Dr. Sanghamitra Singh

Chief of Programmes

Sanghamitra Singh is a trained health scientist and public health professional with over a decade of experience in research, program leadership and management. In her current role as the Chief of Programmes at the Population Foundation of India, Sanghamitra oversees the organization’s national and state initiatives, fundraising efforts, media engagements, organizational partnerships and communications and development and dissemination of the Foundation’s research and literature. A regular print and digital commentator, she has represented Population Foundation of India at several national and international forums.

Sanghamitra has served as a Commission Fellow with the the Lancet Citizen’s Commission for reimagining India’s health System and was a member of the inaugural India cohort of WomenLift Health’s India Leadership journey.  She is an editorial board member of the Journal of Development Policy and Practice.

She holds a PhD in biological sciences from the George Washington University and has previously worked with the George Washington University, National Institutes of Health, Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and Ajinomoto Corporation, Tokyo. Sanghamitra is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer and has a passion for visual arts and handicrafts.

Raam Kumar

Chief Financial Officer

Raam Kumar is the Chief Financial Officer at the Population Foundation of India, overseeing finance, administration, information technology, and program operations. With a robust 30-year career in controlling and reviewing financial data, planning, monitoring internal controls, human resources, and managing audits, administration, and operations, Raam brings extensive experience from the public, private, and development sectors. For the past 20 years, he has served as Head of Finance. Before joining the Population Foundation of India, he was the Chief Finance Officer at Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and previously the Director of Finance at Encyclopaedia Britannica India (Pvt.) Ltd. Raam is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and holds a Master’s in Business Administration.

Bijit Roy

Senior Programme Implementation & Community Engagement Lead

Bijit Roy has over 20 years of experience in planning, implementation and management of large scale nutrition, maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS programmes.

At Population Foundation of India, Bijit leads community action and accountability vertical as the Senior Lead – State Programmes and Strategic Engagement. Population Foundation of India hosts the Secretariat of the Advisory Group on Community Action (AGCA), a committee constituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide guidance and technical support to the state governments to strengthen and scale up community action processes initiatives, particularly related to accountability. The initiative covers 353 districts, 68 cities across 23 states of India. Bijit has previously worked at CARE in the Policy and Advocacy Unit at the India Country Office and managed implementation of the Reproductive and Child Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS (RACHNA) programme in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development from Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi and a Bachelor degree in Political Science from the Banaras Hindu University.

Swati Kumar

Lead - Strategic Engagement

Dr. Gunjan Chandhok

Specialist - RCFP

Dr. Gunjan Chandhok is a dedicated professional with over eight years of work experience in the field of gender, health and social work. Gunjan’s research accomplishments include a PhD in Social Work (University of Delhi) and a M.Phil in Social Work (University of Delhi) highlighting the vital aspects of women’s reproductive and sexual health and gender-based violence. A post-graduate in Social Work from University of Delhi, she also holds a postgraduate degree in Gender and Development Studies.

Gunjan has worked in various capacities with some of the notable institutions like National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research-NICPR and AIIMS-New Delhi towards improving women’s reproductive and sexual health status, generating impactful research, and contributing significantly to the field of public health.

Her publications and contributions have been instrumental in shaping discussions and knowledge in her field. She has authored a book titled “Autonomy over Anatomy: Reproductive and Sexual Health Rights” and has contributed articles to numerous peer-reviewed journals and chapters in edited books. Her insights have been presented at various national and international conferences, enhancing the discourse on gender, sexual and reproductive health, and social work.

Gunjan is a nature enthusiast, an ailurophile and likes to write poetry.

Souvik Bandhapadhyay

Senior Analyst - Youth & Adolescence

Souvik has over 6 years of experience in the social sector, focusing on education, youth engagement, and health domains. He has worked with several national and international organizations, as well as the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. He has extensive experience in program strategy development, operations, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, and process reengineering. Currently, he is a Senior Analyst for Youth and Adolescence at the Population Foundation of India, working closely with the Knowledge Management and Programme team.

He has a strong interest in public systems and services and believes in developing platforms that empower individuals for self-development to strengthen the system.

Shilpa Nair

Lead & State Head, Uttar Pradesh

Shilpa Nair leads Population Foundation of India’s work on Gender, Family Planning, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, Community Action and Behavior Change Communication in the State of Uttar Pradesh. She works closely with government, policymakers, media, NGOs, civil society networks and communities to highlight, prioritize and improve the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents. In a career spanning over two and half decades, Shilpa has led the implementation of several large-scale projects providing technical assistance to government institutions, strengthening civil society, mobilizing communities, building champions and catalyzing on-ground implementation of health interventions and services. A member of key consultative forums of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, prior to joining Population Foundation, Shilpa has held leadership roles with Global Health Strategies (GHS), Family Health International (FHI 360), CARE International, Program for Appropriate Technologies In Health (PATH), State Innovations in Family Planning Services Project Agency (SIFPSA) and Family Planning Association of India in projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Bharat Kumar Jain

Senior Consultant, Lucknow

BK Jain is a senior professional in the health sector and has held senior positions in the Government of Uttar Pradesh over the last two decades. Mr Jain superannuated from the post of General Manager- Research Evaluation, Monitoring & Information, State Innovations in Family Planning Services Project Agency (SIFPSA), Department of Health in January 2023.

He has in-depth experience in health system strengthening, developing policies and program guidelines and setting up IT and ICT-based systems for tracking health programs. At the Population Foundation of India, Mr Jain’s role is to strengthen government partnerships and manage the MIS.

Abhishek Pathak

Senior Analyst - Programmes, Uttar Pradesh

Abhishek Pathak is working as the Program Officer – Matrix Program, Uttar Pradesh. He actively engages with and reaches out to communities through capacity-building programs for adolescents, health staff and frontline workers. He also provides technical support to RKSK on quality services, by engaging with people through sensitisation and advocacy programs with education, NYK and convergence departments. Abhishek also coordinates for state/district advocacy initiatives and ensures planning, implementation and execution of the project.

Abhishek is a public health professional with over 14 years of experience in Family Planning and Advocacy, Training and Capacity Building, Nutrition, Media Engagement and Media Management, Political Advocacy, RMNCH+A, RCH Portal, Project Management and Strategic Planning, HMIS, Monitoring and Evaluation, Tuberculosis, Finance, Convergence with Panchayti Raj, Health, ICDS, Education, Food and Supply department and Rural development.

Balbeer Singh

Senior Analyst - Programmes

Balbeer Singh is a development professional with Master in Sociology along with more than 15 years of experience of planning, implementation of programme in different issues like- gender, adolescent development, family planning strengthening of government institutions, community process at grass root to district and state level including planning & implementation and Balbeer is also a state level trainer on health.

Balbeer has been associated with Population Foundation of India since October 2018 and has been working on improving governance and management of public health facilities. He is stepping up qualitative health service for people and communities, adolescent health through Rogi Kalyan Samiti across the Uttar Pradesh state to driving the change and want to work for community action for health. He has also previously worked with Parivartan, Sakhi Kendra and PHFI.

Kapil Srivastava

Consultant - District Government Partnership, Unnao

Anand Singh

Consultant - District Government Partnership, Balrampur

Anand has 20+ of experience in managing programs on health and rural livelihood. He has worked on strengthening engagement of PRIs on development issues with IHAT, CARE and PANI.

He has a Master’s in Social Work from Lucknow University

Smita

Consultant - District Government Partnership, Gonda

Smita has 12 years of experience in working on maternal and child health, reproductive health, and family planning. Smita has worked with People’s Action for National Integration (PANI) and IHAT. Smita has Master’s in Public Health from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia University, Master’s in Social Work from Lucknow University.

