Meet the People Behind PRISM

Aniruddha Dey, PhD, presently working as the Hon’y Chairperson. He is having a very good knowledge of working at the rural as well as urban sectors on the development issues during his 35 years’ service in various geographical as well as programme fields and skilled in Designing Action Oriented Projects, Policy Research, Organisational Processes, Partnership Management, Facilitation, Team Building, Networking, etc. Presently he is the Chairperson of PRISM. He is vastly experienced in implementing grass roots development projects in various parts of the country. He has experience in designing and implementing need-based programmes and projects like, Poverty Analysis and Effective Micro Planning, Micro Finance Management, Empowerment and Capacity Building, Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Management, Community Health Care & Management, Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Displaced people, Community Forest Management, Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Resilience, etc. His works involved extensive interaction with the administration and the departments in sensitising its staff towards developmental intervention, and mobilising resources by dovetailing various government schemes. He has introduced the concept of Tri-Sector Partnership Arrangement (business as partners alongside governments and civil society for the development of communities) of BPDs Natural Resources Cluster, comprises of the world's leading transitional and domestic oil, gas and mining corporations, together with the World Bank Group (IBRD and IFC), DFID and Care International. He is the Co-Chairperson and Co-Convenor of the Climate Action Resource Network (CARN).

He has received two International Awards so far, i.e. The International Cultural Diploma of Honor for achieving prominent positions in society because of exceptional contributions to professions and communities and The 1998 ERM Excellence Award in the category of GLOBAL PROJECTS for Social Assessment of Infrastructure Projects: Project Gopalpur – R & R Monitoring and Evaluation by the ERM International.

Dilip Roy is the Hon’y Secretary of the Professional Institute for Development and Socio Environmental Management (PRISM), Kolkata, having almost 20 years of working experience at grassroots level in different social and geographical environment. He has been closely associated with different CBOs, Clubs, Agricultural Firms, etc. in West Bengal in general and in North 24 Pgs district in particular. He has been involved in initiating and facilitating various developmental activities especially in the field of Community Organization for various developmental issues, health, education, etc. Apart from having a very good knowledge of working at grassroots level, specialized in working on health & environmental issues, micro finance system, and economic empowerment of poor. He is skilled in Facilitating, mobilizing, networking, coordinating etc. Presently he is associated with the Public Health Engineering Department, GoWB for a Safe Drinking Water Project in the Arsenic Contaminated Areas of West Bengal (Haroa and Bhangar-II Blocks) supported by the Asian Development Bank.

Sutapa Ghosh, is the Hon’y Vice Chairperson of the society. The Producer Director, started working as an independent producer and director from 1992. Since then, made a number of documentary films both in celluloid and video format for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (GoI), Ministry of External Affairs (GoI), Directorate of Information (GoI), Publicity & Tourism (GoI), Andaman & Nicobar Administration, National Network and Regional Channel of Doordarshan etc. Produced and Directed corporate films, advertisement films, educational films, TV serials for Doordarshan and private TV channels as well. Many of the self-produced films were purchased by different Ministries like Department of Information & Cultural Affairs (Govt. of West Bengal), Ministry of External Affairs (GoI), Publicity Division (GoI), National Museum, Indian Museum, Sangeet Natak Academy, CCRT, etc. Made documentary films. Also made documentary and training films for leading NGOs and INGOs. A few of the films have been selected in the International Films Festival under Indian Panorama Section. The Film NACHNI was awarded the Best Film Award in the year 1998 by the Bengal Film Journalists Association (BFJA).

Piu Sengupta, Experience gained till date from 1998 after MSW on various social and public health projects undertaken across India, focusing on WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), HIV/AIDS, gender issues, and disaster risk reduction. Key activities include organizing training programs, conducting focus group discussions (FGDs), and developing communication strategies. Projects involved collaboration with government bodies, NGOs, and international organizations like UNICEF and the Asian Development Bank, World Bank addressing issues such as climate change, gender-based violence, and child rights. The work spanned multiple states, emphasizing capacity building, research, and community mobilization to improve public health outcomes and social welfare. Post-graduation from Calcutta University & Schooling from Rourkella.

Raktima Mukhopadhaya, Ph D, is one of the Hon’y Governing Body Members of the Society. She is also the Executive Director of the Indian Institute of Bio-Social Research and Development (IBRAD). She did her Ph D in Ecological geography from the University of Calcutta. She has more than 25 years of experience in training and research with a focus on participatory management of natural resources, participative governance and gender sensitization. Training for the senior-level government officers as well as community organisations. Designing and implementation of large-scale multi-stakeholder projects. Collaboration and networking with the different stakeholders at the national and international level

Aafreen Alvi is one of the Hon’y Governing Body Members of the Society. She did her M Phil in fisheries science from the Aligarh Muslim University and serving the Fisheries Department of the Govt. of West Bengal. She is a strong, determined leader who works hard and cares deeply. Her heart is pure and she has a fighting spirit. She is like a strong support for the people she cares about. Even when she is stressed with her duties, she is always willing to do whatever it takes for the loved ones.

Saradindu Banerjee is one of the Hon’y Governing Body Members of the Society and presently the President of SPADE and Vice President of Sabuj Sangha, Kolkata. He has a vast and varied experience of working in other countries like USA, Italy, France, England, Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal in different capacities and organizations. He possess a total experience of 35 years and his specialization is in Fund management and administration of large scale social development programmes, human resource development, networking with Government and funding organizations; Monitoring and evaluation. Mr. Banerjee was the Founder Director of SAHAY, a non-profit organization affiliated to Children International, Kansas City, USA and had played an instrumental role in setting up the organization. Also Mr. Banerjee has the experience in decentralization of organizational structure and capacity building of organizations on Reproductive Child Health Programmes through his work with CINI. He also has experience in monitoring and evaluation of programmes and has done assignments for CASA, UNICEF, Trickle Up, Oxfam and DFID. He has worked on education projects for deprived children in North Bengal with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, funded by UNESCO as well as for children in slums and railway platforms along N.F. Railways, funded by UNICEF

Jhuma Das, is one of the Hon’y Governing Body Members of the Society and she is responsible to assist her senior Ms Nita Dhar for the entire Northern Part of West Bengal. She is responsible for all types of technical as well as documentation works of PRISM-NB. She has been supporting the project team for documentation and finance management. She is also a Key member of a Women’s Enterprise namely BARNALI PELLO JUKKI FOUNDATION comprising 1495 women from Madarihat-Birpara and Kalchini blocks, of Alipurduar District, Norther part of West Bengal, India

Ruma Debnath is the Hon’y Treasurer of the society. Adventure Tourism is her passion. After completing her schooling from Barasat Girl’s High School, she went to Habra Sree Chaitannya College and graduated from there. She is a practitioner of the ROOF TOP GARDENING and also promoting natural farming. She is encouraging her neighbors in the urban areas to grow vegetables of daily requirements and spreading the message of the benefits of Nutrition Garden. She loves to support the children of the marginalized families with education and the elderly persons with Health Tips.