About Us
About ECONET
Programme Priorities
Strengthen grassroots governance by implementing PESA in the Schedule V areas of Amravati, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Palghar, Ghadchiroli and Yavatmal districts of Maharashtra, by mobilizing local tribal (youth & women) and gram sabhas through capacity building, participatory research and engagement with the government bodies/institutions, towards empowering them in securing their rights over forest resources and in the local self-governance.
Build leadership within tribal, NT & DNT – of youth, women and community members from 19 districts of Maharashtra by facilitating Community Centric Models / Nomad Resource Centre to improve access to entitlements, to enable informed participation in the PRIs, to address gender based discrimination in & outside of the community, and to support young graduates and social entrepreneurs from tribal & DNTs to experience & experiment their innovative ideas, concepts, strategies and models of change, by providing trainings, establishing linkages, skill building and identifying platforms of engagement within and outside of ECONET towards sustainable development & social inclusion.
Enabling the tribal, NT & DNT and marginalized groups to harness the sustainable farming techniques and climate resilient practices, engage in the PBR and natural resource management, and preservation, documentation and updating of the indigenous knowledge and cultural practices through community learning circles towards ecofriendly and green energy reliant villages.
Our Vision
Ecology/environment protection, gender justice and social inclusion become the basis for building and nurturing communities, processes and institutions aimed towards sustainable livelihood and development.
Our Mission
- Towards achieving its broad Vision set for long term accomplishment ECONET aims to undertake.
- Situational analysis of the diverse vulnerabilities that exists in the socio-political and economic spheres of life, and reflects the historical discrimination and injustices experienced by social groups preventing them from accessing benefits and entitlements in the education, health, livelihood and community participation in the local governance.
- Community leadership development within the historically disadvantaged communities, in particular, adivasis, nomad & denotified tribes, of youth, women, community workers and CBOs, that ultimately takes the community towards enhanced awareness, acceptance and amplification of its voice for a social change & social transformation process.
- Experiencing, Experimenting micro to macro projects by Engaging with the forest dependent and forest dwelling communities aimed to improve their perspective and actions preserving traditional knowledge & practices about sustainable agriculture, to enhance their access in securing legal & constitutional entitlements, to build their capacities in addressing adverse impacts of climate change and finally to seek solutions and options for sustainable livelihood and energy security through community participation, management and ownership of natural resources.
Environmental Justice, Social Inclusion and Substantive Equality are core values that lead the organisation to work towards social change through people’ participation and engagement with the institutional stakeholders. ECONET’s work under its all programmes is guided by this value framework. Broadening the horizons of empowerment, entitlement and development for the tribal and nomad communities is at the centre of ECONET’s interventions at various levels. And towards this community initiative, collaborative partnerships and collective action are chosen by ECONET as modus operandi.
ECONET addresses the ambiguities and gaps in the theory & practice of ecological & environment justice through direct engagement with the communities, building their knowledge & skills, creating spaces for them of experimentation and learning, dialogue with policy and decision makers, and placing the collective learning on the public discourse. Often partnerships are evolved towards this with the community based organisations, NGOs working in a specific geographical and thematic context. Identity, Social inclusion and Substantive Equality are the areas critical for the tribal and NT & DNT communities having historically experienced discrimination and marginalisation at multiple levels, and as a result still on the fringe of development and entitlement. ECONET supports CBOs, activists and young professionals who are passionate and committed towards changing this reality for the tribal and NT & DNT communities through capacity building, knowledge creation and network building. The efforts made by ECONET on human and institutional development of organisations and networks working with these communities have been consistent and well recognised by the civil society and development sector. Demystification, Dissemination, Discourse and Dialogue are the 4 ‘D’ practiced by ECONET in its engagement with the government and other stakeholders locally, nationally and internationally. ECONET in its engagement on the issues of tribal and NT & DNT communities is known for its open-minded and consensual approach in connecting with communities, individuals, experts, NGOs/CBOs and key stakeholders involved in policy and law making processes. This enabled the organisation to reach out to and connect with diverse community of actors and institutions towards convergence on the principle of mutuality of interest and shared ownership. Today ECONET has reached out to more than 42 communities from tribal and NT & DNT population. Maharashtra is the prime location of action and within it the Fifth Schedule Areas and districts where NT & DNT communities are largely based. Apart from ECONET’s work across Maharashtra, the organisation has worked in other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Our People