Purnima Choudhary

Consultant - District Capacity Building, Barabanki

Purnima has 10 years of work experience in field projects, data collection, monitoring & evaluation and training of community members with strong expertise in facilitating training – content development, modules, selection, and mentoring of trainers. She has worked with organisations such as Family Health of India (FHI-360), Public Health Foundation of India, Population Services International (PSI), and Population Council.

Purnima has a Master’s in Social Work from Allahabad University and Bachelor in Arts from Lucknow University.

Manka Singh

Consultant - District Capacity Building, Barabanki

Manka has a rich experience of 20 years working on gender, nutrition, reproductive health and water sanitation. She worked with CARE, Mahila Samakhya, PATH and Swachh Bharat Mission.

She has a double Masters in Business Administration from Sikkim Manipal University and in Arts from Kanpur University.

Dr. Shobha Kumari

Consultant - State Capacity Building, Lucknow

Shobha has over 9 years of experience in the health and development sector. She has worked in areas around Reproductive and Child Health (RCH), gender, menstrual health, and hygiene with organizations such as India Health Action Trust (IHAT) and National Health Mission (NHM).

She has a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and a Bachelor in Dental Surgery from Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

Bindu Yadav

Consultant - Field Officer, Jarwal

Bindu has joined us as a Field Officer for Jarwal Bahraich. She has 9 years of experience in organizing field activities, based on tuberculosis, Maternal and Child Health. She has earlier worked with the Save a Mother Foundation.

She has Masters in Sociology from Awadh University, Faizabad.

Awadhesh Kumar Yadav

Consultant - Field Officer, Jarwal

Awadhesh has joined as Field Officer for Jarwal, Bahraich. He has over 13 years of experience in MIS/Documentation, Field supervision, and Capacity Building of FLWs.  Mr.Yadav has worked with Reliance General Insurance Co. ltd, Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojna and Save a Mother Foundation.

He has Masters in Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts from Dr. RMLA Faizabad University.

Suritesh Dagur

Consultant, Capacity Building - Balrampur

Alok Shukla

Consultant - Government Partnership, Sitapur

Mohd. Jubair Ansari

Government Partnership, Barabanki

Samim Ansari

State Administration Officer

Nilanshu Kumar

Specialist - Programmes

Nilanshu Kumar is a development professional with MBA in Human Resource Management. He is public health expert with over 12 years of progressively responsible experience in Planning, Training, Program implementation & evaluation of interventions on RMNCH+A, Family Planning, maternal, newborn, child health Nutrition and Water & Sanitation. Added skills include: knowledge of designing program on public health problems; development of partnership management, program quality, prepare training curriculum, resource management, growth linkages and management information system (MIS).

Shilpi

Specialist - Community Action

Shilpi works as a Specialist for Community Action and closely works with the district team in supervising the Community for Action Health programme in Bihar. She brings on board  a decade’s experience in the development sector with specialization and interest in Gender, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Community led Approaches, Migration and Child Protection.

An experienced facilitator and a practitioner of participatory approaches, she has been involved in various training and capacity building initiatives with a diverse range of communities and groups as well as been part of several participatory research studies, participatory action research on community led processes and participatory assessments and evaluations.

In her prior experience, she has been part of Participatory Action Research processes which have enabled engagement with rural communities in understanding their needs, aspirations and capacitating them towards Community Led mechanisms. She is backed Masters in Development Studies and bachelors in Mass Communication.

Ajay Kumar

Office Assistant, Bihar

Sunil Kumar

Analyst - District Implementation

Naveen Kumar Pandey

Block Consultant, Nawada

Sanju Kumar

Block Consultant, Darbhanga

Liklaleima Ningombam

Consultant - Adolescent Health & Wellbeing

Liklaleima is a professional social worker having an experience of working with young children, adolescents and youth around gender, health and education. She is associated with Population Foundation of India as a Consultant for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing for CSE programmes in Manipur. Her works involve engaging with government and non-government stakeholders for the integration of adolescent health and well being education.

