Our Team

Mr. Sadani has been passionately running multi-sector developmental programs on gender and health, for over 3 decades. He is a co-founder and Chief Functionary of MAVA. Harish has done his Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has been engaging and mentoring thousands of adolescent boys and young men across India to communicate with peers on healthy relationships, masculinity and sexuality-related matters, using out-of-the-box methods. Currently, he is also a Consultant and Trainer to Corporates, Universities, Colleges and NGOs across India on prevention of sexual harassment at workplace and other gender matters. Harish has been invited by national and international bodies like UN Women and UNFPA to share insights and build capacities of various stakeholders on addressing issues of gender-based and sexual violence against women.

Dr. Patkar has been a distinguished psychiatrist based in Navi Mumbai practising for over past 37 years. He has been actively associated with various social movements and standing up for the rights of disadvantaged groups including displaced individuals and communities. He is the Vice-President of Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti, a leading state-level organization promoting rational thinking and challenging superstitions. He has been Founder of ‘Manasmitra’, a community of mental health work volunteers. He has been a founder of a School for Mentally challenged children in New Panvel. Dr. Patkar keenly writes on psycho-social-community health matters and has been recipient of 2 state level literary awards for his book titled ’Chinta’ on Anxiety.

Mr. Vasudevan Srinivasan has over twenty-five years of corporate experience in areas of Human Resource Strategy building, aligning Human Resource strategy to Corporate Strategy, Gender Sensitivity & Inclusion, Performance Management et al. Under “In Betweens”, his film production company, Vasu has scripted, directed & produced over 90 educational and training films, for a number of organizations including ACC, Aditya Birla, HUL, Pepsi, Marico, Dabur and Microsoft and even the occasional advertising film for NGOs. To his credit is the scripting and direction of the much acclaimed management film ’Chanakya Speaks’. Post the enactment of the Sexual Harassment Act 2013, Vasu spearheaded an exhaustive research which culminated in the in-house direction and production of 3 much acclaimed short videos on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace. Some of organizations which have benefited from the video-based workshops are Asian Paints, Wipro, Philips, Siemens, Taj Hotels, Marico, Tata Sons, Pfizer et al. Vasu has a Masters in Business Economics from the University of Delhi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur, (1983). Vasu received the Gurukul Chevening Scholarship at the London School of Economics and Political Science for a programme on Leadership and Globalization, and has also conducted workshops at the LSE for the same programme.

Sunil is a trainer and researcher on youth and education issues in development sector. He has Master’s Degree in Psychology from Mumbai University in 2010. Sunil has also completed International Diploma course in Development Education from TFT, South Africa, Gender, Diversity and social transformation certificate course at Visthar and XISS, Ranchi. In addition, he is pursuing higher level training in the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Sciences (ISABS). Along with designing and conducting several training for marginalized youth, he has also facilitated and supervised participatory research studies, focusing largely on issues related to gender, sexuality and expression of identities. Sunil loves traveling, cooking and gardening in his free time!

Mr. Dinesh Ahir is a practising Chartered Accountant having an experience of more than 38 years. He is also a partner in the CA firm M/s. Batliboi Purohit & Darbari which has offices in Mumbai & Kolkata. He has rich experience in taxation, auditing, financial and management consultancy for Corporates, Co-operative banks, State public sector undertakings like Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal Ltd (MAVIM), Mahila Aayog, Maharashtra Fisheries Development Corporation, Security Board, Grocery Board. Mr. Ahir has been a Visiting Lecturer in Finance and Taxation for B.Com Course in various colleges like Elphinstone College, Ismail Yusuf College and Khalsa College. He is a Founder Trustee of Action for Good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI) and NGO Alliance for Governance and Renewal (NAGAR), both NGOs actively involved in civic and governance issues in Mumbai. Also he is a Honorary Treasurer and Trustee at Aroehan Trust.

Ms. Pratima Joshi is a Senior Journalist, Writer and Social Activist actively working for over 40 years, based in Mumbai. She is closely associated with many social organisations working for social justice and fight against all kinds of suppression and discrimination, including gender-based discrimination. She has worked extensively for sexually abused persons, atrocities on scheduled caste people, unorganised labourers. She is a promising author and been awarded for her books. As a journalist, she has covered social, environmental, socio-economic issues, legal and developmental issues. She has received 9 state level awards for her committed journalism. She has contributed towards framing Maharashtra State Womens' policy. Basically, she is a hard core pro-people activist.

