Professional Experience:
I am a development professional with over eight years of experience working at the intersection of rural & tribal livelihoods, landscape restoration, governance strengthening, and community led development across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. My work has consistently focused on enabling marginalised, vulnerable and forest-dependent communitiesto strengthen their life and livelihoods while restoring ecological systems through participatory and convergence-based approaches.
I currently serve as Project Coordinator for the Central Highland India Restoration Program (CHiRP) at Samerth Charitable Trust, supported by the Commonland Foundation. In this role, I lead a multidisciplinary team of 20 professionals implementing a large-scale, cluster-based landscape restoration initiative across 46 villages in the Central Highlands. I am responsible for programme design using the 4 Returns Framework, Theory of Change, Logical Framework Analysis, annual and multi-year planning, and monitoring through MIS and field-based diagnostics. My work involves close convergence with government programmes such as MGNREGA, Millet Mission, JANMAN, Yuktdhara, and Forest Department schemes, enabling the creation of soil and water conservation assets, agroforestry systems, community nurseries, and forest-based enterprises for enabling scale, cost-efficiency, and sustainability.
A significant part of my role involves strengthening local institutions, including Gram Sabhas, VDCs, JFMCs, SHGs, and PGs. I have facilitated participatory micro-planning, governance training, and exposure visits to enhance community stewardship of forests, water, and commons. I have also supported women-led livelihoods such as lac cultivation, NTFP value chains, nutri-gardens, and community nurseries, linking ecological restoration with income generation and food security. I regularly coordinate with district administrations, technical agencies, and research partners to ensure evidence-based planning and adaptive management. I regularly use field diagnostics, MIS data, and participatory reviews to guide adaptive management and refine strategies based on evidence.
Previously, I worked with Action Against Hunger as a Field Manager during the COVID-19 response, overseeing operations, reporting, and coordination across emergency & nutrition interventions. I also worked with UNICEF-supported Child Rights Observatory in Madhya Pradesh, where I led district-level advocacy, governance engagement, and MIS-based monitoring to strengthen child protection and service delivery systems.
My experience includes work with the Pench Tiger Reserve Conservation Foundation, where I supported community-based conservation and alternative livelihoods around protected areas, and with Taru Leading Edge, where I contributed to monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods and SHG programmes under the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission across five districts. These roles strengthened my expertise in data analysis, outcome tracking, and evidence generation for large, multi-stakeholder programmes.
I began my professional journey in grassroots education and civic engagement, which shaped my strong foundation in community mobilisation, participatory research, and facilitation. Across all my roles, I bring strengths in systems thinking, convergence design, institutional capacity building, and people-centred leadership. I am driven by a commitment to equity, ecological resilience, and enabling communities to lead their own development pathways through informed, collective action.