Neha Rathi has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications, a law degree from the University of Delhi, and a Master of Laws in International Human Rights from the London School of Economics. At the Human Rights Law Network, she worked on two cases that resulted in the award of compensation to victims of reproductive rights violations for the first time and assisted on the landmark reproductive rights case of Laxmi Mandal vs. Deen Dayal Hari Nager Hospital & Ors. In the past year Neha has conducted legal research on Justifiability of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; Law of Self-Determination and Secession; and Poverty as Violation of Human Rights. She has published articles on reproductive rights in The Asian Age, Asian News International, Sahara Time, and Hard News Magazine.
Mentors
Sushma Shende is currently overseeing the maternal and newborn heath programs of Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action (SNEHA) in the capacity of Program Director. She holds a Master’s of Science in Anthropology from University of Pune. Sushma has been with SNEHA since 2002 and previously worked with KEM research center Pune and BAIF, both at Pune. She has 15 years of experience in handling health system research and development projects in tribal and urban areas. Her expertise includes improving public health systems and developing new public private partnerships and she has significantly contributed towards the process of building SNEHA’s partnership with Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai for improvement in the quality of care for mothers and newborn health. She has presented papers on maternal and newborn health in number of national and international conferences.
Wasundhara Joshi is a Pediatrician and Neonatologist, trained in Mumbai, India. Dr. Joshi possesses Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examinations (DNB) degrees. After ten years of experience in teaching and clinical work in pediatrics and neonatology at the Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital in Mumbai, she moved to the field of public health and development, co-founding the nongovernmental organization SNEHA, the Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action. Since 1999, SNEHA has been working towards improving the health of women and children in the urban slums of Mumbai. After serving on the board, Wasundhara took over as the Executive Director of the organization, overseeing its growth and expansion of the programs and research as well as engagement on public health policy. She continues to serve on the board. Her special interest and passion is behavior change and organizational development. She is a trained process facilitator, well versed with using diverse techniques like Appreciative Inquiry and Theatre.
Project
As a Young Champion, Neha worked with the Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action to document maternal deaths audit processes in Maharashtra, conductworkshops on reproductive rights in the community and increase her exposure and knowledge of issues pertaining to maternal health, maternal deaths, and pregnancy-related risks.