Women's Day 2022: Women Empowering stories

Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited (YuWaah) and Youth Development and Partnerships at UNICEF

Dhuwarakha is a national of Sri Lanka and an international development expert, with nearly 20 years of strategic planning and programming experience with UNICEF and UNHCR in the areas of adolescent/youth development and participation, gender, and child protection.  

As the Chief of Generation Unlimited, Youth Development and Partnerships with UNICEF India, she currently leads and coordinates one of the largest initiatives with and for young people on learning, skilling, employment, youth innovations, and civic engagement with support from the public and private sector partners. She has previously worked with UNICEF Regional Office of West and Central Africa in Senegal and in Sierra Leone, where she managed the programs on child protection and adolescents including the support to the Ebola response.

Prior to this, she worked in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka with UNICEF and UNHCR, and she was involved in the design and implementation of child protection and education programmes in complex emergency settings including the Tsunami response in 2004 – 05. She has also worked as a Research Fellow with the University of Melbourne in 2007.

Tara Singh Vachani - Managing Trustee - Max India Foundation 2.0

Tara works with various implementation partners across India such as Teach for India, among other NGOs, to enable education opportunities for underprivileged children. Whether it was starting a business vertical dedicated to creating a senior care ecosystem – one of the firsts in India and as early as 2013 – or working closely with children at grassroots through our philanthropic arm, her vision for leadership has been simple: people, who engage with them, should return home with a sense of satisfaction that their needs will be taken care of earnestly.

Venturing into a space that is driven by passion, brings a deep sense of purpose, and aids her in charting a territory of her own are the guiding pillars of how she perceives leadership personally. These pillars catalysed her efforts to build an entity or brand in the form of Antara Senior Care which has constantly created a difference in the community.

Meanwhile, their efforts at community building and contribution to the country’s human capital formation through active contribution towards education have benefitted thousands of children. For instance, over 5.4 million beneficiaries were helped through their Education Alliances in 2021, while over 40,000 children received education through other NGO partners and more than 17,000 people were aided by their COVID-19 support programs.

Ms. Sonali Khan, Managing Director  at Sesame Workshop India

Sonali Khan leads Sesame Workshop’s educational mission in India to create innovative and engaging content that maximises the educational power of all media to help kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.  As Managing Director of Sesame Workshop - India, Sonali spearheads the organisation that combines the power of mass media with educational outreach to prepare children for school and life. Under her leadership, the organisation develops and implements ground-breaking programs to reach children everywhere – especially those who need it the most.

Sonali is a global advocate for human rights and for ending violence against marginalised communities, with an emphasis on girls and women. Her work has focused on promoting gender equity in education, empowerment of adolescent girls, along with ending domestic violence, sexual harassment, and early marriage. She began her career as a television journalist covering politics and business and has since worked for a variety of organisations that harness the power of media for social change. Sonali is a proud recipient of the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar (Women’s Empowerment Award) from the President of India. In 2016, she also received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship for her