Founders
Board of Trustees
Team
Founders
Late Mr Adi Patel
Mr Gagan Sethi
Gagan Sethi has more than 40 years of experience in organisational development, capacity building and advocacy at local, national and international levels in diverse cultural settings in Asia. He is a recognised leader in policy formulation, in facilitating development projects and advocating for minority rights. Key experience Gagan was co-chair of the consultative group set up by the Planning Commission of India to draft a Voluntary Agency Policy and has also been co-opted as a member of the assessment and monitoring authority set up under the Planning Commission of India to monitor the Sachar Committee Recommendations. He has been a mission member with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) to support the Government of Mauritius to draft its own Voluntary Agency Policy. Gagan is the founder of ten development organisations working in the areas of human and institutional development, access to legal justice, women’s empowerment, conflict management, minority and Dalit rights, youth employment and education. He is an experienced trainer and has provided consultancy in organisational development, planning and review to several organizations, think-tanks and development projects over 20 years. Gagan is a board member and CEO mentor for more than 15 development organisations and a member of the drafting committee of the Nyaya Panchayat Act appointed by Government of India, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He is the author of four books on legal aid, gender, NGO governance and communal violence in Gujarat.
Mr Anand Kale
Board of Trustees
Mr Sanjay Upadhyay
Sanjay Upadhyay is a designated Senior Advocate by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Prior to this, he established India’s first environmental law firm, Enviro Legal Defence Firm. He also established the charitable arm of the Law firm through the Environment Law and Development Foundation. Sanjay has been practicing environment and development law since 1993. An India Visiting Fellow at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (Fall 1996) and a legal intern to the Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, San Francisco, he started his professional career at the World Wide Fund for Nature– India at the Centre for Environmental Law. Sanjay has served as an environmental and development law expert to most well known International, Multilateral, national and state Institutions including World Bank, IUCN, FAO of United Nations, UNDP, AFD, DFID, ILO, SDC, IC, IIED, ODI, WWF, Green Peace, HBF, TERI, WINROCK, MOEF, MOPR, MOTA, MNRE, IIFM, ICFRE, IEG, WII, IIPA, NIRD, University of Cambridge, Duke University to name a few. His areas of expertise is environment and development law and more specifically the legal and policy dimensions of Natural Resource Management, infrastructure development, environmental governance, Forestry including Governance, tenure, Joint Forest Management, Ecodevelopment, Wildlife Conservation, National Parks and Sanctuaries, Biodiversity, medicinal plants, Marine and coastal ecosystems and Environmentally Sustainable Residential/Commercial Housing in Urban Areas, energy especially renewable energy, climate policy, Environment Impact Assessment, Integrated Water Resource Management, Decentralisation and Tribal Self Rule.
Ms Anita Patankar
With a PhD in Marketing, as well as an M. Com, M.S. (Psychotherapy and Counselling), and a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychological Counselling, Dr. Anita Patankar is the Founder-Director of Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (SSLA) and has led the institute since its inception in 2011. As a pioneer educator of liberal arts in India, she is the only Indian representative and founder member of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities. With over 37 years of expertise in the field of higher education, she is the founding member of India’s first institute for liberal arts, the Symbiosis Centre for Liberal Arts and the Centre for International Initiatives. She is the Director at the Symbiosis Centre for International Studies (SCIE). Dr. Patankar’s teaching career has seen her head the Department of Marketing at the Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce (SCAC). Her courses such as Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, and Advertising and Contemporary Culture, were much sought after. With numerous papers published in prestigious international journals, she has also co-authored three textbooks in Marketing and Business Administration, edited several books for Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, and taught Marketing at the PG and MBA level; in addition to conducting workshops on Communication Skills, Learning Pedagogies, Parenting Young Adults and Personality Development. Her multi-hued career led her to become a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) India-Africa committee. She is also a Trustee on the board of ECONET, an NGO dedicated to offering support in the field of human and institutional development.
