest to work for societal development and well-being. She would like to imagine a world where no one is deprived of basic needs, and believes we can get there through the participation of all stakeholders in the development process.

Dwiya Saha

PMU Specialist – Project Management

Dwiya  is a Project Management Specialist with 7+ years  of  experience  of  working  with private and public sector companies in CSR Portfolio Management, CSR Strategy, Monitoring, Evaluation  and  Learning (MEL), Due Diligence, and Knowledge Management  initiatives. She has  previously  worked  with  the  Tata  Institute  of  Social  Sciences  and  FXB  India  Suraksha. 

She  holds  a  Masters  degree  in  History,  from University  of  Calcutta. 

Some of her interests  include – sustainable  business  practices, geopolitics  and  modern history

Anisha Panigrahi

Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Anisha has total 6+ years of experience in the Automotive and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Consulting, Skill Development, Ed-Tech solutions, Govt. & Private Sector Advisory, Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Space in designing outcome-based scalable solutions and managing PAN India level projects. Previously she worked with IL&FS Skills Development Corporation Ltd (a leading TVET provider in India) as a Strategy & Business Development Manager in the Corporate Skill Development Vertical handling B2B, B2G and CSR partnerships and solutions. She has also been associated with reputed organizations like Eicher Motors Limited, Teach for India and AIESEC. Being passionate about empowering the under-served population, she has worked extensively on the ground in designing and managing multi-stakeholder and multi-locational projects involving diverse skill sets in rural and semi-urban geographies. She has also worked on several bilateral/ multilateral projects funded by USAID, World Bank, ADB, DFID, UNDP, ILO, IFC etc. focusing on projects aimed at socio-economic development. She has worked on various Cluster Development initiatives in the African continent and GCC countries; with Central Ministries & State Govts on various Govt. Schemes and has designed CSR projects for aspirational districts as prescribed by NITI Aayog (GoI). Anisha is an avid reader and loves travelling, listening to music, playing squash, painting & being an active member of global networking clubs.

Vanya Kaushik

Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Apart from pursuing her B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering from Mohali, Vanya remained an active member of AIESEC. She co-founded an online magazine- EP!C, where she managed a team of more than 40 writers. Always seeking new adventures; she joined a startup after college managing their web sales and MIS. But her heart was set out for more meaningful experiences notably in the development sector. She joined Gandhi Fellowship to step out of her comfort zone and work at the grassroots. Two years in rural Rajasthan gave her an unparalleled experience and made her more empathetic and passionate for social change. When not working, one can find her reading and planning for her travels.

Richa Arora

Manager – Implementation

Hailing from the beautiful land of Jammu, Richa has done her Masters in Psychology from the University of Jammu. She started her career in a de-addiction centre after which she also served as a school counsellor and thereafter joining Kaivalya Education Foundation as a Program Leader. With a certification in human resource and management, Richa has been a part of Samhita since 2018. She is an outward friendly and a pleasant personality with extreme fondness towards food and dogs. Her outgoing and free nature is what makes her unique. She truly believes in ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’,

Rishika Jaiswal

Manager – Implementation

Rishika is a development sector professional with around 9 years of experience. Addressing social issues attracted her since childhood, hence she chose a career in the sector. She is an MSW from University of Delhi. She has worked on pressing issues like WASH, road accidents, child hunger and poverty. She specialises in research & documentation, monitoring & evaluation, and managing project life cycle .She is a mother of one. f time permits, she travels to mountains and loves to trek. Other than travelling she likes to party, cook for loved ones and play with her little one.

Miral Gosalia

Manager – Implementation

Post graduate in Sociology (Honors), Miral has been in the development sector since 8+ years with diverse experience raging from program implementation, monitoring and evaluation, liaising with government, fundraising, networking and reporting with relevant stakeholders. She has worked with organisations such as CHILDLINE India Foundation, Cuddles Foundation who has pan India presence. Dance being her passion she is trained in Bharatnatyam and folk dance. She also enjoys reading, music and travelling.

