Dialogue with Senior Policy Makers on Rural Development Policy

Brief Profile

2006- to present World Bank

Senior Rural Development Specialist in the area of institutional development, rural development and poverty alleviation for the Bank supported Rural Development projects in India. Management of a portfolio of $2 billion. Roles have included :

· Dialogue with senior Policy makers on Rural Development Policy

· Community Driven Development and Rural Livelihoods Specialist in Task Teams

· Task team leadership for project preparation and supervision in rural development projects with Government of India and several state governments. Co-Team leader for a $1 billion IDA credit operation for establishing a National Rural Livelihood Mission.

· Project Design and Operations Manual Preparation.

· Negotiation with counterpart government agencies.

· Supervision and Monitoring of project

· Institutional Development and Capacity Building of partner agencies.

· Government Policy Analysis.

1990-2006 Development Consultant with the following national and international agencies.

Specific Assignments have included:

UNICEF, Somalia

§ Mid Term Review of Country Programme (2006).

§ Evaluation of European Union funded project on primary education and girl child enrolment.(2004)

§ Evaluation of Government of Japan funded project on child protection, youth and non-formal education.(2003)

§ Assistance in preparation of five year Country Programme planning and preparation exercise, including strategy formulation support, regional and national strategy workshop facilitation, preparation of Master Plan of Operations (2003).

§ Country Programme Evaluation, Team Leader for first comprehensive programme and management evaluation of UNICEF’s Somalia programme. Included workshop facilitation, design and conduct of field surveys, and report writing (2002).

UN Resident Coordination Unit, Somalia

§ Joint strategic review of UN Approach to Somalia, towards building Common Country Programme for 2008 (2006).

UNICEF, Tajikistan

§ Technical advisor to UNICEF/World Bank on preparation of Fast track funding to Tajikistan in Social sectors(2005)

§ Technical Advisor to Central Asian Republics’ Forum for Education and Health (2005).

§ Assistance in preparation of five year Country Programme (2005-2009) planning exercise, including CPAP Documents, IMEP, Log frames for individual projects and programmes.(2004)

UNICEF, Uganda

§ Situation of analysis of children and women in Uganda (2005).

UNICEF, Bhutan

§ Country Programme Evaluation as part of broader Mid Term Review process (2004).

UNICEF, Bangladesh

§ Assistance in planning processes to develop a Convergent Country programme strategy.(2004)

UNICEF, Regional Office for the Middle East And North Africa /World Bank

§ Preparation of Social Sector Watching Brief Report for Iraq- overview report plus assistance in sectoral reports on Watsan, Education and Health & Nutrition (2003).

UNICEF, India

§ A Strategic and Organisation Review of UNICEF, India, used by the Country Office to restructure its operations in India (1995).

§ Evaluation of UNICEF’s Community Convergent Approach (CCA), utilised for preparing UNICEF India’s Five Year Country Strategy (1997).

§ Study of the successful lessons from the Strategic and Institutional Arrangements for UNICEF’s Social Development Programming in India (1997).

§ Desk Review of UNICEF’s Water and Sanitation Programming in last two decades for the Evaluation of UNICEF’s WATSAN programme (1999).

§ Sectoral Reviews and Country/State Assessments for Education, Water & Sanitation and Child Protection sectors (1998-2002).

§ Preparation of UNICEF’s Child Rights project in child labour prone districts of India (1997).

UNAIDS, India

§ Strategic Review of UN-AIDs programming in India (2002).

UNICEF, Iraq

§ Ten year post sanctions, Programme Review of UNICEF supported programmes in South and North Iraq. Included workshop fascilitation, sectoral reports for Health, WATSAN, Education, Child Rights and Protection with focus on women’s issues (2000).

§ Situation Analysis of Children and Women in North Iraq within the Rights perspective (2001).

MacArthur Foundation, U.S.A.

Programme consultant for their Fellowship for Leadership Development and Institutional grants programme (1995- 2003). Roles included:

§ Appraisal of Grant Proposals.

§ Five Year Strategic Planning – Country Strategy (2000-2005).

§ Evaluation of their Population and Health Programme in India for the past decade.

§ Development of their planning, evaluation and monitoring system for their global population programme.

The foundations focus areas include reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and public health systems.

Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) of Government of Switzerland

Senior Consultant (1993-1998) providing assistance to SDC in building up their institutional partnerships and programme strategies in India with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other N.G.O. partners. Roles included partner institutional analysis, programme design, support for capacity building of partners, monitoring and evaluation of programmes.

