Sneha Mishra, born in 1966 in Bhubaneswar, is a distinguished social worker and activist from Odisha, known for her leadership in advancing the rights of women, children, and persons with disabilities. She holds a B.Sc. (Botany Hons) from RD Women’s College and a Master’s in Social Work and LL.B. from Utkal University, along with a Diploma in Nutrition & Health Education.
She is the founder of Aaina, a prominent organization that has been championing inclusion, gender equality, and disability rights in Odisha and across India for over two decades. Sneha has served as a Board Member of the National Trust, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India (2007–2011), and is a National Resource Person on Gender with NIRD. She is also the former President of the Odisha Professional Social Workers Association (OPSWA).
A certified trainer on child rights, disability rights, and an accredited specialist on the POSH Act, she serves as an independent member on Internal Complaints Committees across government, non-government, and public institutions. She has been a pioneering voice in bringing menstrual hygiene into Odisha’s policy and public discourse organizing the State’s Global MH Day observances since 2013 and founding the Odisha Menstrual Health and Hygiene Alliance. Under her leadership, Aaina has also created RedTalk, an accessible digital app on menstrual hygiene for visually and hearing-impaired users.
With more than 25 years of experience in disaster preparedness, response, and coordination, from the Super Cyclone to Cyclone Fani and the 2023 Odisha train accident, Sneha is known for her expertise in civil society mobilization, humanitarian coordination, and facilitating effective GO–NGO platforms during crises.
She has published widely and led multiple studies on issues related to women, children, and disability, contributing to national seminars, consultations, and academic journals.
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Yezdani Rahman serves as Regional Director – Programs at SEEDS, a leading not-for-profit organization focused on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and humanitarian response.
Rahman has demonstrated distinguished leadership in designing, implementing, and overseeing humanitarian emergency responses and recovery initiatives across South and Southeast Asia. His extensive portfolio encompasses capacity building for mission-critical stakeholders, programme execution in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Maldives, and Afghanistan, and strategic development of disaster readiness frameworks.
Rahman brings exceptional strengths in network coordination and multi-stakeholder collaboration, having spearheaded partnerships across humanitarian networks like Start Network, Sphere India, and regional consortia. His experience includes leading joint response mechanisms, facilitating cross-organization knowledge sharing, and mobilizing collective resources during multi-country crises, ensuring seamless integration of diverse actors for amplified impact. His adeptness at forging strategic alliances has strengthened network resilience, enabling faster, more coordinated disaster interventions that prioritize locally led action.
His dedication to building resilient communities and his expertise in multi-country humanitarian programming underscore his ongoing commitment to empowering vulnerable populations through impactful project delivery and sustainable capacity strengthening.
Mr. Rajesh Kapoor is a senior social development professional with over 43 years of experience across disaster management, natural resource management, nutrition, education, WASH, livelihoods, and urban poverty alleviation. He holds a postgraduate degree in Management from IRMA, Anand, and a degree in Dairy Technology from NDRI, Karnal, and has held leadership roles with AKRSP, NDDB, and Dalal Consultants. With more than 25 years of specialized experience in disaster management, he played a key role in post-earthquake rehabilitation and livelihood restoration in Kutch, Gujarat. As CEO of Cohesion Foundation Trust, he has led large-scale, community-driven initiatives in water systems and public-private-community partnerships, bringing strong strategic leadership, rapid decision-making, and a deep commitment to inclusive and sustainable development.
Monisha Majumdar is a humanitarian professional with expertise in disaster risk reduction, emergency response, and locally led humanitarian action. Her work centres on strengthening disaster preparedness, community resilience, and humanitarian coordination through evidence-based planning and inclusive capacity-building approaches. With experience in anticipatory action and policy brief development, she contributes to advancing ethical, locally rooted, and people-centred humanitarian practice across India.
Sanjay Pandey serves as the Executive Director of Yuganter, a development organization focused on Disaster Risk Reduction and resilience. He is recognized for his leadership in strategic planning and programme execution, driving initiatives across India and Nepal. His significant influence extends to the humanitarian sector as a dedicated Executive Member and a Founding Member of the India Humanitarian Hub (IHH). Through his roles, Mr. Pandey actively shapes multi-stakeholder coordination and effective resource deployment during humanitarian crises. His profile reflects a commitment to enhancing community resilience and fostering collaboration within the South Asian development landscape.
North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
Tirtha Prasad Saikia is a frontline development activist, deeply rooted in the civil society landscape with a strong foundation in grassroots experience, passion and visionary leadership. He serves as the Director of North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a locally-driven organisation based in Assam in the north-eastern region of India, working with vulnerable communities in their pursuit of justice, dignity and resilience in the face of humanitarian crises and poverty. Over the past 15 years, Tirtha has led and contributed to a wide spectrum of initiatives at NEADS, including humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, environment and climate action, livelihood promotion, governance, people’s economy, participatory research and rights-based advocacy.
Since the inception of the India Humanitarian Hub (IHH), Tirtha has been actively engaged in shaping and strengthening humanitarian coordination and localization processes in India. Through his involvement with IHH, he has contributed to collective humanitarian analysis, civil society coordination, advocacy on principled humanitarian action and efforts to amplify the voices and leadership of local organizations in humanitarian decision-making spaces.
Tirtha is also actively engaged with various networks and coalitions at local, national and international levels, and plays a vital role in working with governments to influence policy development processes that reflect the needs and aspirations of marginalized communities in the region.
Email : surojit.sarmah@ihh.org.in
Email : sidarth.sharma@ihh.org.in