Anubhuti is formed and self-led by women, who have dealt with caste, class, gender, language and ethnicity based discrimination. We have come together to ensure that these experiences are used positively for change.
MANAGEMENT & TRUSTEES
Managing Trustee & Founder Director
Deepa’s 22 years of work in the social development sector forms the base of Anubhuti. Having started working with girls and women when she was merely 14 herself, she has worked extensively with youth, women, communities, NGOs, colleges, as well as local and state governments in the areas of gender, mental health, SRHR, leadership, Constitution Literacy, community development, sanitation, and movement-building across Maharashtra. Campaigns she helped form have reached national and international stages. She is a NT-DNT activist, author, poet, researcher, mentor and counsellor.
She is the 2022 Plan India Awards Last Mile Champion for Girls’ Rights, the 2021 Martha Farrell ‘Most Promising Individual’ Award winner for her 22 years of work. She is also a Samvaad 2020 Fellow – creating the first ever book documenting Gadiya Lohar nomadic tribe’s iron weapons/tools making. She is also a SRHM ‘Mentoring Programme on Rights and Evidence-based Knowledge Creation’ fellow, carrying out the first ever NT young woman-led research on SRHR of NT-DNT women. As a fellow of the Collective Impact Partnership and a Goalkeeper Youth Action Accelerator, her initiatives for preventing workplace sexual harassment and for youth mental health are recognized internationally. She is the Grand Prize winner in UC Berkeley’s Tell Her Story contest 2018 and was a finalist in the CII Foundation’s Women Exemplar Award 2018.
In the Anubhuti team, Deepa handles visioning, direction, training, module-making, networking and advocacy.
Trustee & Administration Fundraising In-Charge
Since last 12 years, Amrita has worked with adolescents and youth such as in Malwani (Asia’s second largest slum), semi-rural villages in Thane District and in shelter-homes. She has a Masters in Social Work from TISS Mumbai. Having worked with girls and young women on their expression and leadership, she has curated booklets on girls’ experiences of menstruation, girl activists in history and on Understanding Gender to be used by adolescents/youth and those working with them. She was selected as a Youth Scholar to the Women Deliver 2016 Conference – one of the leading global gatherings for gender equality and health rights of girls and women. In the team, she takes care of administration and fundraising.
VISITING TRUSTEES
Along with the above, the Trustee Board currently HAS THESE MEMBERS:
Trustee
With a M.Phil from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Anu has been a part of rights-based collectives and movements since her college days. She is one of the founder members of the Zehen Collective – a Mumbai based intersectional, sex positive, Queer feminist collective. Her M.Phil dissertation was on the sexual harassment faced by school girls in Mumbai. She has worked in multiple NGOs in areas of gender, sexuality, safety; primarily with adolescents and youth from grassroot communities. She is a sensitive supporter of mental health rights based on her personal experiences.
Trustee
Tilottama has been working with children and youth for almost 13 years. One of the core members of the acclaimed Gammat Shala (Fun School) run in Dombivali for 6 years, she has worked in areas of parent-child relationship, emotional health of young children through various fun games and activities. She has also worked in the NGO sector for 7 years, primarily with adolescents, youth, women and stakeholders. Also an entrepreneur and businesswoman, she has started the beauty products line ‘Satva’ with her daughter.