Milan Rana

Associate Director - Finance

Mr. Milan Rana holds a Master degree in Commerce and Master degree in Business Administration with specialization in Finance. He has experience of over 16 years in the field of finance, accounting, budgeting, and statutory compliances. He has wide experience in Finalizations of Accounts, Budgeting and Budgetary controls, Internal controls, creating and managing financial systems, statutory compliance, Financial Audit, Management of FCRA Funds, Financial Analysis, Financial Assessment of NGOs, Fund management, Investment, Partners Management, Training to staff and partners on finance/admin./procurement, Closure of projects, HR Management, Procurement/Procurement audit, Management of agreements/contracts, Asset management, maintenance of organizational & project accounts, Preparation of financial documents for Management, donors and stakeholders and Management of funds.

Kalyan Kumar Das

Deputy Manager- Finance

Kalyan is a commerce graduate from Calcutta University with specialisation in accountancy and he is Intermediate qualified from Institute of Cost Accountants of India. In professional domain, he has his expertise in Accounting, Taxations, Auditing, and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in social sector organizations for more than 13 years. His work experience encompasses in managing FC projects and Funds, statutory compliances, financial assessment of NGOs, management of sub-grants, general accounting, support in Internal and statutory audit. He has comprehensive experience in setting up of accounting systems, presenting Financial Statements, preparation of project reports, investment management, consolidation of books of accounts and preparation of Balance Sheet. He is providing support to sub partners to adhere with the grant agreement clauses and the financial reporting.

Shyam Lal

Accounts and Admin Assistant

Shyam Lal is working as an Administrative & Accounts Assistant and takes care of Banking related work including follow-up with Seniors for timely completing of cheque transactions. Besides Shyam Lal also maintains record keeping of vouchers, Files etc., dispatch of Form 16/16As to various parties at the end of each quarter. During the time of Audit he will assist Accounts Department/Auditors with necessary records for smooth functioning of Audit.

Veena Nayal

Accounts officer

Veena Nayal is a Finance Professional with over 5 years of experience in the finance and accounts domain, specialising in costing, budgeting, and financial accounting activities to ensure adherence to generally accepted accounting principles and performance standards. She is responsible for accounting, ensuring compliance with all statutory requirements, and producing timely reports. Veena has completed her CMA – Intermediate from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from University of Delhi.

Gagan Singhal

Senior Manager - Human Resources and Administration

Gagan Singhal is an HR & Administration professional with over 22 years of experience in the non-profit sector. He holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration with a specialization in Human Resource Management. Gagan has extensive expertise in office administration and management, complemented by a fair understanding of IT systems for office environments.

Before joining the Population Foundation of India, Gagan served as Coordinator – Administration & IT at WaterAid India, Correspondent Administration & Publication at Rotary International South Asia Office, and Administrative Assistant at the National Polio Surveillance Project of the World Health Organization. Throughout his career, he has developed a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the non-profit sector and is well-versed in working within multi-cultural organizational environments. Gagan’s diverse skill set and experience make him a valuable asset in driving operational excellence and fostering a collaborative workplace culture.

M A Jose

Consultant - Sr Executive Assistant to Executive Director cum Programme Associate

Jose, has more than 25 years of experience in the development sector in planning, management & administration of research projects at state and national levels, knowledge management including dissemination of research findings, media relations and event management.

He has worked with several national and international organisations in the development sector, including the Population Council, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India and the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). He is associated with PFI as consultant – Sr E.A cum Programme Associate.

In his free time, Jose loves to travel and he is a travel vlogger.

Subhasis Saha

EA cum Programme Associate

Usha Nair

Officer - Front Office & Travel Desk

P Narayanan

Admin Assistant

With over 25 years of experience, P Narayanan works as an Administration Assistant with Population Foundation of India. He is the overall in-charge of office stationery and photocopier. In addition, he acts as a focal point for all important office files including health insurance, MCD, DDA, Governing Board, and other stock material, including important project files as well.

