Strategic Initiatives Lead • APD
Inclusion
is strategy.(not just charity)
I architect ecosystems where inclusion is engineered by design, not retrofitted as an afterthought. I bridge the gap between boardroom vision and grassroots reality to ensure impact is structural, scalable, and sustainable.
“Strategy without execution is just theory. Execution without strategy is just noise.”
I have the unique privilege of waking up every day to connect dots that matter, and if I am lucky—create new ones. My career is built on a single, uncompromising premise: Inclusion is more than charity, it’s strategy.
Currently, I am living this truth as the Lead for Strategic Initiatives at APD. My role is to build the big picture—to turn ambitious ideas into sustainable ecosystems. I am architecting flagship initiatives like “The Disability NGO Excellence and Ecosystem Strengthening Initiative” and the “Centre of Excellence for Persons with Disabilities (Social Campus),” designed to anchor APD as a Thought Leader and an Ecosystem Enabler in the sector.
Bridging Boardroom & Grassroots
My 360° Perspective is powered by
The Funder’s Lens
Managed a portfolio of 15 projects worth over ₹35 Crore. I did more than allocate funds; I built a solid strategy that guided the investment of the Centre of Excellence for Persons with Disabilities, maximizing the Social Return on Investment (SROI).
The Operator’s Grit
Managed 14 skilling projects across 5 states. I learned that for inclusion to work, it must be scalable and rooted in everyday execution.
The Field Immersion
My strategic view is forged by execution. I have handled 25+ high-quality field projects. This diverse exposure ensures that my strategies are battle-tested against real-world complexities.
The Academic Rigor
Masters in Disability Studies. Coupled with an Honours degree in Sociology, this education grounded my ability to design interventions rooted in both field realities and critical theory.
Strategic Initiatives
A curated portfolio of ecosystem building, strategic capital engineering, and operational scaling.
Driving Sector-Wide Dialogue
I. Strategy Design & System Architecture
Designing the structures and processes that sustain the sector.
Example: Strategic planning session with NGO partners
The Sector is driven by compassion but constrained by capacity- weak compliance, inconsistent quality, limited expertise - resulting in low scalability and sustainability.
Designing a strategic blueprint that aligns ecosystem partners and internal capacities to create a unified support network.
Positioning APD as a definitive 'Sector Enabler' and 'Thought Leader' by building a sustainable ecosystem for NGOs.
The sector lacks a dedicated physical and intellectual shared space for cross-pollinating and sharing inclusion models.
Developing the architectural strategy for a 'Social Campus' that serves as an innovation lab and knowledge repository.
Establishing a future-ready ecosystem that centralizes R&D and sets new benchmarks for disability interventions globally.
Moving from incremental yearly growth to exponential scale without compromising service quality or retention.
Developed a strategy with clear, engineered milestones for outreach, placement, and retention.
Set the organization on a trajectory to impact 10x more lives within three years.
Disability interventions are often fragmented, treating medical issues in isolation from social or economic needs.
Executing a holistic model across Health, Education, Livelihood, and Social domains, driven by local community ownership.
Delivered comprehensive care to 6,000 beneficiaries, ensuring sustainable outcomes through deep community alignment.
II. Strategic Capital Management
Investing funds with precision for optimized social return on investment.
Large-scale CSR funding risks inefficiency and 'leakage' without rigorous strategic oversight.
Engineered rigorous 'Project Implementation Models' and M&E frameworks to bridge co-funders and implementing agencies.
Achieved 100% budget utilization and optimized objective achievement for partners like Dr. Reddy's and SCPwD.
Identifying truly high-potential partners from a massive pool of applicants with varying capacities.
Designed and led an end-to-end RFP process, including field visits and deep-dive scrutiny of 70+ proposals.
Secured sanctions for the high potential projects for the year and created a pipeline for next year.
Diverse partners use different metrics, making it impossible to get a unified view of portfolio health.
Created standardized models that unified financial and operational reporting.
Streamlined monitoring for 15 projects, enabling data-driven decision-making and seamless audit compliance.
Treating conditions like Clubfoot and Leprosy often fails when limited to hospitals, ignoring long-term community support.
Managed the 'Clubfoot Elimination' (Anushkaa Foundation) and 'Comprehensive Ulcer Care' (Leprosy Mission Trust) projects.
Treated 1,800 children for clubfoot and 1,000 leprosy patients across UP, MP, and 16 pan-India hospitals.
Students with visual impairment and those in remote geographies are systematically excluded from education and rehabilitation.
Oversaw 'STEM for Visually Impaired' (Vision Empower) and 'Assistive Tech in Remote Geographies' (Mobility India).
Delivered specialized pedagogy to 1,000 students and assistive devices to 560 beneficiaries in remote Assam.
Scaling healthcare often leads to a 'volume over quality' approach that treats patients as numbers.
Upgraded clinical services to pair advanced diagnostic tools with deep empathy for individual needs.
Scaled screening capacity to 4,700 beneficiaries, ensuring precise and humane healthcare.
III. Operations & Scale
Turning ambitious strategies into on-ground reality.
Managing operational consistency across diverse geographies and center types (Day Scholar vs. Residential).
Synchronized delivery standards and streamlined implementation workflows across all 14 projects.
Ensured consistent quality and outcomes for over 3,000 Persons with Disabilities annually.
PwDs are often excluded from banking careers due to a lack of recognized, accessible job roles.
Collaborated with the Skill Council for PwD (SCPwD) to design the curriculum and standards for this specific role.
Created a formal, certified entry point for PwDs into the financial services industry.
Skilling programs often fail to bridge the 'last mile' gap to actual, sustainable employment.
Monitored the project's advanced data management system for precise candidate tracking and enrollment.
Successfully trained 840 candidates with a market-leading 70% placement rate.
A lack of granular data on disability prevalence in rural belts prevents effective intervention.
Utilized Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools to survey 70+ PwDs in Odisha and 50+ in Mumbai slums.
Created a data foundation for targeted support and established local community networks.
IV. Research & Thought Leadership
Grounding strategy in rigorous evidence.
A significant gap exists between corporate intent to hire PwDs and the actual execution of inclusive recruitment practices.
Analyzed successful execution models to map the specific process bottlenecks employers face.
Produced actionable strategies for mitigation, recognized as the 'Best Research Project' at TISS.
Mainstream educators are often unprepared to include Children with Disabilities (CWD) in their classrooms.
Examined the perceptions of Bachelor of Elementary Education graduates towards inclusion.
Published in the TISS Journal of Disability Studies, highlighting critical gaps in teacher training curriculums.