CEQUIN Craft is a not for profit initiative and the items are handcrafted with love by women from challenging circumstances, underprivileged and under-served communities. The proceeds from the sale go a long way in helping them to become economically independent & self-reliant.
Professionally qualified as a Physiotherapist from Boston University and currently working as a Consultant in the field of disability and development with 25 years of experience. Focus areas of work include working with people with disabilities and their families in community-based programmes; sensitization and training of professionals, community members and other stakeholders; designing tools for rights-based programming; and advocacy and policy related work. Worked for 20 years with Action for Ability Development and Inclusion, an NGO, on creating enabling and inclusive environments for children and adults with disabilities for participation in all spheres of life like home, school, work, sports, recreation, leisure and exercising democratic rights. Presently also on the board of Shroff Charitable Eye Hospital.
Shubhranshu has over two decades of global brand and category-building experience with some of the most admired brands in the world. He currently serves as the Vice President – Marketing for Tata Motors’ Commercial Vehicles business. Prior to this, he was the global CMO at Royal Enfield. In earlier stints, he led marketing in South Asia for Visa, Unilever’s home care, Lakme skin and cosmetics & deodorants businesses. He was also CMO for Star Sports between 2014-18 where he conceptualised and launched several sports leagues including Pro Kabaddi, Premier Badminton League and Indian Super League. He created many campaigns for women’s sports and was instrumental in the launch of Khelo Infia program.
Shubhranshu secured a gold medal in the Masters Program in International Business – 1999 from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. He is the Chairman of the Marketing & Sport Development Committee at Bowling Federation of India. He has also served as a pro-bono advisor to the ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports from Jan 2018 to Dec 2018.
He has chaired the jury for APAC Effies 2021 and also served on the jury for the Global Iridium Effies 2021 as well. He has liberally shared his knowledge and expertise with the marketers of tomorrow. He is a regular guest lecturer, adjunct faculty, at premier management institutions like the IIMs.
He is also a prolific writer and writes a column for several publications particularly on brand building, consumer sociology, technology and trends.
Mimi Choudhury has been a publishing professional for two decades, having worked at senior editorial positions at leading presses Macmillan India, Sage Publications, Oxford University Press, and Orient BlackSwan. She has commissioned academic and semi-academic books across a range of subjects and headed social sciences publishing at Orient Blackswan. She has been especially passionate about books with direct contemporary relevance—on politics, history, society, and culture. In keeping with this interest, she chose to move from publishing books for a largely niche audience to those with potentially wider readerships.
Mimi believes now more than ever in the importance of commissioning domain experts to also write for informed audiences in an accessible, non-specialist style.
Farah Naqvi, an alumnus of Columbia University, is a feminist, writer and activist. For over 25 years she has worked on gender, caste, and minority issues, towards justice, democratic rights and freedom from violence.
Her work has spanned a range of media and locations – from remote villages to public policy spaces – as Member, National Advisory Council or NAC, (2010-2014); Member, Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee (Kundu Committee), Ministry of Minority Affairs (2013-2014); Member, Planning Commission Steering Committee on Empowerment of Minorities, for India’s 12th five-year plan (2011-2012); Member, Planning Commission Steering Committee for Women and Child Development, for the 11th five-year plan (2007-2008); Member, Planning Commission Working Group on Adolescents’ Development & Youth Affairs, 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2008); Member, Planning Commission Working Group on Minority Affairs, for the 11th five-year plan (2007-2008).
She has worked on law reform including the 2013 Criminal Law Amendment Act on sexual assault laws; draft law on communal and targeted violence; amendments to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act; amendments to include domestic workers in sexual harassment law – all entailing advocacy with government and parliamentarians; inter-facing with relevant Parliamentary Standing Committees; writing submissions and deposing before Standing Committees.
She has also been part of several fact-finding reports on situations of civil strife and communal violence including in Chhattisgarh (War in the Heart of India), Muzaffarnagar (30 Days and Counting and A Human Tragedy Unfolds), Gujarat (Survivors Speak &Threatened Existence). She has authored two books – Waves in the Hinterland (2007) about a newspaper created by Dalit women journalists and Working with Muslims: Beyond Burqa and Triple Talaq (2017) about how the voluntary sector engages on the ground with India’s largest minority. For nearly two decades, she has worked on hate-based violence and internal displacement in India, and recently co-directed with Srishti films (Bangalore) The Colour of My Home (2017), a film about loss, remembering and rebuilding broken lives, post the Muzaffarnagar violence of 2013.
