Our Team

Mr AM Rajashekara has thirty-six years of experience in the fields of administration, advertising and publicity, program planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programmes implemented across the country through the ‘National Literacy Mission Authority’ (NLMA). He is a well-known figure in the non-Formal Education sector and administration sectors with strong networking capabilities, having played advisory roles in several large programs within the government, both at the state and national levels. After completing his M.A. (Economics) from Bangalore University in 1976, he started his career with the Family Planning Association of India, funded by the International Planned Parenthood Federation. He has led teams in planning strategies for nationwide mobilization and environment building activities through a variety of media initiatives, organised capacity building programmes for key functionaries, developed resource materials for training and assessment of learning outcomes, and so on.

He has several successes to his credit during his tenure as the Joint Director in the Department of Education & Literacy, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India. He has also participated in numerous seminars, conferences and training programmes, and been awarded fellowships organised at different national and international forums on topics like ‘Population Education’, ‘Monitoring & Evaluation’, ‘Role of Media in Education’, ‘Capacity Building of Adult Education Functionaries’, ‘Mobilization and Environment Building’, ‘Assessment of Adult Learners’, ‘Development of Training Manuals’, etc.

Ambuja Kowlgi has a PhD in Anthropology with Specialization in Medical Anthropology. As an anthropologist she has been involved in research and analysis and assisted many qualitative studies, supporting as an anthropologist and qualitative research consultant, specializing in health, gender and education. Has worked with national and international research teams and organizations (like KHPT, Sambodhi research communications, The Hunger Project, Jeeva- a research initiative) for various research projects over the past decade.

Currently: Qualitative Research Lead (CPHC thematic, KHPT)

Teaching:

International Diploma in Reproductive Health Management, Karnatak University, Dharwad
Transdisciplinary Center for Qualitative Methods, MAHE, Manipal

Publications:

Searching in The backyard: Kunabi Child Care from an Ethnopediatric Perspective Ambuja Kowlgi and C. G. Hussain Khan, Manipal University Press, May 2017
Ethnopediatrics: an emerging field Karnatak University Journal Vol 1Dec 2009
Practices of evil eye in rural Karnataka Eastern Anthropologist 2004
Open courts: Child Labour: Report and a short documentary, UNICEF: 2006
Ethnographic Profile of Sex Workers of Dharwad (Prostitution and Beyond: Sage Publications) 2008

Aparna Mukherjee is the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Lead for the Adolescent Thematic at KHPT and provides M&E support to the theme. She is a PhD in Demography and prior to KHPT, she worked as ‘Assistant Professor’ at the Tata Institute for Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Her expertise is in mixed-method research and she is inclined towards using an inter-disciplinary approach to examine how social and population dynamics can influence larger developmental goals.

Mr. Ashokanand H.S is a retired Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who graduated from State Civil Service Cadre. He has over two decades of experience working on various developmental issues like Watershed Management, Disaster Management, Education, Human Resource and Capacity Building, Social Welfare (SC and ST welfare), and Health (HIV/AIDS and related areas). His expertise lies in the area of empowerment of Panchayat Raj Institutions.

As Director-Advocacy, he has successfully mainstreamed HIV related issues with various Government Departments like Women and Child Welfare, Education, Housing, Food and Civil Supply, Law and Justice, Police, Social Welfare, Health, etc.,

He was instrumental in establishing and successfully operationalizing the satellite Communication Centre; the first of its kind in the country in the State Institute of Rural Development (ANS SIRD, Mysore) during 2002-08.

He has been a member of various expert committees both at the State and the National level. Currently, member Quality Monitoring Group in the Department of Planning, Government of Karnataka, guiding and monitoring the preparation of Human Development Report (HDR) for the State of Karnataka. Also a member – advisory committee of Karnataka Evaluation Authority, Government of Karnataka.

He has a Master’s degree in Plant Science and also a PG Diploma in Environment Planning from the University of Mysore.

