* Names arranged alphabetically
Madhavi Srinivasan Johnson
Madhavi Srinivasan Johnson (aka Madhavi Ashok) is from Chennai in South India. With a Masters in English and a Post-Grad Diploma in Journalism, her passion for and engagement in issues concerning women and girls’ led her into a 26-year career in international development/humanitarian work with UNICEF in India, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Kenya, Namibia and USA HQ (New York). Madhavi worked mainly to promote human rights and gender issues, design strategies for advocacy, programming, and communication for behaviour and social change. She held senior positions in Namibia, Kenya and New York and has travelled extensively in the southern African region. She is fluent in Tamil (a native speaker), Hindi, and English and has a working knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia.
Mamta Soni
Based in Chitrakoot Mamta Soni is a social activist with 35 years experience in social work. She is MSW and started her journey with women’s rights organisation like Vanangana and GOI’s programme on Women Empowerment – Mahila Samakhya. She has worked across the state of Uttar Pradesh, establishing herself a strong advocate on women’s rights in Bundelkhand region. She is a very skilled trainer and experienced in community mobilization on issues related to women rights. She undergone various trainings on PRA, Micro Planning, community mobilization, accounts keeping, report writing, project planning, group formation, training of trainers (TOT), local self-governance, gender equality, women issues, child right, education campaign etc. She is well versed in thematic areas like Women and Girls Rights, Networking and Advocacy. She has been awarded C. Subramanium Award 2016 for “strengthening grassroots efforts for effective leadership” in March 2016. Mamta also works as Secretary for Diya Welfare Society working in Chitrakoot district.
Niti Saxena
Native of Manikpur Sarhat (Chitrakoot), Niti is a feminist human rights lawyer with degree in Ecology and Environmental Sciences. As a human rights and gender expert she has provided technical support to several international and national organisations and government agencies on issues related to gender, women and child rights. She also extends technical support for strategic and programme planning, review and management. Her experience also encompasses designing and execution of various qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method studies, field researches and desk reviews on issues related to women, adolescents and children. Her professional experience is extensively focused on the South Asian region and includes in-depth work in various states of India, thus enriching her understanding of the complexities of working within varied cultural, social, and political contexts. Niti, former Executive Director of AALI (a feminist legal advocacy group headquartered in Lucknow), has also worked for Unicef, AED (Washington) and ERU Consultants. Niti is the Managing Trustee of PATHA for Rights.
Shivani Singh
Shivani has about 2 decades of experience in diverse fields at the intersection of education, social work, and community resilience. Her core strength lies in Education Management for small and medium-sized schools, where her focus was on improving access, relevance, and retention. With a Master’s degree in Social Work and training in Psychology and Teaching, Shivani approaches education as both a learning process and a strategy for social transformation. As a Project Officer at Parivar Seva Sanstha, she led life skills training for frontline workers — strengthening the capacities of those who stand closest to marginalised communities. Her long-standing engagement with AWWA (Army Wives Welfare Association) deepened her commitment to community building, women’s leadership, and family-centered support systems. These experiences shape her ability to co-create local solutions with parents, frontline workers, and young people. Born and raised in the Bundelkhand region of UP, she has lived across India and neighbouring countries. This exposure to diverse cultures strengthens her sensitivity to cultural context and grounds her work in lived experience — critical when working with communities at the margins. Shivani is Presenting Trustee of Patha for Rights.
Shyamali Basu
Shyamali Basu is a prominent figure in the Indian financial services industry, currently managing her own firm in wealth management where she manages investments of close to 300 clients and imparts financial inclusion sessions for working professionals and under privileged. With MBA finance from Delhi University and a robust skill set including Business Development, Marketing, Management, Team Management and more. Shyamali is a well-known advocate for financial literacy, particularly for women. She has 30 years of professional experience and has served as the Executive Vice President at HDFC. Shyamali has worked in HDFC Mutual fund, Knight Frank, in Lloyds Securities. She is a regular contributor to major financial publications, including Value Research, Business Today, and The Economic Times (BFSI). Her writing often focuses on behavioral finance, the role of emotions in investing, and practical guides for retail investors. A significant part of her public speaking and writing is dedicated to helping women navigate the unique challenges they face in investment and money management. Shyamali has a passion to work to improve the standard of living for the underprivileged and work with integrity with all since the financial services industry lacks honest advise.