Siddhanta Banerjee

Manager – Implementation

Siddhanta has done Masters in Mass Communication and possesses 5 years of work experience while managing teams. His work with his organisation could successfully impact and bring about changes in the Nutritional aspects and Natural Resource Management of 36 Villages in Purulia District. He had read a few articles and thus CSR interested him and so Samhita. He is keen to learn about the various dynamics of CSR in the upcoming years, Siddhanta’s hobbies are Photography and Film Making. One of his movies was shown in Banaras Film Festival. He also loves sports. He has represented his department and schools in various athletic meets.

Vishal Konbattulwar

Manager – Monitoring, Evaluation & Research.

Vishal is driven by the need to create tangible social impact, and is biased towards innovative and bold ideas carrying potential to achieving real results. He has spent 5 profound years working on various social problems and enriched competencies in problem solving, strategy and research by endeavouring in inclusive businesses, education and governance.

Vishal holds Master of Technology in Transportation System Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Bachelor of  Technology  in  Civil  Engineering  from  VNIT Nagpur.

Christie Maria James

Manager – Implementation

Christie is a passionate social worker with hunger to solve gender based issues. She started out as a Gender Mainstreaming Officer at IGSSS, working towards dismantling stereotypes and ensuring sexual and reproductive health rights among young girls. She was later involved in creating Gender Neutral Educative Toy Libraries in rural and tribal areas across the country while working with The Toy Bank. Widening her experience further, she was leading communications along with research at Letz Dream Foundation. She also has a few publications to her name on forums like NewsCentral 24×7 and The Book Review Journal.  

She  holds BA (Hons) in  Journalism from Kamala Nehru College and MA in Social Work from TISS.

Some of her hobbies include – baking and cooking – currently exploring making healthy ice creams. She’s  also  a  trained  Bharatanatyam  dancer.

Kankana Trivedi

Manager – Monitoring Evaluation & Learning

Kankana has worked with environmental organization and later with state government, on the subjects of forest rights, women farmers, agroecology, handloom, health and nutrition. As a researcher, she had also been freelancing with several national, international networks working  on  the  issues  of  women  farmers  in  the  sustainable  farming  value   chain. 

She holds a Masters in Ecology, Environment and  Sustainable Development from Tata  Institute  of   Social  Sciences.

Some of her hobbies include – cycling, trekking, in general  anything  outdoorsy  would  keep her  happy.  Currently  exploring  hula  hooping  body  flow  movement.

Shatakshy Bhatt

Assistant Manager – Research & Knowledge

Shatakshy is a social science researcher, pursuing her PhD in Social Work from the TISS, with a specialization in participatory research/assessments and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA). Having travelled extensively for fieldwork across the country, Shatakshy has worked with NGOs and people’s networks in community mobilization, people-centred development design and capacity building.

She has worked with various government institutions on designing social accountability tools and was part of the team that designed the social audit manual for the Ministry of Rural Development. Given her research acumen, she was awarded the Institute Shield for the Best MSW Student in Fieldwork at TISS.

She wants to contribute in building transparency and accountability in institutions and feels passionately about research ethics and issues that concern women.

Jigna Joshi

Assistant Manager – Finance

Nayonika Basu

Assistant Manager – Implementation

Nayonika has four years of experience in strategy and operations  across  information systems  and  governance  consulting. She  started  her career  in  automobile  sector, but  it  was her  varied volunteering and CSR  experiences that motivated her to pivot to the social impact  sector   full-time.

Nayonika  holds  a  B.Tech  in  Information  Technology  from  SRM  University,  Tamil Nadu.

Some  of  her  hobbies  include  –  travelling,  singing  and  reading.

Asha Ashish Wellorkar

Assistant Manager – Finance

Asha has a good amount of knowledge of the account and finance department. Prior to joining Samhita and CGF, she was working with Population First as an Account Officer. She has completed her post graduation in Commerce from Mumbai University and certified in Advance Account and Taxation from ICA Institute. God has blessed her with a small family, which includes her husband, son and herself. She enjoys listening to soft music and spending quality time with family.