Provash Kumar Paul

Facility In Charge, Delhi

Provash Kumar Paul has been working with Population Foundation of India since the year 1991 as a Facility in-charge. He maintains the overall functioning of the building.

Kamlesh Kumar

Gardener-cum-Messenger

Kamlesh maintains the garden and horticulture of the entire office premises, and also provides messenger service, and supports routine admin activities. He has been working with Population Foundation of India for the last 27 years.

Vijaya Reddy

Driver

Vijaya Reddy has been associated with Population Foundation of India for the last 11 years and is deputed as a Driver to Executive Director’s office car.

Vijender Kumar

Office Boy

Vijender Kumar has been working with Population Foundation of India for the last 22 years. He ensures cleaning of the office premises and supports pantry function as well as day-to-day routine admin activities.

Sanjay Ekka

Office Boy, Delhi

Sanjay Ekka has been associated with Population Foundation of India for the last 24 years. He ensures cleaning of office premises and supports pantry function as well as day-to-day routine support activities.

Ajay Kumar

Office Assistant, Bihar

Gagan Singhal

Senior Manager - Human Resources and Administration

Gagan Singhal is an HR & Administration professional with over 22 years of experience in the non-profit sector. He holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration with a specialization in Human Resource Management. Gagan has extensive expertise in office administration and management, complemented by a fair understanding of IT systems for office environments.

Before joining the Population Foundation of India, Gagan served as Coordinator – Administration & IT at WaterAid India, Correspondent Administration & Publication at Rotary International South Asia Office, and Administrative Assistant at the National Polio Surveillance Project of the World Health Organization. Throughout his career, he has developed a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the non-profit sector and is well-versed in working within multi-cultural organizational environments. Gagan’s diverse skill set and experience make him a valuable asset in driving operational excellence and fostering a collaborative workplace culture.

Alok Vajpeyi

Lead - Core Grants & Knowledge Management

Alok is an experienced Development Professional, M&E Specialist and Researcher with progressive experience in evidence based development. Alok has worked with national and international organizations and has specialization in evaluation design, planning, implementation, and use in multiple contexts and domains. Alok was member of Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group (PME WG) for 2016-18. Alok has led several international and national level research studies, reviews and evaluations. Alok was actively involved in drafting of revised State Population Policy in Uttar Pradesh in 2016 and National ICT in Education policy for Ministry of HRD, GOI in 2007. He has also led the process of Bihar Population Policy Development in collaboration with State Health Society, Bihar in late 2019.

Dr. Varun Sharma

Specialist - Monitoring & Evaluation

Dr. Varun Sharma is a PhD in Economics from the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and a postdoc in Public Health from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. With over 12 years of experience in the fields of public health and social development, he is a seasoned social and development researcher. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to work in various cities and with different organizations, spanning academia, think-tanks, rights-based NGOs, and international NGOs. In his most recent role, he supported the public health surveillance and climate change project at Jhpiego in the capacity of a Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) specialist. In his professional journey, he has managed many research and impact evaluation projects, contributing significantly to the body of knowledge in his field. His work is evident in the publication of many research articles in international peer-reviewed journals. As a staunch believer in learning as a continuous process, he consistently pushes his boundaries and embraces change with an open heart. Outside of work, he finds joy in spending time with family and friends, indulging in his love for listening to old songs, and exploring new places, particularly in the countryside.

Aishwarya Adhikari

Senior Analyst - Knowledge Management

Aishwarya has more than half a decade worth of experience in the development sector with specialisation and interest in Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Rights. She joined the Population Foundation of India as an Analyst on Knowledge Management. She has worked comprehensively on issues of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, family planning, adolescent sexual health, child marriage, right to food and nutrition, as well as LGBTQIA+ rights. She has been involved in various capacity-building workshops/training modules with a diverse range of communities and groups across several states in India as a researcher.

Aishwarya has pursued a Master of Politics (with a specialisation in International Relations) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and was an elected representative of JNU GSCASH.

