Helping Communities Manage risks from the ground up.

 Dhriti is a graduate of Tufts University, where she majored in Economics and minored in Political Science. She decided to join the Micro Insurance Academy to complement the knowledge she gained in her development economics classes with exposure to fieldwork that she receives as a project manager in the organization. Before MIA, Dhriti did both quantitative and qualitative research on international migration at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC. At MIA, Dhriti currently oversees the implementation and evaluation of two community based micro health insurance schemes in Banke and Dhading districts in Nepal. 

Dr. Shikha holds a PhD degree in Medical Geography, a post graduation in Geography and a PG diploma in Geo-informatics for Disaster Management and Environmental Assessment from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun. She has 10 years of extensive experience in application of GIS/ Remote Sensing techniques in the field of public health management. Prior to MIA she worked as a GIS analyst at Urban Health Resource Centre (New Delhi) where she was responsible for giving technical assistance to the Government of India on GIS related issues. She worked as a part time faculty at National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (New Delhi) and as a researcher at National Institute of Health Statistics (ICMR). She also worked for about 3 years at EPOS health consultant as a Programme Coordinator. Dr. Shikha has further done short term consultancies on urban health issues with Family Health International.

Dr. Shikha joined MIA as a Researcher (Spatial Analysis) and leads the spatial research activities (using innovative techniques of GIS and Remote Sensing) for the FP7-EC funded project.
 

Conor joins the MIA as a Researcher and is currently working on a European Union-funded program using new research designs to look at the efficiency and responsiveness of community health insurance schemes in a number of Indian states. Conor is an economist by training, holding a degree in economics and politics, and a masters in economics. Upon completing his academic work, he spent several years working in economic research and policy making for the government of Sierra Leone. As a researcher, he handled a variety of projects including social impact analyses of various policies, the development costing models for healthcare and education services, and statistical modelling and forecasting of macroeconomic variables.

Ashu Gupta holds a post graduate in sociology from Choudhary Charan singh University. He has joined MIA with the more than four year experience in the social development sector with tier one organization such as W.H.O , SMNET (UNICEF). His expertise are Training , Program Mobilization and Micro Planing.  Ashu Gupta strongly believe that “only healthy society can be a peaceful society”. As a Training Specialist his responsibilities in MIA includes, contribution to workshop and training session,giving training to the target group. He is currently pursuing correspondence MBA in Human Resource Management from Symbiosis University

Richa joined the MIA after assignments as a Programme Assistant in the Woman and Child Development Unit of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, New Delhi, and as a Gender Trainer at the Centre for Social Research, New Delhi.  At the MIA, Richa is working on a GTZ commissioned research project on Collective Action entitled "Using community dynamics in pro-poor insurance: affiliating communities en bloc." Richa is a Post Graduate in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, and a qualified MSW from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Siddhartha Kumar is a Science and Management Graduate and has brought with him experience of twenty years in Rural Marketing, Sales, Micro-enterprise and Project Management. He has worked with various communities at the grassroots level in different states of India. He has the exposure of working with National Co-operative organisations, Leading Corporate and Marketing Consultants, Development Project of World Bank besides Corporate Social Responsibility at National Level. 

He has wide exposure of different haats, mandies and other level of markets. His dealing was primarily in non timber forest produce, agricultural produce, fast moving consumer goods and dairy products. His experience is a blend of development, marketing and liaison where community consensus and participatory approaches are vital and where he has facilitated hand holding support to community for sustainability and self reliance.

Prasreen is an experienced social worker with a MSW and Diploma in Theme Centered Interaction with specialization in training. He has upward of 12 years’ experience in development sector particularly in the areas of training, project development and project management. He worked with Centre for Human Resource Development (CHRD); CHILDLINE of Farook college, Calicut, HIV/AIDS intervention projects of Kudumabshree (A Government of Kerala initiative) & Malabar Vikasana Vedi , Thalessery. and with Farook Institute of Management Studies- Calicut,  Kellogg  Brown & Root (KBR), U S Army Airfield & Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Nahar international & Supreme Agros Ltd, Ludhiana.     His responsibilities in MIA are Development of training pedagogy, Training of trainers, Training process documents, Review of training programs and Coordination with partner-NGOs. He has most notable contributions are in developing business process, visual mediums for trainees like games, role plays and Full scale film on education for Community based Insurance.

Rosy has joined MIA from the Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI).  She is convent educated and has completed a secretarial course with YMCA.  Rosy has 13 years of experience working with NGOs like VANI and NCEPDP where she handled the front office and administrative work.  She joins the MIA as the Executive Secretary to the Director of Operations.

 Heidi McGowan is completing an ILO Technical Assistance Fellowship at the MIA, where she's contributing to research on microinsurance impact assessment.  Her professional experience includes assignments with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, the Emerging Markets Group of Bearing Point and the MFI ACCION New York.  Heidi holds a Master's degree in applied economics from the University of Michigan, where she spent several semesters studying the efficacy of health-related microinsurance and a new development intervention called micro franchising.  

