Amita Sahaya and Sunita Kaistha are the Co-founders of WWHI
Amita Sahaya: is the Founder-Secretary of Women Work & Health Initiative. She is a writer with three published books, her focus being gender issues and fiction. She has co-edited the following publications: Women Work & Health Current Concerns, Inspiring Women (experiences of women from Finland and India) and Gender & Development. She is on the Editorial Board of ‘Women’s Link’ a magazine on Gender
Amita Sahaya is the Co-founder of BINDU "Building Initiative & Networking for the Development of the Underprivileged", adult literacy centres established in Jhansi and Delhi. She is presently the member of the International Scientific Committee of WWH. She was the Conference Secretary of the “International Conference on Gender & Development in the World of Work” held in Jhansi 25-27 March, 2010. She was the co organizer of the Seminar on Gender & Development in the World of Work & Health with focus on Agrarian women held in Nainital from 19-20 November, 2010. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Centre for Women studies and Development, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.
She is the Founder Director of Findia Foundation – a forum promoting design and cultural ties between India and Finland. As a part of this Indo-Finnish cooperation, she has facilitated an intervention amongst the weavers in Maheshwar (Madhya Pradesh) for capacity building and preserving the handloom tradition, in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India.
She is a core committee member of the Advisory Board of the School of Gender and Development Studies being set up by IGNOU- University, New Delhi.
Sunita Kaistha (PhD): Sunita Kaistha is an Associate Professor in Business Studies. Her special focus is on Gender Work & Health. Her doctoral degree in International Trade and M.Phil in Human Resource Development has been instrumental in her running grass root level organizations (non-profit) for literacy for underprivileged women and children, as well as capacity building for women especially through handicraft and handloom.
She has worked extensively to look at migration of labor and its impact on HIV/AIDs from origin to destination .Her area of interest continues to be Gender and the labor market and its impact on development. Presently she is working on forming networks of researchers and institutions to work in collaboration for comparative studies in Sweden and India. She has been invited to be a Guest researcher at the Dept of Work Science at the Goteborg University,
Sweden for 2011.) She is a core committee member of the Advisory Board of the School of Gender and Development Studies being set up by IGNOU- University, New Delhi.
Sunita has been actively involved in the development field for more than a decade. She is the Founder- SWL (Society for Working Life-2003), under which literacy centers have been set up for children (age groups 3 – 12 Yrs) The centers set up in slums of Kalkaji and Sangam Vihar in Delhi provide mid day meal to children also.
She has co- edited the following books:
a) Inspiring Women- A study of Inspiring women in India and Finland (2008) (Published by Findia Foundation, New Delhi.)
b) Women Work & Health – Current Concerns, (2010) (Published by The Women Press, New Delhi)
c) Gender and Development (2010) (Published by The Women Press, New Delhi.)
She was the Secretary General to the IV International Congress on Women Work and Health held in New Delhi in 2005. Sunita Kaistha is also a consultant for Findia Foundation – promoting academic and cultural ties between India & Finland
Advisory Panel
Vibhuti Patel (PhD): is the Head of the Department of Economics and Director, Department of Post Graduate Studies and Research, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. She is a member of the subgroup on Gender and Agriculture for the 11th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, Government of India. She has co-authored two books: Indian Women-Change and Challenge and Researching for half the sky. In 2002 she authored the book Women's Challenges of the New Millennium. She is co-editor of the series of volumes on empowering Women Worldwide.
Ramakant Verma: is the President of the Coordinating Committee in Jhansi. He is a distinguished Industrialist and Philanthropist. He is the grandson of the noted Hindi writer Vrindavan Lal Verma. He is working extensively to implement the initiative the programmes of Women Work and Health Initiative, in Jhansi.
Devika Singh : - President Singhbhum Mahila Vikas Manch
Christine Nathan : Regional Specialist in Workers Education, ILO, Bangkok, Thailand
Sanjyot Vadhavkar : is the President of General Mazdoor Sabha and Textile Kamgar Sabha. She works with the trade Unions in Mumbai (Maharashtra), India.
Anil Das : President, Hind Majdoor Sabha, (HMS), Madhubani, Bihar
Veena Pande : She is the Head of the Department for Department of Bio-Technology, Kumaun University.
Vijaylakshmi Chauhan : Director of UGC Centre for Women Studies, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan (India)
Niraj Sharan, Entrepreneur
Manjusha Maheshwari, Entrepreneur
Sudha Rungta, Professional
Maya V Varma, Entrepreneur
Meena Varma, Social Worker
Sister Organisations
- Findia Foundation, New Delhi, India
- Society for Working Life (SWL), New Delhi, India
- Dancing Brushes , New Delhi, India
Universities
- School of Gender & Development, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India
- SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai (Maharashtra), India
- Department of Bio- Technology, Kumaun University, Nainital (Uttarakhand), India
- Department of Social Work, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi (U.P.), India
- Centre for Women’s Studies, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur (Rajasthan), India
Partners & Support Groups:
- GMSTKS, Thane, Mumbai
- Hind Majdoor Sabha, ( HMS), Madhubani, Bihar
- Prakriti, Nagpur
- Jan Mangal Sansthan, Nagpur
- International metal Workers' Federation, South Asia Office, New Delhi
- Manana, New Delhi
- Steel & Metal Workers Fedearation, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
- Singhbhum Mahila Vikas Manch, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand