Mira Kakkar, President

A graduate in Education and Psychology from Calcutta University, she has over 20 years experience in behavioural change communication with special training in the audio-visual medium from the UK and Holland. Her strengths are in strategy planning and conceptualising innovative communication channels. Mira's field of special interest is Health & Environment. Her work with drug abuse and sexual health won her a special grant from the British Council to visit similar organizations in the UK to share experiences with them and learn from their wealth of information and expertise.

Himalini Varma, Director

A graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Himalini has worked at both national and international levels. She is skilled at developing innovative, health communication strategies and tools. Her experience covers challenging work with children, youth and women in difficult circumstances. Himalini has also worked with rural communities in the Kumaon hills.
She been associated since 1994

Santayan Sengupta, Director

An Industrial Design graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Early in his career Santayan got involved with computer applications, which gave him the professional space to explore music, animation and software development. Santayan has been a visiting faculty member at the NID. He has also worked in the Kumaon hills, with the responsibility of overseeing a Carpentry Training and Production Unit that was set up as a part of a development project.

Santayan has been associated since 2000.

Dilip Chakraborty, Store & Office Manager

Dilip lives in a village called Usti (about 2 hours from Kolkata) and prefers to commute every day to work. He manages the daily accounts, office administration and stores. His strong organising skills help the entire team function effectively. Dilip has been with the team since 2002.

Revati Banerjee, Outreach Coordinator

Revathi brings to the team her decade long experience from the corporate sector. At TF she is in charge of coordinating the Outreach Programme with youth. She is an active changemaker and her passion and management skills are an asset to the team.

Revathi has been associated since 2004 and has represented the organisation at International and National forums.

Sumita Roy Chowdhury, Graphics Support

Sumita joined TF to contribute to the design department however her involvement has grown and she has been supporting the team in outreach work as well. Sumita is resourceful and always willing to find solutions.
Sumita has been with the team since 2007

Binita Chakraborty, Outreach Support

Binita began her association as a Change Maker in 2006. After her MSW she joined TF to assist in the Outreach Programme. Binita enjoys being out on the field and is passionate about her work.
Binita joined us full time in 2008

Sahana Nag Counsellor

Sahana is a trained psychological counsellor from Samikshani. Sahana began her association with TF as a Change Maker in 2006. More recently she joined TF as a Counsellor to support the Outreach Programme on a part time basis.

Krishna Golder

Krishna was identified as a peer leader at an RCH workshop in 2005. Over the next few years she got actively involved with various TF outreach programmes. Krishna was selected for the Fellowship Programme in 2007-08 and is a Senior Youth Trainer today.


Krishna has strong team building skills and has facilitated many residential camps and workshops with young people on gender and domestic violence, reproductive health, human rights etc.
She is also the Founder of Youth Resource Cell Ujaan in Gobindapur. Ujaan has 28 young people, in the age group of 13-30 both boys and girls. Krishna has challenged many situations of injustice in her community.

Anjana Paul

Anjana, a National Service Volunteer, became an active changemaker and TF volunteer in 2006. In 2007-08 she was selected for the Fellowship Programme and today Anjana is a Senior Youth Trainer at TF.
Anjana has facilitated many residential camps and workshops with young people as well as community members on reproductive health, water-sanitation etc.
Anjana is also the Founder of Youth Voice Group in VIP Nagar. Youth Voice has young people, in the age group of 13-24. She has also intervened in situations of child marriage and supporting her community members through various crisis situations.

Uma Singh

Uma was identified as a peer leader in 2005 and over time she became involved in various TF Programmes. In 2007 - 08 she was selected for the Fellowship Programme. Today she is the lead facilitator for the Fellowship programme.
She conducts sessions on Self Exploration, Human Rights, gender and domestic violence. She along with Krishna led a 20 member youth team from West Bengal to a National Assembly at Lucknow.
Uma is also the Founder of group Nabadisha in Gobindapur. Nabadisha has boys and girls, married and unmarried young people.

Shahina Javed

Shahina was part of the Fellowship Programme in 2008-09 and is now a Youth Trainer. She has facilitated many sessions with young people as well as community members on gender and domestic violence. She feels strongly about girls’ mobility and is a role model for the girls in her community.
Shahina is the Founder of Roshni Group in Rajabazar, which has young people in the age group of 13-24 years, most of whom are Muslim girls.
Shahina has been associated with Thoughtshop Foundation since 2008.