People

Ajai has been a consultant to various agencies such as ActionAid International, Red Cross, CARITAS, CASA, DFID, Govts of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, ILO, UNIDO, etc. Ajai has worked on projects relating to Child Rights and Education, Displacement and Urban Poverty, thematic areas of ActionAid International India. He led the Community Facilitation Unit of the NGO Coordination and Resource Centre (A UNDP supported process in Nagapattinam) in the post tsunami context and has been involved in facilitating work among the pavement dwellers in Chennai over the last few years.

Anberin Pasha Stevanovic is currently a fellow with the Communications Team at Praxis. Having graduated from The Documentary Institute at the University of Florida with an award winning documentary film Miss Lil’s Camp, Anberin has been producing documentaries on social issues for NGO’s in the United States, Serbia, Africa & India.Documentary films have yet to take wings in India or foster a socially conscious middle class. The way we look at social issues today and the way we present them can make all the difference she explains. Experimenting with the documentary form to bring issues of the excluded into the public domain and influence public policy keeps her going. “What more could a filmmaker ask for but to work alongside a group of enlightened Individuals who are committed to the cause of the marginalized and excluded and to have the freedom to explore and play with form, Praxis is the ideal space to challenge the limits and go beyond tried and tested ground”.

Anindo is an expert in Multivariate Statistical Analysis. An experienced trainer and researcher, he has been involved in Policy Research study (Vietnam/Helpage International) Participatory Assessment of Government of Orissa’s delivery of Service (for DFID), Participatory Poverty Assessment in MP, Assam, Sikkim and Chhattisgarh (ADB Bolangir Poverty Profiling Study for DFID India) WDR Study for the World Bank, HP Rural Profile Study and AP Urban PPA for DFID India. He has worked on assignments commissioned by Swiss Development Corporation, Ford Foundation and NIPRANET (Nigeria). He is fluent in English, Hindi Bengali and has working knowledge of Oriya.

Sundar has 14 years of experience in the development sector. He is well versed in the application of participatory methods and tools for data collection, analysis and community organization. He has wide experience in conducting urban poverty assessment, process documentation, and participatory need assessment of Dalit communities in Tamil Nadu. He has also been actively involved in the field research and documentation process related to Tsunami rehabilitation interventions across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts. He is fluent in Tamil, Hindi and English.

Benji has sound experience in administration and data processing. He has previously worked with national and international NGOs. Benji is fluent in English, Hindi and Malayalam.

Jay has facilitated partnerships and dialogues amongst various development agencies. He has been involved in the appraisal and capacity building of NGOs, participatory poverty
assessment (Chhattisgarh) besides managing research on issues relating to youth reproductive health in Bihar and Jharkhand. Additionally, he has worked extensively in Western Rajasthan in areas of health advocacy, livestock development and community-based rehabilitation programmes. Jay is fluent in Hindi and English.

Joseph has over 20 years of experience in the development sector. An experienced facilitator, and a practitioner of participatory approaches, he has also been extensively involved in various capacity building exercises . He has worked on participatory action researches in the area of micro credit, agrarian issues, drinking water, watershed development, democratic decentralisation and local governance. Joseph has also lent his knowledge to several participatory assessments and evaluations. He is fluent in English and Malayalam with working knowledge in Tamil and Hindi.

Mukta Ojha, at present program officer with Praxis, has done her Post graduate diploma in film Direction and Production from Sri Aurbindo institute of mass communication. She has been part of various
documentaries addressing issues of tribal in Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Arunachal. She has also worked as a core team member with Pragya a organization working in high altitude himalyan region addressing issues of tribes in Himalayan region. Films are passion and traveling is the way of living for her.

Mary has spent over 10 years working at the grass root level in the development sector. She has been involved mainly with issues such as empowerment of women, and community based programmes in Maharastra and Andhra Pradesh. Prior to joining Praxis she worked for two years on post Tsunami rehabilitation, housing, livelihood and community-based disaster preparedness, for Caritas India in six coastal district of Andhra Pradesh.

Pradeep is a human rights activist-researcher associated with many rights-based NGOs and campaigns in India. Having started his career as Management Trainee in a corporate group, he has diversified to varied sector, and has more than 13 years of experience of working in Government, Corporate and Non-Governmental Sector in India, Singapore and London. For the last six years, he has focused on children’s issues, primarily child labour and its relation to education, child protection, child participation and health. Over the years, he has also handled projects on issues of community participation, water rights, free trade agreements and fair trade. He is a post graduate in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Pradeep holds a Post an Honours degree in Chemistry and a Diploma in TV Production (Basics and Advanced) from Notre Dame Communication Centre, Patna and a Certificate Course in photography from Ravi Bharti Institute of Communication Arts, Patna. Pradeep is Praxis’s in-house cinematographer , film editor and photographer. He was a freelance photographer for eight years before joining Praxis.

Raffaella has over 7 years of field experience in the development sector, mainly in social and community-based programmes in Africa. She is well acquainted with REFLECT, which is a participatory methodology to empower communities through literacy. Currently, she is responsible for the management of Praxis immersion programme, called Insight. Raffaella is fluent in Italian, English, French, Portuguese and has a working knowledge of Arabic.

Ranjit has over 13 years of experience in Finance and Administration in a non-profit and corporate organizational setting operating in multiple locations; he is hold a Diploma in Financial Management from IGNU and completed a course in Chartered Accountancy (Inter) from the ICAI.s.

Rajendra has more than 17 years of driving experience. Other than driving the office vehicle, he also assists in day-to-day activities like photocopying, filing, stores and office maintenance.

Sabu is PDC in Automobile Engineering (ITI) from Central Technical College, Kerala. Sabu has more than 15 years of driving experience. Other than driving the office vehicle, he also assists in the day-to-day activities like photocopying, filing, stores and office maintenance.

Shahina has been a television journalist with Asianet communications, one of the oldest television networks in India. She has been in journalism for a decade and has produced several documentaries and news features besides the routine newsroom and reporting assignments. She has brought out several issues in areas of development, gender and human rights through her stories. She has done masters in English language and literature and Postgraduate diploma in Mass communication and journalism.

Sharmistha has 9 years of experience in planning and management of nutrition, child survival, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS programmes, along with Participatory Planning and Monitoring, Advocacy, Strengthening Local Governance, Institutional Strengthening, with diverse target groups. She has been involved in various participatory and policy research projects in areas around community mobilization, social exclusion, corporate social responsibility, decentralisation, nutrition and food security.

Srijan has more than five years of work experience in the development field. He has worked on issues of child rights, livelihood, Tribal rights, Disaster relief and mitigation and corporate social responsibilities. His interest areas are participatory research, training, and filmmaking.

Tom has been in the development sector for the past 20 years. His association with Praxis began in 2000, when he took over as CEO. Prior to joining Praxis, he held senior positions with ActionAid in India, Bangladesh and the UK He has led Praxis on several important assignments, both nationally and internationally. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada with working knowledge of Bengali and Marathi. Tom is also a member of the Praxis Board.