Tulika Srivastava
Tulika Srivastava’s experience brings together working with rural women at the very grassroots, as well as undertaking litigation for individuals and groups of individuals; with negotiating international procedural treaties, and supporting implementation of substantive treaties. Her work began as a litigator in primary and High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench; from which she moved to working with rural women in UP through Mahila Samakhya. She is part of forming the first feminist advocacy center in UP- AALI, which reframed the honor crimes discourse as the Right to choose and decision making. Tulika has worked as an expert with the United Nations in the designing and implementation of tools and initiatives to serve women’s rights in complex contexts like Cambodia and Afghanistan. She restructured and evolved the South Asia Women’s Fund into the present Women’s Fund Asia (WFA), and has been committed to ensuring the centring of the rights-based approach in ensuring resource justice. She has served as the co-chair of the board of directors of Prospera, the international network of women’s funds; presently she is the vice-chair of the board of directors of Women Deliver and has recently joined the board of directors of the Global Greengrants Fund. Currently she is working as the Executive Director of IWRAW Asia-Pacific, an organization committed to realization of women’s human rights through the lens of CEDAW.
Programme Advisors
PFR has Programme Advisors to offer expertise, strategic advice and guidance in the development of programme plans to be taken up by the Trust that would take forward the agenda with a long term vision.
Farrukh Rehman Khan
Farrukh, as a development professional, has over 20 years of pan India and global experience in the sector including thematic and management leadership roles. He’s worked with organizations such as Care, Oxfam and WaterAid. As Director Global Programs, with International Learning Movement, a UK based charity, he’s currently providing strategic leadership to the organizations ‘s programs in Asia, Africa and Middle East. Farrukh is a member of think tank groups including the International Water Association & Ground Water Action Group. He’s been nominated as member, State Ganga Committe by Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
Ms Gayatri Raghwa
A gold medallist in her postgraduate degree in Geography, Gayatri earned her M.Phil. from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, specializing in The Human Impact on the Environment. Since then, she has been passionately committed to promoting education and awareness about environmental issues. She taught at both university and high school levels before dedicating 15 years to the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi. Several projects and initiatives she helped establish at the Agency received regional and global recognition, with some continuing to be implemented nationally. Gayatri has co-authored multiple publications and resource materials on environmental education and has received widespread accolades for her contributions to this field. In 1998, she was honored with the Amateur Naturalist Award by the Emirates Natural History Group. In 2018, she received the Outstanding Environmental Educator Award (Global Category) from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).
Most recently, Gayatri served as a Lead Environmental Education Consultant for UNEP India, where she coordinated global environmental education programs under UNEP’s Youth, Education & Advocacy unit. She spearheaded the implementation of the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge Badge, engaging over 750,000 youth across India. In addition to these roles, Gayatri actively contributes as Chair and Selection Committee Member for the Zayed Sustainability Prize (ZSP) and serves as an adviser to the Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP). She is also an adviser to Wildecologue, an organization dedicated to providing real-life sustainability experiences to youth and other audiences.
Executive Team
In line with PFR’s mandate of developing local leadership amongst women and girls in the region with a focus on the dalit communities, the Executive Team of the Trust is from the area and local community, including full and part time team members and volunteers. It is this team that is responsible for the planning, operationalisation and monitoring of the organisational strategy undertaken by the Trust. The Team Leader is the ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees.
At this time, the strategy is being implemented by a cohort of three young women- Princy Devi, Manisha Devi and Kanchi Soni. The team’s work is guided by the Board members from the area.
In working to implement the programme strategy, they are focusing on the Kol community- to ensure a locally relevant and effective plan for (a) collectivisation of women as these collectives would be agents of change at grassroot levels and (b) accelerating education by providing academic and resource support to adolescent girls and young women, also enhancing employability options and life opportunities through higher education.