Associate Professor (retired), College of Social Work Nirmala Niketan and Former Director, Social Audit, Government of Maharashtra involved in conducting social audit of MGNREGA, Old Age and Widow Pensions and Housing schemes of the Government. A social work graduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she taught at the College of Social Work for almost three decades and has been closely associated in various capacities, with several organisations working for tribal and rural development in Maharashtra. Ms Kanitkar was elected from the Teachers’ Constituency to the Senate of the University of Mumbai for three consecutive terms and actively contributed to the functioning of the University during her tenure. She has also worked on the Committee against Sexual Harassment at the University and has addressed issues of gender equality in the various colleges and institutions of higher education of the University. She is the Founder Member and Trustee of AROEHAN - a non-profit organisation working for the past twelve years to bring sustainable change to the tribal community of Mokhada and Palghar District.

Mr. Mahesh Kamble is working as Assistant Professor in the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai since 2006. He completed his Master's Degree in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, where he is currently pursuing his PhD. Mahesh was the Coordinator of Rural Development Programme of SIDDHI in Guhagar block of Ratnagiri District. He was one of the consultants in drafting the Disaster Management Action Plan for the state of Maharashtra in 1997. As coordinator of youth programme in YUVA, he anchored the Anubhav Shiksha programme for Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Goa. He worked as the Director of Samarthan, NGO working for state level budget analysis and policy advocacy. As part of studies and profession, he intervened in various disaster situations at different levels like Earthquakes in Latur and Gujarat, Floods in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, landslides and floods in Uttarakhand, Cyclone in Odisha, Malin landslide and Droughts in Maharashtra. He is a Supreme Court nominated member on the State Level Monitoring Committee on Shelter for Homeless. Apart from regular work of teaching, research and guidance, he actively engages in field practices for food security, Dalit issues, livelihood and governance and policy advocacy.

In a career spanning forty years, Rashmi has held senior positions in international production companies, television networks, advertising agencies and set up her own production companies in India, Dubai and Canada. Her documentary, 'Begumpura' (The Wives Colony), commissioned by the OMNI-Rogers Network is repeatedly aired across Canada.

Committed to gender parity, Rashmi is 'India Council Lead' for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and organised the first Global Symposium in Mumbai to present the path breaking 'Inclusion Quotient' Tool. She is a principal Advisor for MAVA (Men Against Violence and Abuse) 'Samabhav Travelling Film Festival' to sensitise youth through the gender lens.

Rashmi has helmed pivotal roles as Industry Director, Festival Producer and Jury Manager at leading international Film Festivals in Dubai Abu Dhabi and Toronto. In India, as Festival Director she launched the FICCI FLO Film Festival and Forum themed on women empowerment and spearheaded the MAMI - Mumbai Film Mart and Films Division - MIFF HUB.

Asiya Shervani designs and facilitates customized interventions, policies and programmes to improve accountability, psychological safety and social inclusion in organizations. She is a regular discussant at MAVA’s film festivals in colleges and universities all over India.

She is an advisor and member of several gender-parity focused committees as well as bullying and sexual harassment prevention and investigation, mediation and conflict-resolution committees in governmental, non-governmental, educational/media/research institutions, start-ups and small/medium sized public and private sector companies. Asiya has a masters degree in social sciences and over 25 years of experience in research, instructional design, facilitation of learning experiences and conversations on issues such as caste, gender, sexuality, interpersonal effectiveness, inter-group dialogue, leadership and teamwork.

Mr. Pravin Thote is working currently as Project Coordinator at Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), Mumbai looking after the Gender-Sensitization and Mentoring Program among college-going young men in Mumbai since September 2017. He has done Masters of Arts in Development from Azim Premji University in 2016 and Masters of Arts in Sociology at Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur in 2014. Pravin has previously worked with Aangan Trust in a district in North India on child rights looking after Capacity-Building, networking with various stakeholders and community resource-organizations. He has also worked as a Field Researcher at Government of Goa on the topic of imbibing constitutional values among young children. He has been a founder-member of Ek Swapn, Ek Aasha, a social organization working for the education of disadvantaged youths in Bhandara district of Maharashtra State.

Altamash Khan is working currently as Project Coordinator at Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), Mumbai looking after the Gender-Sensitization and Mentoring Program among college-going young men in Mumbai since August 2018. He has done his Master of Arts in Women Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in the batch 2016-18. Altamash has previously worked with the Committed Community Development Trust, Mumbai as a Research Officer. His paper titled ‘The experiences of women post Bodo Muslim Conflict 2013 in Kokrajhar, Assam’ was awarded as the best paper in the young scholar category by the Indian Sociological Society. Altamash also served as an elected student member of the Internal Committee (IC) at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai related to Redressal of Complaints on Sexual Harassment. He enjoys cooking and loves to host people so that they appreciate his cooking.