In her past stint as West Bengal Unit Director and Project Officer of a leading legal advocacy and human rights organisation based in New Delhi, she constantly liaised with network grassroots organisations, government officials, and law enforcement officials in securing the rights of the marginalised through several initiatives like the right to food, health, education, and housing, as well as securing the rights of differently-abled individuals, women, sexual minorities, etc.

Rakesh Chandra Juyal

Senior Analyst - Knowledge Management

Rakesh is currently a Senior Analyst – Knowledge Management at the Population Foundation of India, bringing over twenty years of professional experience in knowledge management, digital library project management, library development, and digital archiving. He specializes in knowledge management and information database design, and he is adept at handling various open-source software, customization, managing knowledge portal servers, user support, and administration. Rakesh has extensive experience in implementing information systems and technical upgrades for library transformation and knowledge management. His expertise also includes resource acquisition, abstracting and indexing, online resource access, data support, information sharing and dissemination at various levels, and managing institutional repositories.

Tejwinder Singh Anand

Lead - Technology & Communications

Tejwinder is a communication professional with over 17 years of work experience in the areas of brand strategy, marketing communication, and digital marketing. He has worked with brands on high impact campaigns across profit & non-profit sectors, BFSI and consumer electronics.

An engineering and management graduate, Tejwinder is stepping up for people by building communication to amplify the reach of initiatives and programmes at the Population Foundation of India.

Martand Kaushik

Senior Specialist - Media and Communications

Martand Kaushik is a journalist and communications professional with over ten years of experience. He has worked on the editorial staffs of organisations such as The Times of India and The Caravan. At The Caravan, he supervised a team of writers and reporters to cover politics, public health, education and the environment, among other public-policy issues. He has also written on issues such as politics, human rights, and arts and culture.

Martand hopes to build greater awareness in the media of the issues the Population Foundation of India works on, and use storytelling skills to produce text and visual content that prompts behavior change for positive health outcomes.

Arya Vatsa

Senior Analyst - Technology and Communications

Arya has a postgraduate degree in Public Policy with 8 years of experience in the development sector, specialised in communications. In her professional experience, Arya has initiated various campaigns and made podcasts for different organisations including Sightsavers India and India HIV/AIDS Alliance. Her favourite part of Communications work has been listening to people’s stories on ground.

Outside of work, Arya discovered her calling in the outdoors and has been doing parkour for three years now, converting urban landscapes into her personal playground. She is also a naturalist and a podcaster, where she shares her amusing parkour escapades.

Shivangi Tripathi

Analyst - Technology and Communications

Shivangi is a public policy professional with expertise in strategic communications and social impact. She holds a PGP in Public Policy, Design, and Management from the Indian School of Public Policy and an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Sophia College, Mumbai. Previously, she worked with Central Square Foundation and collaborated with the Capacity Building Commission on a project addressing domestic violence. At Population Foundation of India, Shivangi drives social impact initiatives, managing projects such as SnehAI chatbot, overseeing social media strategy, while also developing social and behavior change communication materials for campaigns.

Outside of work, Shivangi loves to pick apt soundtracks for different moments in life, is interested in fashion, watches predictable movies, reads even more predictable novels, and loves to cook elaborate and carb-heavy Sunday breakfasts.

Rizwan Shaikh

Consultant - Technology

Rizwan is a passionate technologist with over 10 years of training and experience in co-building innovative products, managing digital footprints for NGOs, political parties and start-ups. At Population Foundation, he manages the Knowledge Hub and leads the organization’s technological and digital initiatives. He is stepping up for people by building technology to maximize social impact.

Shailendra Singh Negi

Network and System Administrator

Shailendra has completed graduation from Delhi University. He has more than 20 years of experience in Information Technology (Networking and Windows Server and OS level support), TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, SMTP, PoP3 IMAP, FTP, Firewall and NATING, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, 2012 and M 365 Support. Shailendra is a certified MCA (Microsoft Certified Associate), MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer), MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) and CCNA (Cicso Certified Network associate).