Ujwala Parab

Assistant Manager – HR & Admin

Soumashree Sen

Assistant  Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Soumashree is a social work graduate and has been working with CSOs across South Asia, US and UK over the last three years to further development initiatives. She was  formerly a consultant for advocacy and communications with the National Team at Aangan Trust working to prevent child trafficking. Prior to this role, she worked with VSO UK and Department for International Development (DFID) to promote safe adolescent health and child rights. She has  worked with the Guttmacher Institute on their “Adding It Up” research  study  to  impact  adolescent  sexual  and  reproductive  health  rights.

She holds  Bachelor’s  degree  from  Tata Institute of Social Sciences and  has  been  a  recipient  of  the  Fulbright Scholarship  from  the U.S.  Department  of  Education  and  the Fulbright Commission.

In her free time she likes to dabble in photography and listen to music. She also loves travelling and  exploring  new  cultures.

Anshika John

Assistant Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Anshika has nearly 5 years of experience in the development sector, and has worked with grassroot NGOs in the Water, WASH, Agriculture, Nutrition and Livelihood spaces.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Public Policy from St. Xavier’s  College, Mumbai. 

Some of  her  hobbies  include  – yoga,  baking  and  playing  board  games.

Shalet Jose

Assistant Manager – Implementation

Shalet is  a development  professional  with over 4 years of experience  starting initially with the  education  sector and more recently, across domains such as women safety, e-governance, livelihoods and education.  Her  expertise are in programme implementation, problem  solving  and  stakeholder  management. 

She holds a BA (Economic Major) from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai; MA in Education and International development from UCL Institute of Education, London and a PGDM in Development  Management   from  ISDM,  Noida.

She spends her free time with family, connecting with friends and watching her favourite shows.

Divya Agarwal

Assistant Manager – Research & Knowledge

Divya is a law graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune with prior work experience in policy research, primarily in education. Her quest to expand the scope of her work to include other areas of development has led her to Samhita. Having led field research in policy-centric projects, she now aims to focus on impact in order to understand the mechanics of positive change and enact the same in ever-expanding areas of need. She has been working as an independent consultant since a while now and some of her past organisations that she worked with were Centre for Civil Society and Tata AIG. In her leisure time, she likes to explore new places, experiences and ideas.

Dheeraj Dubey

Assistant Manager – Storytelling and Communications

Dheeraj is a media researcher and writer. He was previously leading the media, communications, and advocacy initiatives of the vocational skilling arm of the non-profit Pratham.

He has done his Masters in Media and Cultural Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.  His primary interest lies broadly in areas of education, migration, and gender.

In his free time, Dheeraj loves to read & dream.

Kuntal Ghosh

Program Coordinator – Skilling

Kuntal has a professional experience of around 11 years in the development  sector. He is well-versed in the skill development program. He was associated with SAHAY as Employed Coordinator and later as Area coordinator in the Kolakata Agency of Children International. He has also worked with IndiaCan Education  and  Don Bosco Tech Society in different  capacities.

He holds B.Com-Honours from University of Calcutta and MBA from Vinayaka Missions  University.

Some of his hobbies include – playing football, reading books, listening music, volunteer /community work.

Bhavesh Sakhrani

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Bhavesh has completed his Bachelor’s in Commerce specialising in Financial Markets from H.R. College of Commerce & Economics. He has a demonstrated history of working in multiple organisations. His experiences range from Entrepreneurship, Communication, Management, Marketing and Client service. He has worked with 2 startups focused on education and financial literacy along with stints at 2 social enterprises focused on digital learning and solar energy. Bhavesh has also been the ISB Campus Ambassador at his campus for the prestigious YLP post-grad program. At H.R. College he was part of multiple committees including the Placement Cell of institute and ENACTUS (an international non-profit organisation). Having led ENACTUS for 3 years motivated him to venture into the CSR and Social impact space.

Bhavesh also holds a Master’s in Commerce focused in Business Management from University of Mumbai.

Jhilmil Garg

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Prior to joining Samhita, Jhilmil was a Teach For India fellow whose deep interest in understanding schools as an institution of change led her to join as an Academic Coordinator. Post that, she closely continued working with a government school in Pune for 4 years. She has completed her graduation in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has also successfully completed her study on Development Management from Indian School of Development Management (ISDM).