James Blanchard is Director at Centre for Global Public Health in the University of Manitoba. He has been advising and providing technical support for HIV prevention and care programmes since the inception of KHPT. He has spent more than a decade working on HIV prevention in South Asia; as a contributor to the design of India’s National AIDS Control Programme, as a member of a CIDA-sponsored technical support team assisting Pakistan’s Ministry of Health with its second-generation HIV/AIDS surveillance project, and as a member of a World Bank appointed team that mapped high-risk populations in Afghanistan.

He is an epidemiologist, physician, and associate professor of community health science at the University of Manitoba. His research interests include epidemiology and control of STIs and HIV, transmission dynamics, and social and behavioural aspects of HIV. He also helped establish internationally recognized research programmes in inflammatory bowel disease and diabetes, and continues to conduct research in these areas.

He earned his M.D. from the University of Manitoba, and M.P.H. and PhD from the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Joseph holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology from the Indian Institute of Public Health, Delhi. He has been with KHPT in various capacities; as Deputy Project Director of USAID THALI (Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative) program, Project Director for the Care and Support programs of PLHIVs, and as Strategic Lead of HIV thematic area; was also a member of the Global Technical Team of KHPT and UoM to support the African and Caribbean countries for KP intervention under Linkages Program.

Prior to joining KHPT, he headed the Technical Support Units (TSU) to the State AIDS Control Society of Delhi State between 2014-16 and at Karnataka State between 2016-18. He was also the Team Lead for Targeted Interventions in the TSU in Karnataka.

He developed the family-based care and support model, focused on orphan and vulnerable children (OVC), including adolescents, during his stint with Presentation Society in Goa. He presented this work at the International AIDS Conference in Busan, South Korea. He has authored more than 10 publications; was also a key designer in the big city intervention plan for Delhi NCT.

Dr K.Karthikeyan, a medical doctor, trained in HIV medicine and mental health. His 25 years of clinical and public health experience covers grassroots, state, national and international levels.

In the early years of the HIV epidemic in India, led his team to establish home-based care in 15 districts of Tamil Nadu. He served as the nodal person in WHO India office, in 2006-2008, led the ART training roll out in India. He served as the WHO country focal point for HIV, in the Maldives and Timor Leste.

Since 2005, he has been associated with KHPT in various capacities. He is the thematic lead for Tuberculosis in KHPT. He led the technical team in USAID funded THALI project, continues in the same position in USAID funded Breaking the Barriers project. He is passionate about building the team at work.

Krishnamurthy Jayanna is a physician and a public health specialist with experience in health and development for close to two decades. His experience spans across HIV, Maternal Neonatal and Child health, Non-communicable diseases and Primary Health Care. His program and research interests revolve around on Quality of Care, Health systems strengthening, Implementation Research, Quality of Life and Integrative Health.

He completed MD in Community Medicine from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bangalore; received advanced research training at W.H.O, Geneva and also holds post-doctoral research fellowship in Global Health from University of Manitoba, Canada. He currently works as Professor and Dean of Faculty of Life and Allied Health Sciences at Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bangalore where he support Masters and PhD programs in Public Health as well as multidisciplinary research. He continues to be associated with KHPT as one of its Advisors, for two thematic areas: MNCH and NCDs/CPHC.

Manoj is a public health professional with more than 10 years of experience in health systems research and program implementation. He has years of experience in leading implementation research and population-based randomized controlled trial programs. His expertise lies in designing, implementing, and ensuring quality improvement techniques for improved health care; he brings experience in the organization of chronic care systems especially at the primary healthcare level. He is recently engaged in designing and implementing population-level programs in the area of non-communicable diseases, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health. He is leading the quality improvement and quality of life portfolio in the CPHC thematic area at KHPT; in the past, he led an urban health system based project aiming to strengthen the continuum of care for non-communicable disease in primary health care settings. He has several publications in peer-reviewed, indexed international/ national journals.

Dr P. L. Nataraj, former Director, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, has served in the Karnataka State Government for thirty-five years, starting as a medical officer. He holds an MBBS and a Diploma in Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery (DOMS) from the prestigious Bangalore Medical College & Minto Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Bangalore.

