Board

Ujwala Masdekar is a retired faculty member from the Karve Institute of Social Service. She has worked as Gender Expert and consultant on various projects funded by the International organisations for Rural Drinking Water Schemes of the Government of Maharashtra and has extensive experience of working with NGOs involved in Saving and Credit groups for women. She has also conducted various research studies which are funded by the Kibi International University, Japan; Government of Maharashtra Ministry of Women and Child Development, Mahila Aarthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM), UNICEF. She has written manuals for NGOs and village committees on conflict resolution, women’s participation in Drinking Water and Sanitation programmes. She is also a trainer on gender sensitivity and equality for different NGOs and MAVIM districts level implementers.

After an 18 year career at the sea, Yunus opted for a shore job and is presently serving in a managerial position in a shipping company.

He is also the founder of Sai Children’s Home, a privately managed shelter home for orphans and under privileged children. Alongside, Yunus has also developed a self-sufficient eco-farm near Pune that is equipped with solar cells and wind turbines for electricity production, rain water harvesting and other water conservation systems, and a functional bio-gas plant, vermin-composting, solar cookers and heaters, and an organic farm to produce sufficient food.

Jithin C Nedumala is the Co-founder of Make a Difference. Founded in 2006, today MAD works with shelter homes in 23 cities, based on the premise that children will have better adult outcomes if they are empowered on a number of fronts, specifically emotional resilience, life skills, learning, qualifications and work readiness. Jithin has spoken on this topic in many forums including Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Indian School of Business and Multiple IIMs and TedXs . Jithin is an Ashoka Fellow and before the age of 24, he has been awarded the Ashoka Global Youth Social Entrepreneur award, Karmaveer Puraskar, Cordes Fellowship, Dasra peer grant and Youth Actionnet Fellowship for his contribution to society.

Ashlesha is currently working as the Director at Deep Griha Society since 2016. After finishing her Masters in Sociology, she did her Post-graduate Programme in Development Management, while she led a rural development programme that included setting up a school in the outskirts of Pune. At Deep Griha Society, she is currently working with the team to design a five-year roadmap for the organisation to meet the changing needs of the 100,000 participants, wherein holistic community development continues to be the core mission in the road ahead.