Sushmita Das

Associate Programme Director

Monitoring and Evaluation

Sushmita is a monitoring & evaluation specialist with over 15 years of rich and varied experience in the development sector, with a focus on evaluating the impact of cluster randomised control trials. She holds a Master’s degree in Psychology from Patna University and postgraduate diploma in Epidemiology from Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi. Sushmita has vast experience in developing and managing monitoring & evaluation for implementation projects related to health and nutrition of women and children. She is an expert in processes related to data collection, analysis, utilization and dissemination and is well-versed with using digital platforms for data collection. Sushmita headed the large cluster randomised control trial in the M-East Ward for SNEHA and was responsible for the entire evaluative component of the trial. She has a tidy publication record to her credit, having presented in various national and international conferences.

Shreya Manjrekar

Associate Programme Director

Maternal and Child Health
Healthy Cities Programme

Shreya is Associate Programme Director of the Healthy Cities Programme in Malvani, an informal settlement in Malad, Mumbai and is responsible for the operations and donor reporting of the programme. In her previous role at SNEHA, Shreya served as Programme Coordinator of the SNEHA Centres initiative. Shreya has a strong background in implementation of field-level interventions in child nutrition. Her passion for healthy cooking and recipe development, combined with her proficiency in community processes and mobilization, has led to her conceptualizing events that promote healthy cooking and eating in vulnerable communities. She has over a decade of experience in programme implementation and documentation in public health projects with brief stints in organisations such as Institute of Health Management, Pachod (IHMP) and Catalyst for Social Action. She secured gold and silver medals while pursuing her Master’s degree in Social Work from M. S. University in Baroda. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in Health Management from the University.

Neeta Karandikar

Associate Programme Director

Empowerment, Health and Sexuality of Adolescents (EHSAS)

Neeta is Associate Programme Director of SNEHA’s Adolescent Health and Sexuality programme. She manages the operations of the intervention across the three sites in and around Mumbai. She holds a postgraduate degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Science, Mumbai and was awarded a scholarship by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, for the same. Neeta earlier worked with SNEHA’s Maternal and Newborn Health programme and has a total of over a decade of experience with non-profits such as YUVA, Family Service Centre and Childline India Foundation, working with youth and children from vulnerable contexts.

Anagha Waingankar

Associate Programme Director

Maternal and Child Health
Aahar Programme

Anagha is Associate Programme Director of SNEHA’s Child Health and Nutrition Programme in Dharavi and Wadala. With a master’s degree in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan College, Mumbai and postgraduate diplomas in Communication & Journalism and Counselling, Anagha is also responsible for managing SNEHA’s partnership with SETCO Foundation to implement a community-based project in an urban settlement in Panchmahal district in Gujarat. She has 12 years of experience in implementing public health programs for grassroots organisations such as Committed Communities for Development and SNEHA, in sectors such as HIV/ AIDS, immunization and child nutrition. Anagha is also passionate about mHealth and has written and presented papers relating to its role in improving nutrition status among vulnerable children.

Sonali Patil

Associate Programme Director

"Maternal and Child Health
SNEHA Centres Programme"

Sonali is Associate Programme Director of SNEHA Centres, an integrated health and services intervention for women and children living in vulnerable slum settlements in the Eastern suburbs of Mumbai. Sonali has expertise in programme management and capacity building. With 15 years of experience in the development sector, she has managed national level health interventions and has trained NGOs and universities on several projects on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, women’s empowerment and community development. Her previous work experience include stints in national and international NGOs such as Tata Institute of Social Science, Population Services International (PSI), Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI). Project Concern International (PCI), CHF International. Sonali has master’s degrees in Human Resource Development and Social Work from Pune University.

Sarita Patil

Associate Programme Director, Maternal and Newborn Health

Sarita is Associate Programme Director of the Maternal and Newborn Health programme and manages the day-to-day operations of the referral system and in the formation of Health Committees. With 12 years of experience, Sarita has fulfilled a number of roles at SNEHA. She managed the ‘Arogya Sarita’ Programme and focused on increasing uptake of primary healthcare services among communities in vulnerable pockets of Kandivali. Prior to this, she worked on the community mobilization component of the City Initiative for Newborn Health, a randomised control trial. Sarita has presented papers on mobilization and community engagement in health strategies in international conferences in Bangladesh, Kenya and the United States. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Law and a master’s degree in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan School of Social Work.

Sweety Pathak

Associate Programme Director

Maternal and Child Health
Building Bridges

Sweety Pathak is Associate Programme Director of the Maternal and Newborn Health programme and is responsible for the operations of the referral network, as well as the programme’s engagement with systems. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, for which she received the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship in 2011. She has also pursued her Master’s degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Sweety has about 15 years of experience in non-profit organisations working with women and children. In her previous role in SNEHA, she designed and implemented an organization-wide management information system, and conducted an in-depth analysis of the information system for building a requirement for SNEHA’s Business Intelligence system. Sweety has also worked with the Maternal and Newborn Health programme as a Programme Coordinator. She worked with health systems to improve access to primary health care and emergency obstetric care services, and was a site lead for a WHO-funded Implementation Research project.