Dr Nataraj has successfully implemented various eye health projects at the national and international level. As a Director, he motivated private entrepreneurs and NGOs to join hands with the Government to provide quality Health Services to the public- especially the rural poor. He wants to dedicate his future to the service of the community for ophthalmic and charity services.

Dr Prarthana BS, a medical doctor, trained in public health, medical law and ethics as well as in family medicine. She has 15 years of clinical and public health experience covering grassroots and state levels. She has worked as a clinician in HIV/ STIs and family medicine. She also has worked as a technical and training coordinator in various projects across themes of HIV, MNCH and Tuberculosis since 2010.

Currently, she is the strategic lead for tuberculosis in KHPT and doubles up as project director for private sector engagement in metro city JEET project for Bangalore. She is interested in integrating health with development across sectors.

Dr R Balasubramaniam has spent the last 31 years of his life in the service of the rural and tribal poor in the forests of India. He is a founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SPYM) and has built this non-profit organization into India’s leading development NGO, that runs the Vivekananda Memorial Hospitals at Saragur and Kenchanahalli; the Viveka Tribal Center for Learning – a tribal residential school at Hosahalli; the Viveka School of Excellence – a rural school at Saragur; the Vivekananda Teacher Training & Research Center at Hosahalli; the Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development, the Vivekananda Institute of Indian Studies and the Grassroots Research & Advocacy Movement at Mysore.

SVYM also runs more than 50 projects reaching out to nearly two million people across the state of Karnataka and has centres in the USA and UK. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement. Dr R Balasubramaniam is also the recipient of numerous other State and National Awards. Many International, National, and State Committees have counted upon his immense experience in planning and executing rural development programs.

He is also an Advisory member of various organizations working in the fields of social sector development in the country. He is also a consultant to various National and International Agencies including the World Bank in the Health, Education, Social, and the Development sectors. He is a Tata Scholar, a Mason Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School and a Fellow at the Hauser Center for Non-profits, Harvard University. He is also an adjunct faculty at IIT-Delhi and IIM-Bangalore. He has authored 5 books and he also writes extensively about Swami Vivekananda and on Development Issues in local Kannada and English newspapers.

Dr Rehana Begum is a health professional, with close to two decades of experience, holds an MBBS degree from Ambedkar Medical college, Diploma in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (D.L.O) from Bangalore Medical College, MBA (HR) from Madurai Kamaraj University- Distance Education and a Certificate Course in Health Research Methodology and Evidence-based Medicine, from St. John’s Medical College and Research Institute in collaboration with McMaster University, Canada (2014). Her health expertise includes Tuberculosis Control, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A), Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT), STI, Quality assurance of public health facilities and Research.

Prior to joining the BTB project at KHPT as Deputy Project Director, she has worked with World Health Organization, UNICEF-India, UNICEF Lao-PDR, UNICEF- Timor-Leste, UNICEF- Kiribati, UNICEF-Fiji, office; John Snow Inc, Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR), University of Toronto and Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagar Palike (BBMP). Dr Rehana’s areas of interest include Tuberculosis, TB-HIV, Research, Maternal and child health, Monitoring & evaluation, Evidence-informed medicine, Biostatistics and Program management, and she has numerous publications to her credit.

Dr Sukriti Chauhan, an INLAKS scholar, is a trained lawyer with a Masters in International Development Law and Human Rights from the Warwick University, UK. She has close to a decade of advocacy and communications expertise in public health and human rights. She started her career with PATH, India, working closely on HIV/AIDS, sexual reproductive health, cervical cancer prevention and maternal and child health.

As a Director at Global Health Strategies, Sukriti led the Tuberculosis Control and Prevention Project, resulting in national-level policy changes and campaigns, as well as set up the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative in India. Sukriti worked closely with the Indian Council of Medical Research to set up a Communications Unit to build the capacity of scientists to effectively and credibly relay scientific evidence to the public and key decision-makers. She also spearheaded the implementation of a champions-based strategy to create an enabling environment for the uptake of family planning services with a focus on spacing and access to the basket of contraceptive choices, with a rights-based perspective in six states in India.