Ms Ingrid Mendonca
Ingrid Mendonca graduated from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai with an MA in Social Work. She also has an MPhil in Sociology from Pune University. She has been active in the social development sector for over three decades. Currently she leads the South Asia office of terre des hommes Germany. Ingrid has been active in women’s development sector both professionally and personally. She has been associated with various women’s organisations and has contributed to training girls and women. She is passionate about children’s rights and goes out of her way to support initiatives to protect and safeguard children in difficult circumstances.
Mr George Chira
George has engaged in social commitments from his student days, supporting workers in the unorganized sector and their families. With an MA in Philosophy and LLB from Pune University, he started working in the development sector in the late 70s. He was initially employed with Training for Development Scholarship Society, Pune and later by terre des hommes Germany as its South Asia Coordinator. He expanded the work of terre des hommes Germany across India and into Nepal and Pakistan. He continues to be engaged with different organisations as a Development Consultant.
Mr Nayan Patel
Nayan is currently heading the Institute for Studies and Transformation located in Ahmedabad. He started his professional journey post the masters degree in social work in Gujarat with Janvikas Trust. He coordinated the relief and rehabilitation in Panchamahal district of Gujarat during the challenging times of 2002 communal violence in Gujarat. He initiated and set up a Youth development and conflict transformation programme called Yuvshakti working with marginalized youth in 100 villages of Panchmahals district in Gujarat. As a head of Yuvshakti initiative for about 5 years, Nayan was involved in initiating and setting up of various youth development programmes i.e. Livelihood and employability, Law and information, citizenship motivation programme, local self governance, media, sports and recreation etc. Nayan has gained expertise in the management and implementation of relief and rehabilitation work post natural or man-made disasters. This was demonstrated when he led a team of 20 volunteers to Jammu and Kashmir post earthquake relief work in the year 2005, and later in the year 2009 he worked through a group of 12 small NGOs and CBOs to work effectively in Odisha post communal violence for relief and rehabilitation. Nayan holds expertise and experience in various organizational development skills such as Facilitation, Moderation, Documentation, PME, Conflict Transformation, reporting on Human rights etc. Nayan is very passionate about working with the youth across Gujarat as well as nationally. Apart from his role as a CEO of Institute for Studies and Transformation, Nayan is associated in a capacity of a trustee of National Youth Foudnation, as a founding trustee of Community-The Youth Collective, and he is a executive core group member of INECC (Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change). He is associated with the Young Voices a Network of 20 voluntary organizations working with youth from across the country promoted by National Youth Foundation as the national convener.
Our Team
Core Team
Ms Gauri Bhopatkar
Gauri Bhopatkar: Gauri is a lawyer by training comes from a humble background. With the passion of working with the vulnerable sections of the society to enable, to empower and to educate them, she joined the social sector in 1995. National Centre for Advocacy Studies a pioneer organisation in the arena of people-centred advocacy is where Gauri got her grit as a development professional. Her perspective, knowledge and experience as a human rights educator motivated her to study the Masters in Human Right at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICS), University of London (UK) as a Chevening Scholar. During her times in the UK, Gauri gained a global perspective from her internship with Interights and Anti Slavery. For her the professionally defining years were as a National Coordinator of the Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies, a path breaking initiative of the Ahmedabad based Centre for Social Justice. IIPLS spearheaded the task of establishing a paralegal network organisation to legitimise the role and function of paralegals in the existing legal system in India, and involved grass root groups, NGos, CBOs and mass movements in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Gauri was involved in the conceptualisation and implementation of action research project of UNDP on strengthening access to justice in India (Phase I), and as a part of which Gauri worked extensively with on the issue of access to justice and in particular, informal justice institutions of tribal and nomadic communities in Maharashtra. This was a joint project of NCAS and IIPLS. Year 2009 was again the year of shift, and Gauri joined as a Programme Officer for the Building Capacities for Change Programme at the International Women’s Rights Action Watch (Asia Pacific), the only international organisation working on CEDAW as a tool for social change & advocacy on women’s rights. Gauri coordinated initiatives to address the women’s realities in the area of conflict, economic & social rights, and using CEDAW in law reform and policy advocacy, and the managed IWRAW AP’ CEDAW Compliance Framework Project initiated in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Timor Leste and Laos till she decided to return back to India. This project was to strengthen capacities of women’s groups and NGOs to institutionalise CEDAW through legal and policy framework within national context. On her return to India, Gauri worked as independent consultant on sexual harassment at workplace, youth and gender equality, etc. She is passionate about human rights, women’s rights, access to justice, economic empowerment, and have certificate of participation in the Organisational Change Facilitation conducted by HID Forum, Bangalore. Gauri joined ECONET in October 2015, and took over the leadership role from April 2016.
