Our Advisory Board
That support education in the rural area
Purvi Vora
Purvi has a PhD in science education from Teachers College Columbia University, NYC. She has worked in the education sector for close to two decades.
She started her career teaching science and media literacy in an inner city school in Manhattan. She moved to India in 2007 and joined The Akanksha Foundation as a school leader for a charter school in Mumbai. She later worked at the American School of Bombay as the Community and Social responsibility coordinator, supporting K-12 teachers at the school in implementing service projects.
She is co-founder of Reniscience Education LLP – a boutique education consulting firm, and of City as Lab Foundation – an organization that brings Project Based Learning to schools across India.
Through her work, Purvi has worked with more than eight thousand teachers and school leaders across government, private and charter schools.
Amita Chauhan
Amita has worked in the philanthropy and non-profit space for over 25 years and currently spends her time leveraging her knowledge of the social sector, to connect dots and bring like-minded people together for a higher purpose.
Her introduction to the development space was in the 90s when she worked in rural India with handloom weavers. After that, she spent eight years at GiveIndia, building the Mumbai Marathon fundraising event and working extensively on the GiveIndia retail fundraising platform.
More recently, Amita served as the Chairperson of the Mumbai chapter of SVP India for three years from 2019 – 2022. Additionally, she sits on The Mohan Dayal Charitable Hospital board in Pardi, Gujarat, and the Advisory Council of Antarang Foundation and is part of the Communications Team at St. Jude India Childcare Centres.
Amita enjoys traveling, reading, and visiting museums and art galleries in her free time.
Mridula Sinha
Mridula has worked with the Government of India , Jharkhand as an IAS officer(India’s highest level policy making body) where she worked as the Additional Chief Secretary in Human resource development, women and child sector and in nutrition where she pioneered a number of projects and initiated policy dialogues with the key stakeholders which resulted into few significant policy changes in the sector. She has also serves as the District Collector of several districts in Jharkhand ( and earlier in Bihar) and is very fondly remembered for her passion and drive. She worked extensively on community engagement to treat acute malnutrition and womens empowerment. Her relentless efforts culminated in the Jharkhand State wide project- Tejaswini. The project worked with women and adolescent girls at the village level.
Since 2001 she has actively engaged in various research projects with Universities in the USA. She currently lives in Florida and is engaged in consultancy assignments that support womens’ causes.
Our Team
Lopa Gandhi
Founder Director
Lopa Gandhi has over 20 years of experience in the field of education. She has donned many hats; teaching, developing curricula, training, coaching and leading organizations. She has richly gained from her work at Akanksha, Kaivalya and Muktangan among others.
Niraj Lele
Strategy and Operations
Niraj is an electronics engineer and an alumnus of TISS (MA Social Work). He has worked in the development sector with many NGOs. His longest stint was with Kaivalya Education Foundation, where he was part of the senior leadership team.
Milind Gandhi
Director, Legal and Financial compliance
As a practicing Chartered Accountant, Milind brings 30+ years of experience from compliance and accounting. He is empaneled with CAP in Mumbai and has guided several not for profits for their compliance requirements.
Sanjay Jha
COO
Sanjay graduated from Delhi University and completed his Gandhi Fellowship with Kaivalya. He then worked in rural areas of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. He set up his own organization and worked on women empowerment and now works with Ugam.
Kena Holkar
Senior Program Manager
Kena attended APU after completing her engineering in computer science. She is the recipient of the Wipro Sustainability Fellowship. She has worked on Community Institution Building, Livelihood enhancement and Women Empowerment in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Devi Rani Patar
Program Leader
देवी झारखंड्-उडिशा बॉर्डर कि सुदूर ज़मीन से आती है। अपने गाँव के पहली महिला जिसने मास्टर्स की पढाई पूरी की है । अच्छी शिक्षा से सशक्तिकरण की संभावना पर विश्वास रखती है। नई भूमिका, ज़िम्मेदारी और उतारदायित्वों के लिए सदैव रोमांचित रहती है। केजीबीवी की बहुत सी छात्राओं के लिए वह एक रॉल मॉडल है।
Subarna Pal
Program Leader