Jhilmil believes that systemic change can be brought about through collective efforts and empathy!

Meera Bazaz

Senior Associate – Implementation

Meera has recently completed her MSc Public Health degree from the University of Bristol. Prior to that, she pursued BA (Hons) in Social Work with Specialisation in Rural Development from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which allowed her to engage with rural communities at the grassroots level, and furthered her reflective capacity, critical thinking power, and understanding of community-based interventions. She has conducted research on adolescent mental health needs in urban educational settings, and the association between childhood trauma, cognitive styles and depression as part of her higher studies. She has previously worked with organisations such as CARE India, Comprehensive Rural Health Project, and Light Up (Emotions Matter Foundation) in a research and/or social work capacity. Her aim is to improve access to need-based healthcare services for marginalised social groups.In her free time, she loves to practice music, read and devote time to her physical and mental health.

Anuja Ayre

Senior Associate – Implementation

Anuja has worked with a leading nonprofit and a social consultant firm from Mumbai and worked on curating, implementing & monitoring projects into different thematic areas including integrated community development, health, education, WASH, livelihood etc. She also founded her own social enterprise (Project Uthaana) that aimed at providing access to potable water to underserved  communities

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Studies from University of Mumbai, followed by Master’s  degree  in  Social  Entrepreneurship  from SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).

Some of her hobbies include playing mobile  and computer games, occasional volunteering and teaching kids.

Yashvardhan Dalmia

Senior Associate – Implementation

A management graduate, Yashvardhan has been working on environment conservation projects at Samhita. Post his stint with Tata Capital in corporate finance, he worked with Sanctuary Asia and in the wildlife travel space during which he had the opportunity to spread the message of biodiversity conservation among students and adults during their journeys across national parks of India. He is an avid photographer and has also been a regular volunteer for Cancer Patients Aid Association, an organization working towards cancer awareness and patient welfare. He enjoys travelling, watching sports and reading.

Aman Mateti

Senior Associate – REVIVE

Aman  has a mix of working in the project management and construction along with working in the social development field. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from GITAM University and a PGD in Development Management from Indian School of Development Management.

Some of his hobbies include – Cycling, reading comic books, making memes, video games

Abhishek Chandra

Senior Associate – Implementation

Abhishek has an experience of 3 years in the development sector in project implementation leading the Employee Engagement vertical at Piramal Foundation and as a District Consultant- Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen in Bihar working on ground with Tata Trusts and  Government  of  India.

He holds a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Some  of  his  interests  include  cycling,  cooking,  cricket  and  current  affairs.

Adya Makkar

Senior Associate – Implementation

A Young India fellow, Adya pursued her undergraduation in Economics and Political Science from St Stephens College, Delhi University. Her internships with TFI, Gramin Healthcare, YLAC and MD junior drove her to further engage and find her niche within the development sector. Adya believes, that her college gave her loads of exposure to extracurriculars like dancing and football which helped her to be more confident of who she is today. If one were to ask her, who is she apart from her qualification, she would find it difficult to categorize what she identifies most with; a curious soul, a passionate dancer, a knowledge seeker, a minor of experiences, a footballer, a national shooter, a social worker at heart and a trekking enthusiast (pretty much a recent fascination).

Above all, she is an ardent advocate of humanity and detests gruesome humanitarian right violations.

Saroj

Senior Associate – Implementation

Saroj is a development  sector  professional with a specialization in public health. Until recently, she worked as Engagement Manager, IMPAct4Nutrition, a platform incubated by UNICEF India and CSRBOX. There she carried out nutrition-specific CSR engagements with more than 200 private sector companies and trained around 6000 employees across. Earlier, she worked on Tuberculosis care and management to carry out community-based interventions in the rural hinterlands of Bihar and also with the prestigious Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates Program as  an  Associate  to  the  Chief  Minister  of  Haryana  in  Panchkula.

She  holds  a bachelor’s in Food and Nutrition from Delhi University and a master’s in Social  Work Public  Health  from  Tata  Institute  of  Social  Sciences, Mumbai.

Sagar Dube

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Kamsin Shahani

Senior Associate – Implementation

Kamsin is a chartered accountant with over 2 years of post-qualification work experience. She believes that her spreadsheets and presentations should make a difference in this world and hence, moved to the sector. She enjoys reading, swimming and dancing in her free time!

Khushboo Kaul

Sr Associate – Implementation

Khushboo comes with almost 10+ years of experience in organisations such as Tata Communications Ltd and HRM Consultants India. She was part of India’s first Skill University, Shri  Vishwakarma  Skill University , handling Soft Skills Trainings and a team member of Quality  &  Standards  of  the University.

She holds BE in Electronics from Amaravati University and Post Graduate Diploma from Tata Institute  of  Social  Sciences.

In  her  spare  time,  she  loves  reading,  enjoys  working  out  and  trekking.

Bhavya Kharoo

Associate – Research & Knowledge

Bhavya Kharoo is about to graduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai with a Master’s in Development Studies. She was formerly a Young India Fellow at Ashoka University, Delhi and has completed her undergraduate education in Economics Honours from the University of Delhi. She was previously interned with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Centre for Policy Research and with Asmat, a student-run NGO. She was initially just interested in the development arena, but with time and experience, she has come to love researching and writing in the social sciences. As an ardent feminist and a lover of research, she has worked on a study of her own along with some of her friends; the objective was to study the implications of gender and space in Indian Metropolises and is based on a mapping exercise which looks at people’s perceptions of how women occupy public space. She is currently working on another paper, on the lives of migrant women and she is working towards including more creativity in her research work. She someday hopes to be able to make research work more accessible and interesting for those within and outside of academia. If at any time you will not find her working, She will probably be watching a cooking video or whipping up a meal, since cooking and exploring new cultures through food is my favourite leisure activity.

Dattaprasad Parodkar

Program Associate – Implementation

Dattaprasad is an Engineer, he has worked with  Quess Corporation Ltd, Vidya skill Training Institute, & Labournet India Services Pvt Ltd. He has also worked in various Pharma  Companies  as  a  Executive  Engineer  to  Operation  Manager.

He  holds  a  Diploma  in  Electrical  Engineering and  loves  reading  and  listening to music in his free time.

Smriti Sangam

Associate – Implementation

Smriti is a Psychology graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai with a post-graduate degree in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Her exposure to social sciences during undergraduation sparked the drive in her to pursue a career in the development sector. Being an inquisitive learner with varied interests, her work experience ranges from Arts Management, Urban Governance and Development to CSR and Public Policy, with her key interests being in the domains of Education, Livelihoods, and Informal Labour. She has previously worked with Praja Foundation, Social Lens Consulting, and Reliance Foundation on projects related to urban governance, Informal settlements, and Education. She has also contributed to a policy research paper on the adoption and effectiveness of Ed-Tech in India submitted to the office of Mr. Ninong Ering (MLA, Arunachal Pradesh). She is passionate about optimally combining her diverse experiences to augment sustainable human development through social policy. On a personal front, Smriti finds great joy in balancing her work life with some of her other passions such as solo travel, dancing, cinema and theatre, and doing a range of courses to satisfy her appetite for learning!

Arpit Goel

Associate – Implementation

Arpit  has a background in  people-centric  policy research, strategic planning and execution of long-term multi stakeholder projects with Kotak Education, Mumbai. Later, he engaged with a Ladakh based start-up towards building SWM awareness and Urban infrastructure  for  the local government. He  was a part of design team to launch a PhD/Research  masters  program  at  a  University. 

He  holds  Master of Arts in Public  Policy from Azim Premji University  and  the  Anant Fellowship  in  the  Built   Environment  from  Anant  National  University. 

Some of his hobbies include – Playing Squash, Badminton, Collecting books, writing  short pieces and poems with  periodic  meditation, and  a  keen  interest  to  understand  shared  histories  of the   cultural   intangible  heritage.

