Team

Urasmita joined the ECF team as a Communications and Fundraising Associate. As a communication lead, she is managing social media platforms, and building a good communication strategic prospect for more expansion of our mission. Including to focus on fundraising efforts, to develop and manage partnerships for organisational growth. Furthermore, have six years of expertise working with adolescents with different education and community settings. Specialised in providing mentorship through life skill education programs, providing skill-based training, building leadership learning experiences, raising capacity-building programs, and designing content. With ECF she shares a strong connection with the vision and embraces the environment within the team.

She cultivates her propensity to continue learning and evolving. Her favourite place to be is around plants, and her most warm and safe space is her furry companion Roy. She is a strong believer of wellness and mental health, as well as self-care.

Kshitij joined ECF as a programme executive recently in 2023. Kshitij himself is an AFE graduate. He has months of experience working with  education consultancy. Kshitij is currently working with ECF as a community organiser with an aim to bring together alumni and new participants for the programme.

Kshitij enjoys reading, conversing with others, and travelling. He chose to work with ECF because he feels it may have a direct impact on people’s lives and change people’s attitudes towards cultural norms.

Anil has been working since 2022 as a Programme Mentor. He started his journey with volunteerism in the Deepstambh Foundation. Professionally he gained experience through working in different parts of urban and rural settings . He has an ability of adaptability in every situation and by his leadership skills aims to have maximum results. He is skilled in training children and adolescents at the community level. He also holds experience in effective training on gender, violence, masculinity, and healthy relationships with adolescents. He admires ECF’s working approach on gender and motivation is the team support and the shared bond with the members.

He is extremely into cricket and enjoys playing and watching it most. The habit of reading and absorbing the knowledge helps him to add into his day-to-day life and make him an open-minded person.

Abhimanyu talks about his experience working as a school coordinator, during which he visited different schools and conducted sessions with children. He works for ECF as a programme mentor and has a master’s degree in social work. He has worked with rural and indigenous populations. He became interested in learning about diverse cultures, ways of life, social structures, and ways to acquire knowledge. He has exceptional communication abilities and listens intently.His capacity for forming relationships with individuals enables him to gain a broader view and explore new perspectives. He wants to thank ECF for his first cup of tea, which he brewed for himself. Along with educating adolescents, he has taken on home tasks and values the factor of adopting equal opportunity regardless of gender. He appreciates how the ECF team has a strong sense of unity and is always supportive of one another. In his spare time, he enjoys playing cricket and watching web series and films.

Leenakshi holds a master’s degree in Social Work and brings an experience of mentoring the students belonging from healthcare sector. Currently she is holding a position of Programme Executive at ECF. Her position at ECF is linked to each department, therefore she enjoys working with everyone and learning new skills through the tasks. According to her, she is glad for the opportunity to learn photography from our contributing photographer Alex! Leenakshi enjoys meeting new people while discovering about their humour.

While working with ECF, she belives that one should not look at doing household chores as a help, but rather, it should be equally distributed to each member in the house as it’s everyone’s responsibility.

She enjoys spending her free time at home, listening to music.

Shivraj is presently working as a Programme mentor, now he is role model for the adolescents with whom he conducts the sesions in the community. Shivraj is a graduate of AfE himself and he supports other graduates to continue working for gender equality in their communities.

Shivraj loves to chat with his friends and mixes with new people easily. He recently became a father and intends to be an involved parent and caregiver to his daughter, breaking the norms that hold only a mother responsible for raising a child.

Mahesh is associated as a Programme Mentor with ECF for four years, he enables adolescent boys to challenge gender stereotypes and overcome the pressures of masculinity. He is gratified when individuals in the community look up to him as a role model, or teacher in their lives. He makes certain that adolescents gain as many insights as possible in order to become a better version of themselves. During this time, he strengthened his skills in leadership, curriculum development, teamwork, and collaboration. His facilitation abilities not only made him a better communicator, but also provided him with enormous personal and professional development. He values the opportunity to be an open communicator at ECF the most, as well as the team culture. Mahesh ensures that he implements his knowledge and inspires others to rethink their gender perceptions. Mahesh enjoys cycling, trekking, and travelling in his spare time. He began to spend time in the kitchen, loving the process of cooking. Presently, he is pursuing a diploma in Mass Communication and Journalism.

Lakshmi, fondly called Lakshmi Aunty, is among the oldest employees at ECF who joined when ECF was formed. Hers is the first greeting as you enter the office every morning. From the upkeep of the office furniture to the well-being of the entire team, she sees to it all as her personal responsibility. Driving up and down 14km every day, she finds her motivation in the respect with which she is treated by the team and the warm “family wali feeling”, says Lakshmi.

Lakshmi has picked up reading and writing and is now able to send her daughter messages on the phone. She loves cooking and has newly discovered her love for shopping online.

Sudakshina brings several years of programmatic experience with organisations such as NASSCOM Foundation, Global Communities and Concern India Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work and presently heads Research, Development and Evaluation and Project Raise at ECF. Her aim to reduce gender based violence and bring about gender equality in the society aligns with the mission of ECF and she takes her learning from the programme to apply in her personal life. Using multiple monitoring tools to assess ECF’s gender transformative programme, Sudakshina is fascinated by how the programme is evolving and becoming increasingly relevant through continuous innovation and experimentation.

Sudakshina is a voracious reader and loves to write and paint. After hours she can be found on stage enacting self-written and self-directed plays. She has recently been promoted to being a mother and looks forward to manage her professional and personal responsibilities with equal expertise.

Priyanka holds a Master’s degree in social Work with specialising in Family & Child development, she also completed Women’s study course. She brings two years of community-based experience to her work as a Community Social Worker. It was while she was working on education for girls in Pune’s ASHA: Action for Self-Reliance + Hope + Awareness when she first began to feel the need to work with boys particularly on gender based violence and discrimination. She realized that without addressing the attitude of men and boys, the work on women’s empowerment could not be holistic. currently she is holding a Programme Associate position, Mainly she is focusing in Monitoring & Evaluation and Programme Faciliatation.

Priyanka exudes positivity and brings stability to her team with her calm and collected nature. In her spare time, she is always up for a game of chess.