Rukmini Sen is Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Studies Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi, India. Currently she is holding the positions of Dean School of Heritage Research and Management, Director Outreach and Extension Division and Centre for Publishing. With 18 years of teaching and 12 years of research experience with her, her areas of specialisation are sociology of law, feminist pedagogy, qualitative research methods, contemporary urban kinships and intimacies. She has recently been awarded the WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace) SAAHAS awards 2020 recognising her continuous engagements with curricula using an intersectional lens, and courageous efforts to bring structural shifts in the everyday functioning of higher education spaces through innovative pedagogy and counselling.
She is an Advisory Member of Country Reference Group for the research project ‘Sustaining Power for Women’s Rights in South Asia’ jointly to be conducted between Indian Social Studies Trust with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex. She is a member of International Research Collaborative 2020 on ‘Early Women Lawyers in the Legal Profession’, with Law and Society Association, Amherst, USA. She was a Co-investigator, ‘Feminist Taleem: Teaching Feminisms, Transforming Lives: Questions of Identity, Pedagogy and Violence in India and the UK’ (2017-2020) funded by UGC-UKIERI and Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi collaborated with University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
She has 2 co-edited books and 2 co-edited journal special issues. She currently has 16 book chapters and 12 journal articles published through various national and international publications.
CEQUIN partnered with Roop VK Foundation for the project on ‘Badhte Kadam’ on working with women collectives, forming and strengthening existing Mahila Panchayats in Mewat.
CEQUIN partnered with MCKS Trust for the project on ‘Creating Aspirations and Linking Women and Girls to Livelihoods’ on creating livelihood opportunities for women and making them self-reliant.
CEQUIN partnered with DSP Investment Managers Pvt Ltd for the project on ‘Leveraging Work with Men and Boys to Address Gender Based Violence’ addressing GBV using a life cycle approach and bringing in the need to sensitise men and boys
CEQUIN partnered with BSES Rajdhani Power Limited for the project on ‘Jamia Community Resource Hub for Women’s Empowerment and Youth Mentorship’ which focused on working with women and girls to build their skills and increase their opportunities and working closely with the community to make them aware of their rights and duties as responsible citizens.
CEQUIN partnered with UNESCO under the flagship programme of Kickstart Equality on building linkages and partnerships established through CEQUIN’s National Alliance for Women’s football in India platform.
CEQUIN partnered with Australian Government’s ‘Direct Aid Program’ for the project on ‘Football for Girls’ Empowerment’ to promote empowerment & leadership through football and strengthen women’s football in India.
CEQUIN partnered with Hero Moto Corp Limited for the project on ‘Employability Training and Placement/Self employment for Girls’ to conduct employability training for girls in colleges in Haryana and connect them to the companies for placements.
CEQUIN partnered with Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies for the project on ‘ Mrado Wali Baat: Towards creating gender equitable communities’ to engage with adolescent boys in order to reach the overall goal of creating a gender equitable society.
2015
Project Name: ‘Promoting Education and Safe Spaces for Women and Girls’
Beneficiaries: Adolescent girls and boys
Geographical coverage: Delhi
Duration: 16 days (during 16 Days of Activism)
Project Output:
Project Description: UNFPA supported CEQUIN’s Kickstart Equality campaign being run in partnership with the Development Aid Programme (DAP) of the Government of Australia. The ICTs were created to increase awareness on the issue of human rights and CEQUIN distributed these amongst 200 students in Delhi. During the ’16 Days of Activism,’ more than 100 students participated in a flash-mob which mentioned the importance of non-discrimination and gender equality. This flash-mob was posted on Youtube- ‘Kickstart Equality.’ The engagement and gender sensitistion of the boys helped CEQUIN to open the minds of a very closed community to the issue of gender equality, non-discrimination and VAWG, as these role models did onwards sensitisation in community.
2017
Project Name: Empowerment of Adolescent Girls’ in Mewat
Beneficiaries: Adolescent girls
Geographical coverage: Mewat, Haryana
Duration: 1 year
Project Outcomes:
Project Description: The objective of this programme was the empowerment of girls through targeted interventions, leadership skills, life skills and innovative outreach mechanisms such as football for girls. Within the particular project, CEQUIN ran football camps in the 5 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) and 10 Co-ed schools in Mewat, which included sessions on health, livelihoods, etc along with technical football sessions.The methodology used by CEQUIN was empowerment of girls through football. The intervention with the KGBV aimed at building the girls’ confidence. leadership and developing capacity in a safe and comfortable setting, while the intervention with girls in the co-ed schools aimed at building confidence, leadership, shattering stereotypes and encouraging the girls to claim their space in a mix-gender environment. Out of school girls’ capacity building, knowledge creation, linking back to education and livelihoods took place through community camps. CEQUIN also engaged with the boys of the community to generate awareness on gender discrimination, the need to end gender based violence and to create role models who advocate for the women and girls within their communities.