Sanika More

Associate – Implementation

Sanika graduated in Mass Media with a major in journalism and a Masters in Public Policy from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai. She worked as a Public Relations professional after graduation. Post her masters, she grew passionate about conservation, with a vision of a sustainable and inclusive future. She worked on political campaigns and party’s and politician’s social media. She carried out various PR projects for FMCG and sports brands with a team and a few PR campaigns by herself. She believes in social equality, opportunity and work towards the greater good. She is a moviegoer who enjoys cooking, reading historical fiction/non-fiction, sketching and travelling!

Amiya Walia

Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Amiya is a graduate in Psychology and Environmental Science from Ashoka University. Prior to joining Samhita, Amiya carried out in-depth research and implementation projects on the topics of manual scavenging, forest rights, solid and electronic waste segregation in India. She volunteered as an adoption coordinator and recruiter for an animal welfare organization, Paws for a Cause: NCR Adoptions in the past. Amiya is passionate about the field of environmental justice and is working towards adding value to the field of social impact, which is what brought her to Samhita.

Priyanka Nair

Associate – Implementation

Priyanka is an Electrical Engineer from NIT Calicut and after working as a Business Analyst with Reliance Industries she transitioned into the social sector. In her brief stint with the Piramal Foundation as a Program Leader, she got the opportunity to drive systemic change in the Department of Education, Rajasthan using modern Lean Six Sigma principles. She is a stationery hoarder and a design enthusiast who occasionally dabbles in traditional and digital arts.

She is a believer in volunteerism, power of strategic philanthropy and adrak-wali chai!

Akshata Shirodkar

Associate – Research & Knowledge

Akshata has completed Bachelors in Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Subsequently, she pursued a Masters in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. She has volunteered with Mumbai Mobile Crèches where she was involved with teaching to the children of construction site workers’, During her post-graduation, she interned with Praja Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, and Samhita. She presented a research paper on ‘Perception of Street Vendors towards the State Institutions’ at Law and Policy Hub at Azim Premji University.

In her free time, she likes to do Warli Painting, reading books and travelling!

Prachi Patni

Analyst – Research

Anirban Saha

Analyst – Implementation

Anirban brings with him a diverse background as a graduate in Electrical Engineering from KiiT University and as a Gandhi fellow! At the Gandhi Fellowship Program, he was extensively involved in Improving Student’s Learning Outcome working in tandem with various school stakeholders in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. Anirban’s interests lay in the convergence of education and sports sector.

His curiosity to learn how to create impact through CSR projects at scale has led him to Samhita!

Mansi Nema

Analyst – Implementation

Mansi is an alumna of University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun and Ashoka University. With the belief, “Be whom you needed when you were younger,” Mansi made her foray into Make A Difference, a non-profit organisation working to enable children at risk to realise outcomes equitable with the middle-class Mansi is a trainer classical dancer and an avid reader.

Debadrita Gupta

Analyst – Implementation

Debadrita is an Economics Hons graduate with a Master’s in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is keen on working in the area of Public Health and WASH. She believes that nuance and empathy should be at the core of development processes. She enjoys dancing and cooking and learning about sustainable fashion. She has a lot of event management experience having also been part of the Election Committee which conducted the Student Elections in 2018 at TISS, Mumbai. She is also very fond of cinema and is currently working on a short film on the Koliwadas of Mumbai as part of the Nagari film Festival organized by the Charles Correa Foundation as part of a 4 member film crew.

Harikrishnan P

Analyst – Research & Knowledge

Harikrishnan belongs to the state of Kerala. He has recently graduated from National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad in Rural Management. He had undertaken internships with Kudumbashree (Trivandrum), Mizoram State Rural Livelihoods Mission (Aizawl) & Tata Institute of social Sciences (Mumbai). He also holds a degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Coimbatore under Anna University, Chennai.

His hobbies include reading and cooking. Loves to explore new languages and culture and also do a bit of photography and backpacking.

Anwisha Thakur

Analyst – Implementation 

Anwisha is a political science and public policy graduate from the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts. She has an interest in policy, international affairs and political theory. She is passionate  about  leadership, community  service  and  public  affairs.

Beyond work, some  of  her  hobbies  include  baking,  cooking,  painting  and  reading.

Mukesh Kumar Pandey

Network Support – IT