Fellows

Ankit is a queer feminist activist. He is a member of Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) and also serves on the Board of Directors. Ankit is passionate about reproductive justice for queer and trans youth, and has worked on a range of issues from Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and public safety to environment and climate change. He serves on the Advisory Group to The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and the CIVICUS’s Youth Action Taskforce.

Host Organization:  Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute

 Role at Host Organization: As a program manager, Ankit will be working on the international program expanding to other countries including India. He will contribute his knowledge of the situation in India to the program. Overall, he will be supporting Victory’s programs in a range of different countries.

Anuradha has been working in the international nonprofit sector as a human rights practitioner for over five years. Her interest in human rights began in college when she got involved in a project which provided legal aid to slum dwellers. She then interned with a criminal lawyer where she was required to work with victims of violence and abuse. This job encouraged her to join HRLN (Human Rights Law Network), a leading human rights organization of lawyers and social activists where she worked for three and a half years on issues such as rights of the children, refugees, women, disabled, prisoners, and trafficked persons. Her work included litigation as well as conducting trainings, workshops, advocacy campaigns, and other capacity building programs and policy interventions. She later joined STOP (STOP Trafficking and Oppression of children and women), a grassroots organization working on anti-human trafficking initiatives. Anuradha has traveled extensively, including to Sweden, Iran, Nepal, England and the Netherlands, attending international conferences on issues such as child protection policy, disability, and trafficking in persons. Anuradha received her LLB in 2002 from University of Bangalore, India, and was awarded the William Ross Murray scholarship in 2008 to pursue her LLM in international human rights law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Host Organization: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services

Asmita has been actively involved in the nonprofit sector, particularly in the fight against child slavery, since childhood. Before coming on the Atlas Corps Fellowship, she was a research assistant with CORD (Collaborative Research and Dissemination), a social research group that fights for the rights of the disadvantaged through meaningful, field-based research. At the age of 10, Asmita gave a speech in a U.S. Congressional hearing and addressed a Canadian Labor Congress convention against child labor; she has continued her work for human rights and social justice throughout her education. In college, Asmita worked as a student intern at the University of Iowa’s Center for Human Rights. She has been a proponent of grassroots activism in India, starting a student movement against child labor, and also has experience working with the U.S. Senate and the ILO (International Labor Organization) in Geneva. Asmita holds a B.S. in economics from the University of Iowa.

Host Organization: International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children

Disha has seven years of experience in the development communication sector and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Indraprastha University in New Delhi, India. She worked as communication manager with the Vasudha Foundation to promote socially just and sustainable models of energy in India. She also helped to develop the communication strategy for the foundation and its campaigns. She worked on creating the branding guidelines and specific communication material (audio-visual, print, and web-based) to be disseminated through media outlets. Previously, Disha worked on an independent documentary about women’s rights and religion in India. It was a self-initiated project, so she was responsible to do research, shooting, editing, and directing of the documentary. Disha has volunteered as a communications consultant for Outer Shell Africa, a social enterprise to enhance the wellness of Sub-Saharan Africans living with skin conditions. Through these experiences, she has developed strong strategic communication, graphic designing, and filmmaking skills. Being a feminist, Disha enjoys focusing on areas related to gender rights, and she has a strong passion for animal protection.

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

Role at Host Organization: Disha will be engaged in communications, public relations, project management, and partnership building. Disha will strengthen and practice these skills in the implementation, evaluation, and expansion of the Atlas Corps external presence as included in our communications and public relations strategy

Indrias has a total of seven years of experience in the development and humanitarian sectors. She recently worked as a Social and Behavior Change Officer at UNICEF Indonesia where she managed a total budget of US$ 190,000 for four Risk Communications and Community Engagement (RCCE) projects in South Sulawesi and Maluku, Indonesia, to implement behavior change communications strategies and demand creation for COVID-19 vaccination through capacity building for healthcare workers, teachers, parents/caregivers, community and religious leaders, journalists, and youth. Finda earned her Master’s degree in Children, Youth and International Development from Brunel University London and her Bachelor’s of Science in Physics from the University of Indonesia. During her studies in London, Finda did an internship at StreetInvest, a nonprofit working on the issues of street children in West Africa, East Africa and India, where she supported the production of Impact Reports for StreetInvest for 2019/2020 term by reviewing and analyzing data collected at projects in Kenya. Prior coming to the UK, Finda worked as an Advocacy and Partnership Officer at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Center for Early Childhood Care and Education and Parenting (SEAMEO CECCEP), where she designed, planned, and implemented advocacy and partnership strategies on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). She also liaised and built partnerships with 11 Ministries of Education in Southeast Asia and a range of other organizations such as UNESCO, Plan International, and Aide et Action. Finda is passionate in the topics of children education and women empowerment.

Host Organization: Women’s World Banking

Role at Host Organization: As a Policy Advocacy Fellow, Indrias will help accelerate the policy advocacy process at the Women’s World Banking, assisting in delivering parts of the policy and advocacy strategy and goals set for the next five years. The Fellow will engage withpolicymakers and regulators in the area of women’s financial inclusion and encourage them to make changes where needed to improve the enabling policy environment for women’s economic empowerment. The Fellow will work on projects from different countries, particularly in the Women’s World Banking’s focus countries of Cambodia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Vietnam. The Fellow will also draw together from the organization’s existing work, build further the policy positions, and advocate to new audiences, which will be very beneficial to Women’s World Banking.