Short Term Consultancy Assignments

· Evaluation of GTZ-Germany’s small project fund (SPF).

· Ten year programme and institutional review of National Foundation of India – a national level NGO donor agency.

· Team Member of Study on "Capacity Building of Voluntary Agencies (NGOs) in India" for CAPART (the apex donor organisation for NGO funding by Government of India); Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

· Study on "Human Resources Development for the NGO sector", Oxfam (U.K.).

· Organisation Development Consultant to NGO partners of NOVIB (Netherlands) in East India.

· Capacity Building support to UNICEF sponsored "Girls Education Project" in Uttar Pradesh' UNICEF (Lucknow).

· Coordinator of Institutional Study on "District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) of the Government of India", with the purpose of revamping Government of India's rural development programmes; Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.

· Mission Member as management resource person for "Institutional Development for the District Primary Education Programme"; Ministry of Human Resources Development; Government of India.

· Consultant to U.S. Aid, New Delhi for “An Institutional Assessment for Reproductive Health Project in Rajasthan".

· "Reaching Out to NGOs ‑ The Donor's Dilemma" ‑ a strategic and institutional plan for international donors in the health sector for their NGO involvement, UNDP, New Delhi.

· Evaluation of the Fellowship Programme of MacArthur Foundation, U.S.A.

· Evaluation studies of NGO funded projects in the field of livelihood generation for Oxfam (U.K.); Oxfam (America); NOVIB (Netherlands).

· Team member of national study on "The Rural Non‑Farm Sector in India" for the National Bank for Agriculture and Development (NABARD) and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).

· Documentation Research of Women's Economic Programmes for World Bank, Social Development Unit.

1985-1990 Co-entrepreneur and Programme Director with Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), that has established itself as a national level NGO, working in seven states of India in the area of poverty alleviation through micro enterprise development and sustainable livelihood generation.

Roles and Tasks included :

· Building up PRADAN as a national level NGO employing over 100 professionals.

· Recruiting, training and launching young professionals in the field of rural development.

· Rural development project startups, management and monitoring.

· Fund raising, HRD and other strategic management functions.

1982‑84 Senior Executive with Foundation to Aid Industry Recovery (FAIR) in India for rural industrial and small industry development in India. Roles and Tasks included economic and social policy advocacy and management of different rural based economic upliftment projects.

1978-1981 Execitive at Intercraft Ltd - Delhi based company for exports and domestic retailing.

4. TEACHING EXPERIENCE

· Visiting Faculty at Institute of Rural Management, Anand ‑ developed and taught course on "Alternative Approaches to Development Action".(1991-1992)

· Visiting lectures in BIRD, NABARD Staff College and Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow on rural development and NGOs.(1995-1998)

5. PUBLICATIONS/PAPERS

· "NGO Self Evaluation : Issues of Concern" ‑ World Development, August 1987.

· "Leather : From Flaying to Tanning" ‑ Moving Technology, 1988.

· "Rural Enterprise Development: Dilemmas in Implementation" ‑ PRADAN Occasional Paper Series, 1989.

· "Managing Common Property Resources : A Theoretical Enquiry" ‑ World Anthropological Conference, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, July 1988.

· "Sub‑sectoral Approach to Small and Micro Enterprises" ‑ Journal of Small Enterprises, 1992.

· "Giving Credit where it is due : Reaching the Poorest of the Poor" ‑ Commact Conference Papers, Kuala Terenganu, Malaysia, April, 1992.

· “Rural Industries Promotion for Poverty Alleviation : The NGO Perspective” - ESCAP, Bangkok Conference Paper, July 1997.

6. PARTICIPATION IN SEMINARS/WORKSHOPS

i) Word Development Conference on NGOs, London, 1987.

ii) NGO Leadership Programme, IDR, Boston, 1990.

iii) Inter Action Forum, Baltimore, USA, 1990.

iv) CII Summit on `Small Scale Industry in India', 1997.

v) UNIDO Workshop on "Developing Clusters of Small Industries", 1996.

vi) Third Working for Common Wealth Conference, Malaysia, 1992.

7. AREAS OF INTEREST AND SPECIALISATION

· COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING APPROACHES TO SOCIAL PROGRAMMES.

· INSTITUTION & ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT.

· SOCIAL PROGRAMMING STRATEGIES AND POLICY ANALYSIS.

· EVALUATION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES.

Educational background:

He is an IIM Ahmadabad Alumnae and did his graduation from Hindu College, Delhi University.

He also completed Finance for Private and Policy Sector Development Course from Harvard Institute for International Development, USA, 1996.

2