CREA STAFF

Geetanjali Misra, Executive Director
Geetanjali Misra: Co-founder and Executive Director of CREA, India/USA. Geetanjali has worked at the activist, grant making and policy levels on issues of human rights, gender, sexuality and reproductive health and violence against women. Before joining CREA, she was the Sexuality and Reproductive Health Program Officer at the Ford Foundation. She is the co-founder of SAKHI for South Asian women in New York, a non-profit organization committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin. She is on the Board of Directors of Reproductive Health Matters, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, Women's Dignity Project and Mama Cash, and was President of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) from 2006 – 2008. She has co-edited Sexuality, Gender and Rights: Exploring Theory and Practice in South and South East Asia (2005).

Shalini Singh, MANAGER Programs
Shalini is a trained counsellor, with a background in social sciences and law. Her previous work experience includes counselling, training on women and law, domestic violence, child sexual abuse and sexual harassment at the workplace. Before joining CREA she served as Assistant Director of the Women’s Justice Initiative, a program of the Human Rights Law Network, New Delhi. At CREA, she coordinates various aspects of the Community Based Leadership Program including training and developing publications in Hindi.

Sunita Kujur, MANAGER Programs
Sunita is a postgraduate in Social Work from the University of Delhi. She has worked for over ten years on issues of sexuality, gender, health and rights. Sunita has been a counselor on sexuality issues with the helpline at TARSHI, New Delhi, has brought out publications on sexuality for young people and has conducted sexuality education sessions in schools and colleges. Sunita has also developed community-based projects and done policy advocacy at Swaasthya, a Delhi based organization working on reproductive and sexual health with women and adolescent girls. At CREA, she coordinates the Young Women’s Feminist Leadership and Advocacy Institute and the work with Central Asian activists. She also works on the global advocacy project at the Human Rights Council and across programs.

S. Vinita, manager programs
Vinita Sahasranaman is trained in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work but left that world to actively work within the human rights field. She has worked on issues of sexuality, gender and rights and is currently working with CREA. Vinita's work within the Community Based Leadership Program in CREA focuses on building feminist leadership among grassroots women's rights organizations. She is fascinated with the ways in which language can be used to empower or discriminate women and is working on building scholarship in Hindi on sexuality, gender and rights.

Caroline Earle, Program coordinator
Based in the New York office, Caroline works for CREA in development, administration, communication and U.S. and global programs, including the Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute and the Know Your Rights and Resources Initiative. She received an M.A. in early childhood and elementary education and a B.A. in social anthropology. After teaching for six years she joined CREA in 2004.

KALPANA KHARE, PROJECT COORDINATOR
Kalpana has over two decades of experience in working on Violence Against Women and women's health issues. She has extensively worked with different networks in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on these issues. Kalpana comes to CREA with the experience of coordinating advocacy initiatives at the grassroots level and as a trainer on issues of reproductive health and Violence Against Women. At CREA, Kalpana works with community based organizations that are a part of Ibtida and assists in the grassroots campaign on son preference.

SANJANA GAIND, ASSISTANT PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Sanjana holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Prior to joining CREA, she has worked on HIV and AIDS, reproductive and sexual health issues and on rights of women in sex work. Her work on these issues has focused on developing communication and training resources and applying art forms like films and theatre for awareness, advocacy and action. At CREA, she coordinates the Count Me In: Campaign With Me component that builds awareness and understanding on the harmful manifestations of son preference that lead to violence against women. Sanjana also works on the public education program of CREA.

MEENU PANDEY, ASSISTANT PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Meenu has worked on issues of social change since 2005 in the capacities of a researcher, a counsellor, a translator and an activist. Her work has included counseling, research studies, advocacy, trainings and translations in the areas of gender, health, sexuality and education. She holds a Masters degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Meenu is currently working as an Assistant Program Coordinator in CREA. Her specific job responsibilities include assisting in the coordination of a research study on violence against marginalized women in South Asia; and, a multi year program on disability, sexuality and human rights.

Asma Saleem, Senior Program Associate
Asma, with a background in literature and journalism, has worked on the various aspects of clash of tradition and modernity in the Indian Muslim society, with special focus on the changing attitudes of Muslim women and youth. As the head of Charkha Urdu Feature Service, she pioneered development journalism in Urdu. She has also taken a lead in spreading awareness and promoting participation in democratic and secular processes, with particular emphasis on the emergence of subaltern forces and marginalized groups like women in Muslim society. Sahitya Akademi and Penguin India have published her translations of Punjabi and English works into Urdu.

Chaitali Bhatia, Senior Program Associate
Chaitali is a postgraduate in Social Work from the Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune. Prior to CREA she worked on reproductive and sexual health issues with women and adolescent girls at Swaasthya, a Delhi based organisation and Parivar Seva Sanstha, a national level NGO. At CREA, she works on a project that aims at building capacities on sexuality, gender and rights and feminist leadership of activists and organisations in Central Asia and across programs.

Diksha Dubey, Director Finance
Diksha holds Masters degrees in commerce and in business administration with specialization in Finance. She came to CREA with six years of experience in administrative and financial coordination working with international reproductive health NGOs such as INTRAHealth International Inc. At CREA, she manages the administrative and financial coordination of all CREA programs, ensuring that the organization’s financial and legal duties are fulfilled.

Rambishnu Sasmal, finance manager
Rambishnu holds Masters degrees in Commerce and in Business Administration with specialization in Finance. He also holds a Diploma in Financial Accounting System (DFAS). He is a qualified accountant, specialized in financial management in the development sector. Before joining CREA he worked with Partners for Law in Development, a Delhi-based NGO.

RENUKA AGARWALA, HUMAN RESOURCE AND OPERATIONS MANAGER
Renuka comes to CREA after having worked 12 years in the Ford Foundation as a Program Assistant with various grant-making teams, including the Sexuality and Reproductive Health program. She joined CREA on Sep. 15 as Human Resource and Operations Manager. Her main responsibilities are: Program Planning and Implementation Processes, Human Resources functions, Administration and Operations of CREA, Fundraising and Donor Management, and Office Environment and Policies.

Aditi Gogia
Aditi has a Masters degree in Commerce with specialization in Accountancy. Prior to joining CREA, she was working as an Executive Assistant to the Team Leader (Adolescent Cell) in UNFPA. At CREA, she assists the Executive Director in addition to providing administrative support.

Lukas, Office Assistant
Lukas assists with office administration and dissemination of CREA publications. Before joining CREA he studied English typing. He is pursuing a Bachelors Degree in Arts from the University of Delhi and developing his computer skills.

dulal das, housekeeper
Dulal handles housekeeping and general office maintenance.