Mr Swapnil Newale
Swapnil Newale holds a dual Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Social Work; and Advanced Diploma in Industrial Safety (ADIS) bringing over a decade of expertise to the realm of environmental sustainability and community development. He has secured First Rank in the University during Master of Environmental Science. Presently serving as a Program Analyst and Fund Raiser at ECONET. He worked for renowned organizations like Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He has been co-authored for a book entitled “माळढोक अभयारण्यातील पक्षी आणि इतर वन्यजीव” jointly published by forest department of Maharashtra and BNHS, Mumbai. He has worked on the different projects supported by Government, CSRs and other institutions. He has developed several education materials for school children. His key strengths include training and capacity building, networking, research and development, and engaging effectively with people of all age groups. He is deeply committed to preserving and restoring ecosystems while bolstering the resilience of grassroots communities, particularly tribes and marginalized groups. His passion lies in fostering climate change adaptation and advocating for ecosystem conservation.
Mr Rahul Salvi
Mr. Rahul Salvi has a diverse background in community development and social work. He holds a Masters in Social Work (MSW) specializing in Rural and Urban Community Development from Pune University, He also holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering. Rahul joined the Human & Institutional Development Programme of Econet in 2014. He is passionate about Youth leadership development, and that has led him to anchor Econet’s Youth Leadership Programme for NT & DNTs. He is a senior trainer and currently coordinates organisaton’s initiatives centred around capacity building on PESA and the Gram Sabha Buddy programme. Rahul has contributed and played a key role in development of resources and training modules on the Forest Rights Act and PESA in and outside of the Schedule V Area. He had served as Project Manager at Pathfinder International for two years, where he worked closely with female sex workers in the red light areas of Pune city, and advocating for their rights and welfare. Rahul is interested in technology and have learned diverse skills in development communication. He loves to use his Warli Drawing/Painting skills whenever he get the opportunity.
Mr Jitendra Kathale
Jitendra Kathale, holds a BA-MSW degree and has 23 years of experience in the field of social work and community development. He has been dedicated to working with tribal and other marginalized communities in Maharashtra, focusing on women empowerment, socio-economic development, and environmental sustainability. His expertise lies in promotion of livelihood activities, fostering the youths in local self-governance processes, awareness and promoting the effective implementation of crucial laws like FRA and PESA. He has worked for many organizations like INTERVEDA, Gramin Mahila Bal-Vikas Mandal etc. His work at Econet remains focused on the promotion of energy efficient practices in rural communities, organic farming and community mobilization. He also develops the training modules and extends the handholding support to the field team members.
Ms Sunita Deshmukh
Sunita Deshmukh is a dedicated and passionate social development professional with a strong academic foundation from Nirmala Niketan, College of Social Work, Mumbai. She joined Econet as a Project Incharge of Nomad women leadership building program. She works diligently to identify and nurture leadership potential among women from the NT & DNT communities by building their perspectives, knowledge and skills. Being a consultant right now she leads the process of social audit and thematic leadership building program. Sunita’s expertise lies in social audits, research, campaigning, and developing theme-based initiatives. Known for her sensitivity, empathy, and problem-solving skills, she brings a results-oriented approach to her work. Her strong interpersonal skills, dedication to community empowerment, and ability to foster collaboration make her a highly effective for social change. Her career spans impactful roles, including her work at Lokpanchayat and Snehalaya, where she addressed critical issues such as domestic violence, counselling for women, support for HIV/AIDS-affected individuals, community development and child development specifically on education, health and environment.