सुबर्णा पाल झारखंड के पूर्वी सिंहभूम जिले के एक छोटे से गाँव गोहला से हैं। 12वीं की पढ़ाई कस्तूरबा गांधी विद्यालय, मुसाबनी, से पूर्ण करने के बाद उन्होने हिंदी विषय में मास्टर्स पूर्ण किया। सुबर्णा एक सशक्ति फेलो रह चुकी है एवं वर्तमान मे प्रोग्राम लीडर के बतौर कार्य कर रहीं हैं। सुबर्णा खुले विचारों और आधुनिकता मे विश्वाश रखती हैं। उन्हे सामाजिक क्षेत्र से जुड़े कार्यों में विशेष रुचि हैं एवं वे ऐसे कार्यों मे एक अहम भूमिका निभाना चाहती हैं।
Suhani Kumari
Program Leader
सुहानी झारखंड के हजारीबाग जिले की रहने वाली हैं। अपनी 12th तक की पढ़ाई कस्तूरबा विद्यालय, चूरचू और चौपारण से पूर्ण की हैं। सुहानी ने दो वर्षीय सशक्ति फैलोशिप पूरी की हैं। सुहानी का कहना है की उन्हे खुद को खुश रखना तथा दूसरों को खुश करना पसंद हैं। उनका मानना है कि अलग-अलग गतिविधि करके अपनी रुचि की पहचान करना और खुद को जानना, सशक्तिकरण के लिए आवश्यक हैं, और इसके लिए वे पूरे झारखंड की लड़कियों को सहयोग कर रही हैं।
Padmalaya Patar
Program Leader
पदमालया पातर झारखंड के पूर्वी सिंहभूम जिले के एक गाँव आंगरपाड़ा की रहने वाली हैं। पदमालया 12वीं की पढ़ाई कस्तूरबा गांधी बालिका विद्यालय बहरागोड़ा से पूर्ण करके वर्तमान मे इतिहास विषय मे मास्टर्स कर रही हैं। पदमालया ने 2 वर्ष की सशक्ति फ़ेलोशिप पूरी की है और अभी प्रोग्राम लीडर के बतौर कार्य कर रही हैं। पदमालया डॉक्युमेंटेशन मे माहिर है और अन्य साथियों को भी ट्रेन करती हैं। पदमालया को कक्षा मे सत्र लेने मे एवं सरकारी अधिकारियों के साथ मीटिंग लीड करने मे अधिक रुचि हैं।
Roshni Tirkey
Program Leader
रोशनी तिर्की ने रांची जिले के केजीबीवी नामकुम एवं कांके से 12th की पढ़ाई पूरी की हैं। रोशनी को अपने गांव, और परिवार में रोल मॉडल की तरह देखा जाता हैं। उनके सशक्त होने से उनके परिवार के सोच-विचार में बदलाव हुआ एवं लैंगिक समानता आ पाई हैं। रोशनी से उनके गांव की लड़कियों को प्रेरणा मिलती हैं, और वे भी आत्मनिर्भर एवं सशक्त होने कि दिशा मे आगे बढ़ रही हैं। रोशनी एक सशक्ति फेलो रह चुकी है एवं वर्तमान मे प्रोग्राम लीडर हैं। उन्हे समाज सेवा, सशक्तिकरण पर कार्य करना बहुत अच्छा लगता हैं।
Sephali Soren
Program Leader
Sephali Soren has been a sashakti fellow and presently she is working as a Program Leader. Sephali comes from a village tamakpal in East Singhbhum, Jharkhand. She is a graduate in history honours. Her interests include writing, social media, team management and video editing. She likes to encourage students in their studies and career. She is passionate about women’s empowerment and wishes to work for the same in her life.
Vimla Tudu
Program Leader
Vimla, is from Ramgarh, the smallest district of Jharkhand, completed her 12th-grade education in the Arts stream from KGBV Gola. She obtained her graduation in English Literature from Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh. After completing a two-year Sashakti Fellowship, she is now working as a Program Leader. She focuses on providing quality education to students. She inspires not only the young women in her village but also thousands of young women in Jharkhand to become empowered and create a brighter future for themselves.
Priya Mahto
Program Leader
प्रिया महतो ने 2 वर्षीय सशक्ति फेलौशिप पूरी की है एवं वर्तमान मे प्रोग्राम लीडर हैं। उन्होने रांची जिले के केजीबीवी कांके से अपनी 12th की पढ़ाई पूर्ण की हैं। डॉ. श्यामा प्रसाद मुखर्जी यूनिवर्सिटी रांची से स्नातक की पढ़ाई पूरी की हैं। प्रिया स्वतंत्र सोच-विचार रखने वाली एक खुशमिजाज़ युवती हैं। उन्हे महिला सशक्तिकरण पर कार्य करना पसंद हैं। समाज में बदलाव लाना, समुदाय के लोगों की जरूरतों को समझना, उनकी भावनाओं को समझना, जागरूक करना अच्छा लगता हैं। प्रिया एक ऐसे समाज की कल्पना करती हैं, जिसमें सभी महिलाएं सशक्त, आत्मविश्वासी एवं आत्मनिर्भर हो।
Pal Mehta
Accounts and Finance
Pal is a young graduate and she sees her career in accounts and finance. She supports Ugam’s accounts function and is slowly getting familiar with the intricacies of Jharkhand and our accounts. She is fond of travel and watching films.
Hitesh Vibhakar
Accounts
Hitesh Vibhakar, joins Ugam to support our accounts and finance functions. After spending more than two decades managing accounts and finance for various companies he joins Ugam.
Shefali Poojary
Training & Pedagogy
Shefali has a MA in Literature and Educational Leadership and Change Management. She supports teachers, educational institutions and non-profit organization’s in India as a consultant. She has worked with Indian and international schools and organization’s for over 13 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, head-teacher coach, staff trainer, special needs trainer, curriculum developer, researcher and community engagement coordinator.
Maitreyi Doshi
Design
Maitreyi Doshi is the Founder and Principal Designer of Maitri Designs. She has over 10+ years of communication and design experience working with clients in India and abroad. She has Masters degree in Community Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore USA.