Avsharan Kaur

Associate Programme Director

Prevention of Violence against Women & Children

Avsharan Kaur is Associate Programme Director of NUHM Initiatives and oversees operations of the MAS Partnership. She was previously Associate Programme Director of the Maternal & Newborn Health initiative. Avsharan holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Mumbai University. Prior to this, she has 14 years of experience in HIV-AIDS projects, including stints at Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society, Maharashtra District AIDS Control Society, TNS Research and J. J. Group of Hospitals. Avsharan presented a paper in the International AIDS Conference held in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014. Apart from programme management of large health initiatives, she has also been involved in documenting best practices and standard operating procedures of public health programmes.

Pouruchisti Wadia

Associate Programme Director

Romila Palliative Care and Nurse Aide

Pouruchisti is Associate Programme Director of Romila Palliative Care, an initiative to support patients with life-threatening diseases with pain relief and psycho-social care through a patient-centric approach. She is responsible for running the operations of the initiative. Pouru has over 20 years of experience in the social sector. In her previous role at SNEHA, she was Associate Programme Director of the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children (PVWC) initiative and supported the programme director in implementing, monitoring and evaluating strategic plans. She has previously worked in roles across law, human rights and women’s rights with non-profit organisations in Mumbai. Pouru has a bachelor’s degree in Law and a master’s degree in Social Work from Mumbai University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, respectively.

Unnati Machchhar

Associate Program Director

Prevention of Violence against Women and Children TARA Trial

Unnati is Associate Program Director for the Intervention in TARA Trial, under the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children (PVWC) program. She is responsible for Community Intervention in four phases of the three year-Trial. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology and has over ten years of experience in the field of Public Health, particularly, in HIV/AIDS prevention and addresal. She has extensive experience in Training and Capacity Building of professionals working in program planning and operations. She has also been on a panel of reviewers for a module prepared by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

Shilpa Adelkar

Associate Program Director

Prevention of Violence against Women and Children TARA Trial

Shilpa is the Associate Programme Director in the TARA trial under the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children programme in Kurla.  She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan College, Mumbai and has a Diploma in Counselling from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). She has 16 years of experience in the development field, majorly implementing programmes. She was part of the Linnaeus Palme student exchange programme with the Social Work Department, Stockholm, where she represented the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan. She has also worked as a visiting faculty for the undergraduate students of Social Work at Nirmala Niketan.  She is passionate to work on issues of gender, adolescents, community and HIV/AIDS. She believes in partnership with communities and stakeholders to achieve sustained outcomes.  Along with programme implementation, she enjoys imparting training and interacting with various groups.

Vinita Ajgaonkar

Associate Program Director

Collaborations & Partnerships

Vinita holds a master’s degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, with a specialisation in Family and Child Welfare. She has over three decades of experience working in the social sector in a variety of settings. Vinita combines a strong academic background with an enthusiasm for field-level engagement. In her previous role at SNEHA, she has led implementation and evaluation studies for EHSAS, the adolescent and youth intervention of SNEHA. She had also taken up the responsibility of helping to consolidate SNEHA’s intervention with the Public Distribution System and has been associated with the Social Protection Helpdesk since its inception. As Associate Programme Director of Collaboration and Partnerships, she is responsible for mapping social determinants that affect health outcomes and, through government and NGO partnerships, helping to promote access and uptake of schemes and services to address those.

Sankara Subramanian

Director

Human Resource Management and Administration

Shankar heads the HR and Administration function at SNEHA. He has a Master’s degree in Business Administration with specialisation in Human Resources (MBA-HR) and a Graduation in Law (LLB). He has diversified work experience of over 20 years, across industries such as textile, IT, Microfinance, Consulting and in Not-for-Profit organisations. Prior to joining SNEHA, Shankar was running his own HR consulting firm. He was also associated with organisation’s such as Population Services International, Hand-in-Hand India, Habitat for Humanity India, Wipro, Belstar Microfinance and Agora Microfinance.
In addition, Shankar is a certified Assessor in running Assessment and Development Centres and accredited with MBTI®. His other interests include long distance running, walking, cycling, photography and cooking.

Noel Duarte

Director

Finance

Noel Duarte is a MBA Finance with over 29 years of experience in the development sector, having experience in the field of finance, accounts, audit, financial monitoring, budgeting and compliance. He has worked previously in NGO organizations like Committed Communities Development Trust, Collective Good Foundation, Educate Girls as well as Samhita Social Ventures a CSR consulting Co. Other than NGO’s he has worked in FHI 360 an international funding agency for more than 13 years, monitoring more than 20 NGO’s.