Most recently she led a consortium of ten Indian partners at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) focused on adolescent health, nutrition and child protection and also drafted a five-year strategy for India Health Fund- set up by Tata Trusts focused on tuberculosis and malaria.

Sukriti has recently been awarded her PhD titled ‘Legal and Social Impact of HIV/AIDS on Abandoned Housewives in Kolkata and Delhi’ from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has presented and published her work at the global and national level. She started her first NGO for abandoned HIV positive women in the year 2000, is a trained Indian classical singer and an avid animal rights activist.

Dr Suresh Chitrapu, Deputy Director, Communications has worked at KHPT for over a decade. He has more than 15 years of work experience in the areas of community engagement at the grassroots and community mobilization of marginalised and socially excluded groups.

He specialises in planning, designing and implementation of behaviour change, outreach and communication tools and strategies for public health programs. He has the experience in developing and directing various audio-visual aids, using creative art forms such as intimate interactive theatre and folks art and music. He has working experience in deferent themes such as HIV AIDS, Tuberculosis, mother and child health, nutrition and non-communicable diseases facilitating capacity building programme with various focussed group such as female sex worker, sexual minorities, people living with HIV aids,, adolescents, panchayat members, front line health workers. He is the recipient of PhD fellowship from the International Infectious Disease and Global Health Training Program offered by the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Dr Swaroop N is Thematic Lead – Comprehensive Primary Health Care and Deputy Director – Quality Improvement at Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), a not for profit organization. Dr Swaroop earned his MD degree in Community Health from St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore. He has also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in 2019 as a part of the International Infectious Disease and Global Health Training Program conducted by University of Manitoba, Canada.

He has 9 years of experience in designing, implementing and disseminating a wide range of public health projects covering HIV, non-communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal and child health. Currently, he has taken a lead in conceptualizing and implementing projects on non-communicable diseases in Mysore. The aim of the projects is to identify the gaps in diagnosis, care and treatment of diabetes and hypertension and develop a model to promote early screening, early enrolment to care and support mechanism, regular follow-up and adherence to medications. He has also taken a lead in developing a model for implementing Comprehensive Primary Health Care in an urban setting. He has several publications in peer-reviewed, indexed international/ national journals and also presented scientific papers in many international/national conferences.

Gururaj is a program specialist with over 15 years of experience in KHPT. He is specialised in starting up and sustaining new projects, quickly establishing systems for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and mentoring teams. He currently manages staple food fortification projects covering 19 states of India and guides nutrition support initiatives.

He has experience in setting up innovative ICT solutions such as IVRS, telephone-based treatment support services and mobile-based patient support systems. He worked as Deputy Project Director of Tuberculosis Health Action and Learning Initiation (THALI) project, managing the responsibility of starting the project and establishing systems. As Team Leader of the SHOPS TB project and Project Manager of the MBPH TB project in Karnataka, he worked closely with the state TB program.

He was part of joint evaluation visits of the Karnataka state TB team and provided inputs into the state-level annual TB program planning. He coordinated and monitored training of private practitioners for STI, HIV and TB using networks of private and Government medical colleges, and has developed and managed innovative IT initiatives including bio-matrix tracking in clinical services for key populations, logistic management information systems for ART drugs, and TB care-line. Professionally, Gururaj has completed a 3-year course at NIIT, Masters in Business Administration and holds a degree in Economics from Mysore University.

Jaya Tripathi, a Program Manager at KHPT, works on Large scale Edible Oil, Milk and Wheat Flour Fortification Project funded by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The project provides technical support to state government food safety departments in training and sensitizing industries to adopt fortification in order to address micronutrient malnutrition.

She had earlier worked with Babasaheb Bheema Rao Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow (UP) as lecture (Food Science and Nutrition) and with Asian Sustainable Holistic Approach (ASHA), Asia as Project Co-Ordinator on the maternal and child health project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

She owns a PhD in Food Science and Nutrition and was involved in advance research in the field of food science. She had availed Senior Research Fellowship from University Grant Commission (MHRD) from 2014-2018 to pursue her doctorate. Her publications include 9 research papers, 2 books and 2 chapters in books.

