Azad team currently consists of 51 staff members. We are also lucky to have support from many amazing volunteers.
Our work is lead by the senior management team:
Meenu Vadera, Executive Director
A graduate from London School of Economics with a M.Sc. in Social Policy and Planning, Meenu is the Founding Member & Executive Director , AZAD FOUNDATION, a social enterprise that supports resource poor women to gain “Livelihoods with dignity”. She has a work experience of over 20 years as a grassroot worker, trainer, implementer and a leader. She has been involved in development initiatives as the Country Director in ActionAid Uganda (1998-2003). In India she has also led an innovative initiative of Aagaz Academy-Schools of Leadership for elected women panchayat leaders. She has also written and published many articles on women’s rights and has been the recipient of multiple awards including ‘International Inspiration’ Award by IBM iX ‘Everywoman in Travel’ award, 2018 and featured amongst the ‘Seven Women Changing the World for Good in 2019’.
Shrinivas Rao, COO
Shrinivas is a social worker by profession with MPhil in Economics. He has worked on issues of rural and urban development and local self-governments in Delhi and Chhattisgarh. He comes with a lot of grassroots experience. Shrinivas has previous experience of working with PRIA and UNDP.
Anita Mathur, Programme Director – Jaipur, Rajasthan
Anita has worked in the field of Women Empowerment for more than 35 years. With a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Reading in the UK she is one of the Founder-Members of AsthaSansthan, Udaipur that works for the empowerment of tribal and poor communities in Rajasthan. She has also been involved with various governmental and non-governmental organisations (such as Action Aid-Nepal, Cordaid, AagazAkademi, Hivos, Christian Aid, Oxfam-India, Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihood Project, Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood). Her expertise lies in the field of Capacity Building, Evaluations and building Gender Perspectives.
Dolon Ganguly, Programme Director – Kolkata, West Bengal
Dolon has been working as a development professional for twenty years. She has been actively involved with both the autonomous women’s movements based in Kolkata and West Bengal as well as with various development organizations that promote women’s rights and address gender concerns.
Dolon has been associated with Jeevika Development Society for 16 years; leading the organisation as its Executive Director for a number of years. She has moved onto Azad Foundation as Programme Director, Kolkata in June 2015. Besides, she contributes articles on various social issues to Bengali journals and vernacular dailies on a regular basis and received the Laadli Media Award for one of her articles.
Dolon holds a Masters Degree in Literature from University of Calcutta and a Masters Degree in Sustainable Development from Staffordshire University, UK and Jadavpur University under Commonwealth Scholarship.
Pallavi Chaman, Finance Director
An MBA (Finance) professional with more than 12 years of experience in development sector’s finance. Prior to Azad, she worked with Development Alternatives and VIDYA Integrated Development for Youth and Adults. Pallavi has functional expertise in accounting, financial management, grant management, FCRA, budgeting, MIS, Indian taxation and internal & statutory auditing. A very process oriented individual whose core competencies are accounting, budgeting, financial MIS, technical innovation, organizational process & workflow streamlining and documenting of standard operating processes.
Amrita Gupta, Programme Director – Research, Advocacy and Communications
Amrita is a Social Science Researcher (Masters in Sociology and Public Health) with over ten years of experience in research along with training and advocacy. Areas of specialization include health, gender and vulnerable communities, women and adolescents. Proficient in qualitative and quantitative research with extensive experience of exploratory, evaluation and intervention research using different data collection techniques like ethnography, focus group discussions, interviews and analytical tools like SPSS. She has also been engaged with training and advocacy involving adolescents and young people’s mental health as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Snehlata Shukla, Programme Director – Delhi
Snehlata is committed for social change; She is having more than 12 years of experience in social field. She did her MA in social work from Indore School of Social Work. She started her work with Delhi Shramik Sangathan as a campaign coordinator. She has good understanding on Urban issues, Gender and broader experience on issues related to ” Jal, Jungle and Jameen ” (Water, Forest & Land). She has been involved with various non-governmental organisations such as a national level network named ‘Mines Mineral & People (mmP), Nirantar, PEACE, CORO for its Quest Leadership Development program and FORCE for Urban WASH Program. She is associated with Bhumi Adhikar Andolan (National Level Alliance on Land Rights).