Karuna holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Indian Institute of Human Rights. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi in India, and a Graduate degree in Information Technology from the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), in India. She has extensive experience working with communities and the government sector, as well as six years of experience in the non-profit sector. Karuna has engaged in volunteer work with prominent nonprofits such as Prayas, Project WHY and Rotaract in India. Initially, Karuna enjoyed a brief exposure in the corporate sector with IBM and Adecco India. In her most recent role, Karuna worked as a Program Officer with Multiple Action Research Group (MARG). Her experience includes project management and implementation in the areas of empowerment, gender & governance, media and policy advocacy, youth development and capacity building on projects supported by UNICEF, UNDP and Oxfam India. She has closely worked with the media, advocacy groups, and the Delhi Task Force to combat trafficking and to mobilize support and create awareness of child labor. Prior to MARG, Karuna worked with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), one of India’s leading non-profits, contributing to multi-donor projects in order to combat human trafficking. As a part of the Delhi Task Force on Child Labor, she led teams in rescuing more than 300 victims of human trafficking from Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal, Bangladesh & Nepal. Karuna is passionate and committed to the cause of working towards bettering lives of marginalized women and children.

Host Organization : CARE International

Role at Host Organization: Karuna will be engaged in supporting research and analysis around implementation of donor and government policies addressing early forced marriage in Bangladesh and Nepal and will contribute to the development of an advocacy strategy to influence key stakeholders at global and national level. Karuna will also be engaged in supporting the Tipping Point team in strategic planning and project implementation including activities aimed at capacity building, communications and knowledge management.

Radhika Ralhan is a sociologist, a sustainable systems thinking professional, and an impact strategist. As a University Gold Medalist, she enhanced her academic erudition in diverse professional contexts. These contexts include extending strategic advisory at leadership levels, executing critical sustainability programs in diverse themes, such as renewable energy, menstrual hygiene, and health, and devising policy research projects on SDGs. She also spearheaded teams by working primarily on social impact analysis and global and national-level positioning of programs. She has been instrumental in curating innovative partnerships platforms such as CSR Collaboration Hub and SDGs Drivers Forum among private sector, government institutions, and NGOs with set-focused outcomes. She has enhanced her professional dynamism by working with leading multi-faceted organizations, such as IIT Delhi, United Nations Global Compact, Development Alternatives, CAF, and Dr. Reddy’s sustainability unit. At the policy front, in her independent capacity, the Bureau of Indian Standards, Government of India appointed her to formulate the first of its kind CSR Standards as a key drafting expert. She has presented her research work and perspectives at global platforms in Milan, Istanbul, and Copenhagen and has taught at prominent universities such as IHM, Pusa, and Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. For Radhika, innovation, unconventional thinking, working on unexplored avenues, and leveraging social outcomes are key drivers in the sustainability discourse.

Host Organization: Collaborating for Resilience

Role at Collaborating for ResilienceAt Collaborating for Resilience, Radhika will serve as the Program Management Fellow: promoting citizen engagement in policy reform and implementation, managing partner collaborations, undertaking action research in one or more program areas, and contributing to program development, marketing, and communications initiatives.

Saket Mani is an entrepreneur, global youth activist, community mobilizer and a strategist focusing on advocacy, partnership, grassroots program implementation & communications. He is focused on driving advocacy and policy on sustainable development, skill development, education, youth & human rights, climate change, and gender justice. A natural leader and globally recognized activist, he is powerfully equipped with superior communication and interpersonal skills and has a refined understanding of multicultural & multilingual partnerships to maximize strategic benefit. Mindful of the need for inclusive advocacy, Saket’s outreach engages change makers from rural, semi-urban, and urban areas. A committed champion for gender rights, Saket currently serves as the UN Women’s Youth Planet 50/50 Champion for Gender Equality. Highlighting the power of volunteerism, he mobilized 200,000+ people to commit and pledge support for ‘HeForShe’, the UN Women’s Solidarity Movement for Gender Equality. Saket is the founding member of 1M1B (1 Million for 1 Billion) Foundation, which is a 501c3 leadership, entrepreneurship and an innovation initiative aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to his work on gender rights, he served as the Global Youth Advocate for the UN Secretary General’s My World 2015 Global Citizen Survey, which crowdsourced approx. 7 million young people to voice their perspectives and concerns regarding the development of the SDGs. Additionally, he is the founder of the ‘Youth Love Development’ Facebook group (25,000+ Members) and is a wannabe tech enthusiast, a feminist, voracious reader, gastronome, and cultural explorer.

Host Organization: American India Foundation

Role at American India Foundation At the American India Foundation (AIF), Saket will support the CEO and strategically assess progress, evaluate opportunities and determine fit within the organization’s priorities. He will create and update organizational dashboards and annual business calendars to review KPI’s and manage a variety of long term projects.