R. Maithreyi is the Strategic Lead for the Adolescent Thematic at KHPT and supports the overall strategic planning and management for the Adolescent thematic. She has over 10 years of experience and has worked extensively on the life skills education for rural and marginalized youth. Her PhD is in the interdisciplinary area of childhood and youth studies, and she has several publications, including a forthcoming book on ‘Educating Youth: Regulation through Psycho-social Skilling in India (Sage), chapter in ‘Childhoods in India: Tradition, Trends and Transformations’ (Routledge), and in international journals such as Childhood.

Mallika Tharakan is a social scientist working in the development sector for the last 14 years. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She currently plays the role of the Results Delivery Officer and Lead, Knowledge Management at KHPT. She was a journalist with the New Indian Express before she found her call and crossed streams.

Her expertise is in designing community centred program models, Social behaviour change strategies, and strengthening grassroots community institutions. She leads strategic communications, branding and knowledge translation at the organisation level. She also liaisons with the Board and thematic teams to ensure delivery of organisational priorities for impact. She has led the design of several community-based tools and processes that have been scaled at national and global levels.

She has been a resource person with UNDP and BMGF to design and implement community mobilization strategies in Tanzania and North-Eastern India. She has several publications and abstracts to her credit. Mallika is passionate about creating an equitable society for the most vulnerable and socially excluded populations in India. She has dedicated her professional career to do exactly that!

Ms. Mamatha M.R. is a development professional with more than 25 years of work experience. She has worked intensively with a number of organizations during her career. Prior to joining KHPT as the Project Director, she has worked in various capacities with leading organizations, UNICEF-Karnataka, Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHSRC), Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPR), Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) Sight Savers international, National Health Mission, Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society KSAPS and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of education Government of Karnataka.

Mamatha is passionate about working with marginal rural and urban communities, creating an enabling environment for them and improving their agency.

Mohan H.L is a social scientist with three decades of experience as a Senior Technical Advisor for programmes, communications and community interventions. Presently, he is also Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KHPT, he leads and provides overall direction to management of programmes, communications and community mobilisation systems and activities. He has played a key role in strengthening KHPT’s partnership with both state and national governments in India.

A firm believer in community centric planning and decentralisation, he has been responsible for design and implementation of innovations in areas of MNCH and HIV/AIDS. His area of interest include institution building and leveraging information and communications technology for empowering grassroots communities.

Prior to joining KHPT, he has spent more than two decades in government and non-government organisations, working specifically in the areas of education, health, decentralisation and adolescent education. He has worked as an advisor and consultant in several development projects of UNFPA, UNESCO and UNICEF, within the country as well as outside.

He has a Master’s degree in Rural and Urban Community Development from the School of Social Work, Mangalore. He has several peer reviewed publications and abstracts to his credit.

Mohan H.L is a social scientist with three decades of experience as a Senior Technical Advisor for programmes, communications and community interventions. Presently, he is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KHPT, he leads and provides overall direction to management of programmes, communications and community mobilisation systems and activities. He has played a key role in strengthening KHPT’s partnership with both state and national governments in India.

A firm believer in community centric planning and decentralisation, he has been responsible for design and implementation of innovations in areas of MNCH and HIV/AIDS. His area of interest include institution building and leveraging information and communications technology for empowering grassroots communities.

Prior to joining KHPT, he has spent more than two decades in government and non-government organisations, working specifically in the areas of education, health, decentralisation and adolescent education. He has worked as an advisor and consultant in several development projects of UNFPA, UNESCO and UNICEF, within the country as well as outside.

He has a Master’s degree in Rural and Urban Community Development from the School of Social Work, Mangalore. He has several peer reviewed publications and abstracts to his credit.

Prakash Javalkar, M&E Lead is an M&E Specialist with about 15 years of experience in setting up monitoring and evaluation systems for large-scale interventions; planning, designing, managing, and monitoring large studies; and analysis of large data sets using sophisticated statistical techniques.