Amita V. Joseph has an educational background in Management (PDGM), Law (LLB ) from Delhi University) Post graduation in Human Rights Law (Law Institute). Amita has worked in the Corporate, legal & Development sectors for three decades.Amita has worked as Program Manager for South Asia with responsibility for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Nepal, as Social Development Adviser with DFID ,Country Director with Global Alliance, amongst other assignments – EED for South Asia partners, SCF, etc.
She developed Indias first MDP on CSR at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in 2008 & this is an annual course where she has taught. Amita has been a member of the group that started work on homelessness in 1999 & was also part of the Homeless policy drafting group. Her CSR case studies co authored with Proff Gupta of IIM Bangalore has been accepted by Ivey Business School ,Ontario & the case study on Magarpatta is part of the working papers of IIM Bangalore. Amita writes, teaches ,trains & works on Legal advice supporting Public Interest Litigations that has challenged environmental pollution, electoral rights, homelessness amongst other issues & been a jury member on public hearing & on awards. She has written for the Financial express, Business Standard, Outlook Business, Civil Society ,Seminar & Consumer Voice Magazine ,etc. Amita is on the Board of Centre for Responsible Business, with SRUTI, with MESH (Maximizing Employment to Serve the Handicapped) & Director BCF. She is a member of the expert group set up by IICA on the CSRGuidelines for industry & presently completing her PhD with Deakin University, Australia
Emeritus Consultant Professor GRIPMER
MBBS (Cal), MD (AIIMS), FICMCH, FICOG, FIMSA
Head of Department & Chairperson,
Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology,
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi
Life Member of AOGD/ FOGSI, National Association of Reproductive & Child Health (NARCHI), Life Member of Indian
Menopause Society (IMS), Life member ISOPARB, Life Member of Indian Society of Oncology, Life member of AGOICON
& AGOI, Life Member of the Indian Association of Gynecological Endoscopists
Dr. Rohan D’Souza is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy. He was awarded his PhD from the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is the author of Drowned and Dammed: Colonial Capitalism and Flood control in Eastern India (1803-1946), Oxford University Press, 2006. His edited books include The British Empire and the Natural World: Environmental Encounters in South Asia (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Environment, Technology and Development: Critical and subversive essays (Orient BlackSwan: Hyderabad, 2012). His interests and research publications cover themes in environmental history, conservation, ecological politics, sustainable development and modern technology. Rohan D’Souza has held postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University ( Agrarian Studies Program) and Universityof California, Berkeley (the Ciriacy-Wantrup fellow ). He was also a senior research associate at the Centre for World Environmental History (University of Sussex) and visiting fellow at the Resources Management Asia-Pacific (Australian National University). He was recently awarded the Short Term Chair at the University of Tokyo ( Japan) as Visiting Professor of Contemporary Indian Studies by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (2012).
Dr. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed is a Member of the Planning Commission of India. She is a feminist and writer,who is widely recognized for her passionate engagement in public affairs and social issues, especially for women, minorities and peace. She is the Founder Member of the Muslim Women’s Forum and a Founder Trustee of the Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia.
Padma Shri, 2007
Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award 2006
Rahul Bose is a film and theatre actor of great repute. His film career took off with the unprecedented success of his first film, ‘English, August’, today a cultish favourite amongst cinephiles. Acclaim followed for his work in movies like ‘Split Wide Open’ (Best Actor, Singapore Film Festival, 2000), Mr. And Mrs. Iyer, and ‘Jhankaar Beats’ – all international award-winning films. Although ‘Thakshak’ and ‘Chameli’ may be considered to be more mainstream, his image as India’s premier actor of the alternative cinema finds concurrence across the world. ‘Time’ magazine called him ‘the superstar of Indian art house cinema’ while ‘Maxim’ (Italy), ‘the Sean Penn of Oriental cinema’.
Rahul’s social concerns occupy an equally important space in his consciousness. In 2007 he started his own non-profit organization, The Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the removal of discrimination from all walks of life. Rahul has engaged with several initiatives to address environment concerns and climate change. He was involved with post-Tsunami relief efforts for which he was awarded the Godfrey Phillips Prize for Bravery in Social Service. His efforts in the fields of gender equality, communal harmony and nondiscrimination have been recognized with Oxfam International appointing him as their latest Global Ambassador. An acclaimed speaker Rahul has delivered talks across the world. He continues to write prolifically on issue ranging from gender equality to the future of Indian cinema.
