Christy Abraham, a dynamic leader, has 25+ years of experience in a range of development and human rights issues. She is passionate about the rights of poor and excluded groups and communities and has worked on issues of disability, HIV and AIDS, and women͛s rights through her career with organizations including Ashraya and Actionaid.
Christy͛s early interaction with APD was while working on a project funded by Actionaid in 1990-96. She vividly recollects the time from the days of late Ms. Hema and Mr. Naidu.
Christy has served as the Regional Manager for Karnataka, National Theme Leader for HIV and AIDS and International Coordinator of Women͛s Rights with the Actionaid International Secretariat.
She is well-known in the development sector for her significant experience inmobilizing communities, formation of networks, Community Based Organizations, building community perspectives on rights and justice and contributions to 25 research papers across multiple domains.
Additionally, she is on the board of some national organizations including Ashraya.
Christy is a post graduate in Social Work with specialization in Management.She also received training in Leadership Development from Chulalankorn University, Bangkok, Thailand and Maxwell School of Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA.
As the CEO of APD, Christy provides executive leadership to meet the aims and objectives of APD
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Seema is a development sector professional with more than twenty years of experience in programme management, voluntary fundraising and capacity building. She has worked at ActionAid International leading their India and global Child Sponsorship and Supporter Care function. Her work at ActionAid provided her with the opportunity to travel widely, interact with and learn from people from varied cultures, fields and nationalities and develop the flexibility to adapt to diverse roles and areas of work.
Seema started her career in the development sector with Agha Khan Rural Support Programmes (AKRSP-I) in Gujarat, where her foundation on natural resources, gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, participatory approaches and managing implementation of development interventions was laid. She also had a small stint with teaching teach Maths and Science to High School students in Uttarakhand. Seema has a Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. She also has a Master’s degree in Geology and a Bachelor of Education.
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Dr. Senthil N.S. Kumar has 18 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation across areas in clinical, academics, research, innovation, commercialization and research grant writing.
His experience is enhanced by 8 years at Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore. Further, he has 9 years of International work experience at reputable universities and hospitals in Malaysia.
Senthil has more than 15 international peer-reviewed journal publications and 4 Intellectual properties (2 patents & 2 copyrights). He has also authored a book on biomechanics under Jaypee Brothers, medical book publishers.
Senthil has completed his PhD in Rehabilitation with a full scholarship from the National University of Malaysia (University Kebangsaan, Malaysia). He also represented UKM in the International arena as General Ambassador for 2 years.
Senthil was brought up in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. His spouse is a physiotherapist. They have two children. He is a nature lover, enjoys gardening, music and reading.
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Jawahar Ramanathan (Ram) has 25+ years of experience in Corporate Finance, Accounts, Budgeting, Reporting, Taxation, Auditing, Corporate, Legal and Statutory Compliance, SOX, Fund Management, MIS, ERP and System Implementations.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is a Post Graduate in Financial Management (M. Com).
Ram has overseas and indigenous experience in controlling and enhancing financial processes and reviewing financial data for facilitating strategic financial growth of organizations.
He is an active participant in various seminars and programs by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and academics. He also works as a visiting faculty and Board of Studies member at reputed management institutes and colleges.
Ram was CFO of EVRY India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Norwegian IT and ITeS conglomerate EVRY. Prior to that, Ram was with Siemens as AGM.
His interests are movies and travelling.
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Shiva Hiremath has been with APD a long time and worn many hats.
He has been the Principal of the Training Center and Livelihood Program Head (Institutional and Community based). He has facilitated effective and appropriate livelihood opportunities for persons with disability (PwDs). He is also involved in training APD staff and other NGOs on leadership and promotion of livelihood for the disabled.
He has participated in several symposia and presented papers on vocational training for PwDs. Currently, he takes care of the implementation of the District Disability Development program in three districts of Karnataka state.
Shiva Hiremath now heads the outreach efforts of APD to various divisions of Karnataka.
He loves to play volleyball, badminton, carom and chess, likes to travel and enjoys the beauty of nature.
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Ganesh Shivaram Hegde began his journey at APD in 1992. He leads the Horticulture Training Unit of APD which is the only one of its kind in India.
The Unit has been in existence since 1987 and has seen over 1800 underprivileged persons with disability find gainful employment in the areas of gardening, horticulture, cookery, sustainable agriculture, and allied fields.
The Horticulture program promotes ecology/green environment and is also therapeutic. Ganesh is undoubtedly one of the very few individuals who have expertise in both the areas of horticulture and disability.
During his years at APD, he has trained many gardeners, gardener specialists, supervisors and entrepreneurs. He has supported other NGOs to initiate horticulture therapy projects to reach out to more people with disabilities.
Ganesh presently runs all livelihood programs of APD for gainful employment such as horticulture, industrial training centre, employment led training, job readiness program, and other departments connected with them.
He holds a bachelor's degree in Science (Agriculture) and is a post-graduate in Environmental Science.
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Jayanth comes with 30+ years of rich and variable experience. He has over a decade of experience in HR & Administration functions in various sectors such as Trading & Construction in UAE. In fact, he has spent 24 years of his professional life in UAE.
Jayanth enjoys challenges. He is a great team player, is knowledgeable and highly professional.
Born and brought up in Bangalore, Jayanth is happy to be back to the garden city with his family.
His other interests include social activities, media, cricket, travelling, cooking, and meeting people.
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Guru has directed and managed all education programs of APD Institutional, Districts and RSOs to ensure efficient, effective & appropriate education opportunities for children with disabilities to achieve inclusion in society.
He is involved in Resource Support to Organizations to promote disability development work in Karnataka both in institutions and communities through NGOs and other bodies.
Over the years, he has participated in several symposia and presented papers on CBR approaches & practices, promotion of inclusion of persons with disability. He has also facilitated various training programs on development, project planning and Monitoring & Evaluations. He also serves as a guest lecturer for CBR courses at the Bangalore University through the CBR network.
Guru is a Common Purpose graduate and a leader in the Landmark Forum.
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Passionate about community-based rehabilitation (CBR), Janardhan joined APD in 2007 as the Project Coordinator for the Urban Community Based Rehabilitation Program.
He has donned multiple roles at APD and is currently the Deputy Director - Education, Mental Health and HRD.
A high school teacher from 2000 to 2003 and a Common Purpose graduate, Janardhan worked as a state-level resource person in the Grama Panchayath Members Capacity Building Training satellite program for the Karnataka Panchayath Act, 1993 at the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD), Mysore. From 2003 to 2007, he worked with a rural NGO called Grameena Abhudaya Seva Samsthe (GASS) at Doddaballapur, Bangalore Rural District as the Program Manager for CBR programs.
At APD, Janardhan is the resource person for seminars, workshops and training on CBR, CMHP, disability, human rights, child rights and advocacy as well as lobbying from state to village level. He is also the master trainer for Census 2011, Govt. of Karnataka.
Furthermore, he is a committee member of the Commission of Persons with Disabilities, Bangalore Metro Access, and State Malnutrition Eradication (Disability Wing).
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As Assistant Director, Strategic Partnerships, Ramesh works with Strategic Partners to improve their operational excellence. He also provides the local network and contacts to support and sustain projects and monitoring & evaluation of APD divisional programs.
Ramesh has 16+ years of experience in the development sector. He has worked with Kalike, an Associate Organization of TATA Trusts, as Project Director in Yadgir for 5 years. Another 5 years were with Diocesan Social Service Centers under Karnataka Regional Organization for Social Services (KROSS) Bangalore, State Training & Resource Center (STRC), a collaborative project of BIRDS, KSAPS and NACO.
Ramesh's areas of expertise are elementary education, health, disability, community development, monitoring and supportive supervision. His engagement with "disability" includes support to children with learning difficulties, conducting surveys & needs assessment of people with disability. He has represented NGOs of Yadgir district for UNDP's Human Development Index study, 2013-14. He also participated in KSAPS annual Targeted Interventions (TIs) evaluation as an external evaluator in 2008-09.
Ramesh is a post-graduate in Social Work from School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore and an MBA in HRM & Rural Management from IIBM, New Delhi. Also graduated from Common Purpose’s Meridian Leadership Programme 2017-18, Bengaluru.
He enjoys listening to music, watching cricket, gardening and conducting sessions on Personal Growth & Professional Development and Project Management͛ for students of Social Work and NGOs.
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Babu has over 15 years of experience in pro-people groups and the development sector. As Assistant Director, Policy & Advocacy he works with the advocacy team and Government at state and district levels to proactively develop strategies to build ecosystems for sector growth.
Prior to APD, Babu was with Child Rights and You (CRY) as Manager, Development and Support team of Karnataka. His engagement with disability includes support to the Disability Collective for 4 years as Coordinator.
He has also worked with the non-profit Equations as a program coordinator. He has been the voice of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in Karnataka for their rights.
Babu's areas of expertise include child rights, disability, perspective building, advocacy, community development, monitoring and supportive supervision.
He holds a Master and M. Phil degree in Psychology from Bangalore University. He enjoys reading, writing and travelling.
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