In his previous role at KHPT, he was involved in managing research studies under the Research Program Consortium (STRIVE) led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) funded through UKAID. He was also part of University of Manitoba (UoM) Global Technical Team, where he provided technical support to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation systems of developing countries in addressing HIV epidemic among key population under LINKAGES project funded by USAID.

He holds post-graduate degrees in Sociology and has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in an international journal with high impact factor and co-authored several abstracts which were presented in national/international conferences.

Prathibha Rai, currently is a Manager-Community Interventions at KHPT, with more than 17 years of experience in the social development sector.

Her key areas of work at KHPT are in community mobilization, program development and program management in the areas of Maternal Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) & Non-Communicable Disease. Her work focusses on strengthening community systems (Community health workers, community structures like VHSNC & ARS) through the development of training modules, job aids and capacity building. In the MNCH area, she majorly contributed to the development of ASHA diary and led the pilot of ASHA diary.

In her initial assignment, she managed and mentored a team of counsellors in the HIV/AIDS Care and support centre. At FICCI & PSI, she led the implementation of a workplace intervention program on HIV/AIDS & TB in the industries.

She holds Masters in Social Work and M.Phil in Sociology. She is a counsellor by passion. Currently, she is also a member of POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the workplace) committee at KHPT.

Mr Raghavendra.T is an Indian national and an experienced professional development worker, with a career background in Social work specialized in community development. He has more than 25 years’ experience in managing the interventions with the active involvement of the community at all levels of program planning, designing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The summary of his expertise are

• A professional with 25 years of rich and varied experience in Project Management, strategic planning, designing, implementation, training and development, Organizational Development and team management.
• Presently associated with Karnataka Health Promotion Trust as Director, managing and implementing USAID/BMGF supported projects in high HIV prevalence region of Karnataka
• Worked in developmental sectors like water & sanitation, Human resource development, community empowerment, education for adolescent girls under different donor agencies like DANIDA, USAID, BMGF, WORLD BANK, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• Co-authored more than 20 abstracts which are presented in national/international conferences
• Possess expertise in working with multi-discipline team members towards improving growth and meeting organizational goals.
• An enthusiastic & thorough trainer with the skills of being able to convey information with clarity and patience.
• Highly organised and responsible, able to execute complex projects & programmes to meet organisations needs.
• Personal skills include: commitment, meeting the target within the time limits, ability to manage independently and inter-relate & integrate within a team.

Ramachandra Rao Kadambar leads the Karnataka State Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Pilot Project, funded by World Bank. Earlier, he has worked on community mobilisation programme, engaging with sex workers, people living with HIV and transgender on the formation of community-based organisations and co-operatives, under BMGF-Avahan programme.

He has more than three decades of work experience in grassroots community development with downtrodden and vulnerable groups. He has worked in non-government organisations, bilateral and multilateral projects; World Bank and UNDP aided projects. His technical expertise lies in the areas of entrepreneurship development, capacity building, women empowerment, fisheries development, total literacy programme, HIV-AIDS prevention, forestry, drinking water and sanitation, community-based tank management, self-help groups, co-operatives and training.

He has earned his post-graduation in social work with a specialisation in Community Development.

Rashid is currently working as a Program Manager to promote and scale-up large scale food fortification in government safety net programs, FBOs and other stakeholders at a national level. He is responsible for establishing the linkages with key stakeholders (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, State governments and industry partners), project planning, strategizing, implementing, sensitising and capacitating the industry partners as well as government officials on fortification.

He is a project management professional with broad skills and 7 years of experience in implementing a diverse portfolio of projects in the development sector. He has worked with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Minority Affairs as consultant and state coordinator respectively.
He completed his Masters in Personnel Management (Industrial Relations & Labour Laws), from the University of Pune in 2013. He was awarded the Food Fortification Champion Award presented by Food and Drug Control Administration, Govt. of Gujarat and GAIN in April 2019 and the Award for Excellence for Women Empowerment presented by Ministry of Minority Affairs in January 2017.

He is passionate about working at the community level to support positive change in the lives of the general population.

Satyanarayana Ramanaik is the Thematic Lead for the Adolescent Thematic at KHPT and drives the thematic vision at the organization level. He has over 18 years of experience and has worked extensively with marginalized communities in India. He holds a PhD degree in Developmental Studies and has published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in international journals.