Nelson Deb is currently working as a Project Coordinator for Project Maanush, Assam which is a project under Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), looking after the Gender-Sensitization and Mentoring Program among 30 adolescent boys and young men in Assam since September 2020. He has completed his Bachelors in Arts and has two Diplomas one in Fashion Designing and Boutique Management and the other in Web Designing all from Bangalore University.

Nelson's passion in the social sector moved him back to Assam to start his own social enterprise - The Eco Hub in 2012 which works with marginalised women to produce biodegradable sanitary pads, reusable cloth pads, paper and paper products and handloom. He is also the Founder President of Bodhana, an NGO that works in WASH (water sanitation and hygiene) and Gender Space across Northeast India.

Hrishikesh Gulavni is working as Project Coordinator for Project Maanush, the Gender Sensitization and Mentoring Program among select young men in Bangalore, Karnataka, in collaboration with Jain (deemed-to-be- University), since December 2020. He has completed his Master's degree in Anthropology and Gender Studies from Savitribai Phule Pune University. He has done his Bachelor's degree in Interior Architecture from Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad. He was also awarded a scholarship to study for a year at Hochschule Fur Technik, Stuttgart, Germany where he studied designing from an Anthropological perspective.

Hrishikesh has done architectural research for Shelter Homes for Specially Abled Adults from an anthropological perspective which drove him to pursue his passion for research work about socially sensitive issues. Apart from his academic writings and research papers, he writes articles for periodicals related to social awareness about gender and sexualities issues in local languages like Marathi and Hindi. He is incorporating his political understanding along with the psychological aspects into the work. He also have been into Queer activism, Counselling for queer youngsters, reaching to public through new mediums like memes, podcasts and videos through social media platform for sensitization about gender and sexualities issues. He has attended conferences at National level and presented his research papers and also been conducting online seminars on gender themes for academicians, journalists and researchers. He is good with his other passions like baking and cooking, trekking, Ashtang Yoga, playing sitar, gardening and writing travelogues.

Suraj has been conducting workshops on gender, sexuality, masculinity, sexual harassment at workplace, communication and relationships. He has done his Masters of Arts in Women Centered Practice (WCP) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in the batch 2012-14. Suraj has done his post-graduate certificate courses on "Gender and Women's Movement" and "Gender and Culture" from Women Study Centre of Savitribai Phule University of Pune. He was awarded CFL CORO Fellowship for 1 year for working on the issue of Sexual Harassment at Workplace in College Campuses, Pune. Suraj has been part of the women’s movement in Pune as an activist for last 10 years. Suraj is working currently as a Manager - Credit at Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC), Mumbai which works for Housing for economically excluded, informal and unorganized people in India.

Laxmi has been conducting workshops on Legal Awareness focusing on Women’s Rights, Sexual Minorities’ Rights, Gender and Sexuality. She has done graduation in Law, Psychology (Counseling), Political Science, Education and People-Centred Advocacy. Currently, she is working with SNEHA organization (Mumbai) as a Training Manager in Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Programme.

Hazel is an experienced Counselor on matters of Sexuality and Sexual Abuse. She is an artist activist using art-therapy through Inter-Play, Dance, Drama, Music and Voice Movement Therapy. Hazel is committed to continue contributing in the fields of gender and sexuality by spreading awareness on Child Sexual Abuse, human trafficking, gender-based violence and laws like POCSO and POSH. She believes in working with boys and men helps break the cycle of violence and create a circle of respect and care. She attends to various cases of domestic violence and crises situations. Each workshop, each person, each moment… expanding her heart to say one more YES to one more person on the boundary… to dare to include!!

Holding a Masters in Social Work, Laxmi has been working passionately in the social field for the last 25 years with women and children as a Project Co-ordinator and Community Development Officer. She has worked as a Professional Counsellor for family and children at the Special Cell in the Police System. Laxmi has been part of the women’s movement as an activist for many years. She has participated in television shows and debates on women's issues and various other programs on women’s self-help groups. She has worked as a lecturer at Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth. Laxmi has been periodically conducting various training workshops with Police, Schools, Colleges and NGO social workers on Gender and Women's Rights Laws. She is also working as a Consultant on Domestic Violence cases.