Ms Kranti Dabir
Kranti Agnihotri – Dabir: After completing her Masters in Social Work in 1997, Kranti started working on issues of violence against women and women rights. Feminist counselling for women and families affected by domestic violence is an important core area of her work. While working extensively on issues of violence against women, she has work as a counsellor, trainer and consultant on Gender-based Violence, Sexual Harassment at Work place and Child Sexual Abuse. As working on these issues Kranti is associates with various government and CBOs, NGO’s in Pune city and Maharashtra like YASHADA, Pune Police and Women’s movement. She is working as a one of the core member of the ‘Maharashtra Mahila Hinsamukti Parishad’, a state level platform represents by grassroots level workers from remote rural Maharashtra as well cities, which are working on violence against women and build knowledge, movement through their work. Currently Kranti is a part of Econet team from August 2023 working as a project consultant for NT & DNT Leadership Program and Gender expert to mainstreaming gender equality at the organizational level of Econet fields and office space.
Ms Diksha Athawale
Diksha Athawale is a Project Officer at Econet with a Master’s in Social Work focused on Public Health from TISS, Mumbai. Her master’s thesis explored the discrimination faced by sex workers in Kamathipura, Mumbai. Passionate about working with marginalized communities, She is especially dedicated to improving the health and well-being of NT & DNT communities through her work at Econet. She is also deeply interested in research, aiming to generate evidence-based solutions for public health issues. Diksha has written an opinion page for Maqtoob Media, where she addresses social justice and health equity challenges. She likes reading, dancing, and listening to music.
Ms Vinda Mahajan
Mr Sumeet Phadnis
Sumit is the youngest team member in ECONET. He coordinates the Constitutional Values and Social Change initiative implemented in teh Khandesh region – Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar. As a young graduate with a degree of BTech in chemical engineering, Sumit chose to work with the people facing diverse challenges in their social, economic and political lives. His summer internship in Mahad (Raigad district of Maharashtra) with the Sane Guruiji Samrak Samiti opened for him the professional path he is currently on. Building self awareness amongst the children, youth and adolescent girls through creative tools and participatory game, exercises and artistic expression defines Sumit as a person and as a professional. Since past 3-5 years he has been intensely working on educating youth and school children as well as community members on the constitutional values and vigilant citizenship. Sumit is a trekker and camp organiser for those passionate about forts, lived experiences in the wild and in the nature. He joined ECONET in 2024 as a programme assistant and later in October 2024 he was given the responsibility of facilitating the constitutional value initiative ECONET has been implementing since 2023 in Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar with a diverse group of young men and women from SC, ST, OBC and minorities.
Ms Swati Bhalerao
Ms. Swati Deepak Bhalerao is working with ECONET since 2012. She is holding the post of “Administrator, Documentation officer cum Finance Assistant”. Being an administrator she engaging in maintains the daily records of ECONET staff such as maintaining the muster, keeping their leave records etc. She plays her role in the preparation of meetings, training program & other activities that happened in ECONET. Also her task is to assisting the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) during the Board meetings and its entire arrangements. Swati does the MIS for the work undertaken by the organisation. She is B. A in English with having a technical skill in computer and typewriting (Marathi & English). She is a multitasking and has a dynamic personality who likes to takes the challenges and move towards goal. Apart from this she is a calm and very gentle to all and having supportive nature who loves music.
Ms Meghana Tattu
Meghana Tattu. Meghana works as a Finance Officer with Econet for the last 6.5 years. She has developed her niche of handling the fund management and financial accounting in a non profit. She has total working experience of more than 17 years. Over the years in Econet Meghana has grown from an accountant to a finance officer and someone attuned to legal and statutory compliances for a Public Trust.
Mr Mukesh Gaikwad
Mukesh is an administrative assistant in ECONET. He is the longest serving employee of ECONET from the current team. Apart from an administrative assistant, he also looks after the library in the organisation. Travelling and interacting with different cultures, communities, Mukesh is very passionate about.
by Savitar Solutions Group