Shreeraj is currently working as Program Manager in KHPT’s food fortification project which aims to address micronutrient deficiencies in 21 states of India through staple food fortification.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physiotherapy and a Master’s Degree in Public Health. He has 3 years of experience working closely with the community addressing various public health issues on the ground. He previously worked with Tata Trust as a district lead to provide technical support to the Department of Women and Child Development and to effectively roll out POSHAN Abhiyaan, a national level scheme in Indore district.

He also worked as Program Manager with Punarvas Organisation in Mumbai for Special Children, focused on bettering the lives of special kids by working with various CSR organisations and thus rolling out many facilities and opportunities for the children. He is passionate about sports physiotherapy and was a team member in on-field Sports Injury management for the 72nd All India Inter-university Athletics.

Srikantamurthy is a seasoned development entrepreneur with masters in Sociology and PGDHRM; gave momentum to career path by associating with an international voluntary organization (MYRADA) working with “poorest of the poor”; came in touch with “Children” and “Women” of rural and tribal belts of southern Karnataka for their overall development in Education, Health, Agriculture, Infrastructure and institution building.

Presently, at KHPT, he manages the NCD programme at Mysuru. Earlier at KHPT, he has successfully managed HIV/AIDS, Community mobilisation, Violence reduction and Empowerment of Adolescents programme. He has rich and varied experience in the development sector with Government, Non-Government and CSR projects on water & sanitation, Community mobilization/Institution building, Micro-credit, NRM & Organic Farming, funded by different national and international donors like DFID, World Bank, GAA etc.

Has co-authored 5 abstracts which are presented at national /international conferences. He has contributed and conceptualised many training and implementation manuals. Also received a scholarship from ICAAP for the paper on the violence reduction programme. He is very passionate about the upliftment of the marginalised community.

Suraj is a native to Ranchi, Jharkhand. He has pursued a postgraduate diploma in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Social Services in 2015-17 and was awarded CASA medal. Presently, He is working as a State Coordinator-Rajasthan on fortification project for Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, based out of Jaipur, Rajasthan.

He has four years of experience after an MBA, where he worked for an NGO and two social enterprises. He has a good knowledge of CSR project Implementation, specialising in Intrapreneurship livelihood. He has worked on a wide range of thematic areas like smart panchayat, health, livelihood related to Intrapreneurship development and clean energy projects.

He is passionate about business development; therefore, spends time to study small scale businesses and entrepreneurship development. He also holds two certifications on small business development training program from Facebook and NSDC.

Ms. Tasqeen has substantial experience in development work spanning over 25 years evident in the range of portfolios handled and organisations worked with, namely, grassroots organisations, international NGOs and multi-lateral organisations. The thrust of the work has been conceptualising and facilitating participatory and sustainable development at the grassroots, policy research and advocacy work, assessing potential partners, project design and evaluation, strategic direction, building vision and capacities of communities and organisations as well as resource mobilisation. Thematic areas worked on have provided valuable insights and experience in gender and development, women’s empowerment, education and child labour, health and HIV/AIDS, migration and livelihoods in the informal economy.

She is a board member of Sutradhar, an educational resource centre since 2002 and also, a member of Anti-Sexual Harassment Committee, WIPRO since 2004.

Ms Tejaswini holds a Masters in Social Work, and has work experience of more than two decades. Prior to joining KHPT she has led various programs at district and state levels working with leading organizations, UNICEF, British Petroleum India Pvt Ltd, World Bank, Government of Karnataka, IORA Ecological solutions, New Delhi, Outline India, New Delhi and ISEC Bangalore.

At present she is pursuing her PhD on “Impact of devadasi system of adolescent girls from devadasi families in Bagalkot district”.

Tejaswini is passionate about working with marginal communities specifically children and adolescents. Viewing issues with a gender lens is critical for her.

She has recently been awarded the “Jyotirmayi” by Karnataka farmer women’s association and also as “Super woman2020” by Forever Star India Awards.