Priyadarshini joins the MIA as a training specialist with more than 6 years of experience in wide range of research, advocacy and campaign activities in the areas of participatory governance, livelihood and health. Previous association with organisations like Center for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) in Orissa and Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) in New Delhi has strengthened her understanding on varied development issues relating to the life and livelihood of the rural and tribal communities in India. She has an MA and Mphil degree in Anthropology with specialisation in Biological Anthropology from Utkal University, Orissa. As a training specialist her job responsibilities at MIA include contribution to the ongoing development of training materials on microinsurance, contribution to workshops and training sessions, giving training to the targets groups and evaluating the training programmes.

Francesco joined the MIA in July 2009 after a fruitful experience at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, UK. He has previously worked as intern, academic contributor and political analyst for the Embassy of Italy in India, the India International Centre in New Delhi and the current-affairs magazine Esquerra Nacional (Barcelona, Spain). Francesco holds a M.Sc in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and his dissertation on South Asian regional cooperation was published as a Special Article by EPW, Mumbai. He has completed his undergraduate studies in International Sciences and Diplomacy (summa cum laude) across Italy and Portugal.

At the MIA, Francesco takes care of fund development, external relations and communication.

Dr. Pradeep Panda is a population economist by training and has been associated with academic research for the last two decades. He has held positions at the University of Bombay, Mumbai and Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum where he engaged in teaching and research. He has also contributed to applied research at the National Council for Applied Economic Research and the Population Council, New Delhi, and at the Institute for Rural Research and Development, Gurgaon, where he was Director of Rural Research. He has published papers in peer-reviewed journals and has undertaken empirical research on gender dimensions of poverty, employment, violence, health and human rights. In his role as a Senior Researcher at the MIA, Dr. Panda leads a team of researchers for the EU-funded project on the impact assessment of community based health insurance schemes in India.

Ralf joined the MIA from the Department for Cooperative Studies of University of Cologne (Germany), where he coordinated a European Union funded project on micro health insurance in India. Ralf has conducted extensive research on microinsurance and also consults in the same domain.  In his role of Director of Research and Training, Ralf coordinates the research and training activities of the MIA aiming to assist in the development of community based micro insurance schemes, which are integrated into the financial system. Ralf is economist by education holding a degree from University of Cologne.

Ansi holds an MBA in Human Resources and has cumulated a wealth of experience in the Development field. Her experience with two well renowned NGOs in India, namely The Leprosy Mission Trust India and Caritas India, will add value to the HR functions of MIA. She had exhibited a high level of work ethics in both the organisations and has pioneered the Performance Management System and customised Enterprise Resource Planning in HR.

Dr. Ajay Sharma brings to the MIA his 4 years of rich work experience in the domains of Medicine and Health Insurance. Coming from the corporate background, Ajay is a healthcare specialist by training, holding a degree in Medicine and Masters in health administration from TATA Institute of social sciences, Mumbai. Experience of working with the various NGOs, support groups, the State Health department and private corporations gives him a holistic understanding of the involvement of various stakeholders in healthcare delivery at all levels. During his two years stint at ICICI Prudential Life Ins. Co. Ltd, Ajay was part of the operations team and was responsible for managing important portfolios such as health claims adjudication and provider network management.

In his current role at the MIA, Ajay is responsible for the development of various concepts for the community based health insurance schemes such as provider contracting and payment mechanisms. He is also working on  innovative health delivery models for the existing CBHI schemes.
 

Jamal has 8 years of experience in international organisations such as Care India and ORBIS International in various capacities. He has rich experience of project development management, long term strategic planning, implementing effective review and monitoring measures, partner management and capacity building. During his tenure with Care India and ORBIS international he has been part of projects on Child nutrition and health, Gender and sexuality, HIV/AIDS behaviour change communication, Disaster management and Childhood blindness prevention. Jamal is a Post graduate in Social Work (MSW) from Dept of Social work, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

In his current assignment at MIA, Jamal is working as Project manager. He is responsible for coordinating and managing microinsurance projects, monitoring project activities and providing technical and managerial support to project staff.

Ranjan holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce and has undergone an Advanced Diploma in Web Designing and E-Commerce Technology & RHCE Training. He has more than five years experience in the Information Technology / Systems management field in various national and international NGOs. At MIA, he is providing his knowledge and expertise in IT infrastructure, web solutions and IT management.

Mackenzie joins the MIA after completing her Bachelor of Medical Science from The University of Western Ontario and her post-graduate studies in International Project Management from Humber College, Toronto. She has previous experience working on micro health insurance schemes in Cambodia and Tanzania, on community construction projects in Guatemala and for child-focused NGOs within Canada. Mackenzie splits her time between the Development team; working on fund development and communications, and for the Advisory services team offering technical advice.