Our Team

Madhu Vaishnav – Founder & Executive Director

Madhu Vaishnav was born and raised in Jodhpur, India, where she founded IPHD in 2013 in response to a need for women’s empowerment. She has ten years of work experience in civic and social organizations, including five years as the local program coordinator at the international nonprofit Foundation for Sustainable Development. She also founded the ethical fashion social enterprise Saheli Women in 2015.

Madhu has a master’s degree in Indian history and Hindi and completed her postgraduate studies in community and social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Her expertise spans multiple areas of community development, including microfinance, skills training, HIV/AIDS awareness and sex worker education.

Jhansi Mangal – Program Coordinator

Contact: jhansim.iphd@gmail.com

Jhansi Mangal is from Hyderabad, India. She moved to Jodhpur in 2013, and joined the IPHD team in 2017.

Jhansi studied at Osmania University in Hyderabad and worked in telemarketing and quality assurance at Vibatel Solutions for the multinational banking company HSBC for five years. She also worked for one year at Global Innovsource for the State Bank of India in the credit card section.

Jhansi is fluent in Hindi, English and Telugu. Her language skills along with her welcoming personality and ambition make her the ideal coordinator.

Rukiya Bano – Center Manager Bhikamkor

Rukiya Bano lives in IPHD’s adopted village Bhikamkor. She joined the Livelihood Program as an embroider on the first day of our Saheli Women project in 2015. Since then, Rukiya has become a pivotal member of IPHD as the Saheli Community Center manager.

A Muslim mother of four daughters and a son, Rukiya moved to Bhikamkor when she was 16 years old to live with her husband. She is often seen at the community center laughing. Rukiya is passionate about girls’ education, and she believes her daughters will grow up to be engineers, doctors or the mayor of Bhikamkor.

Shanti Ji – Center Manager Kaliberi

Shanti Ji lives in Kaliberi with her husband and her two sons. She was born in Jodhpur. As a victim of childmarriage she was promised to her husband at the age of 2. She attended school, but had to leave early to marry her husband and live with him. She faced many challenges in her life, such as living with her mother-in-law, and getting a labour job. She started as a tailor, stitching garments at peoples’ houses and in shops. She was struggling and her health was deteriorating.

She moved with her family to Kaliberi and built a house. She joined a foundation who were building toilets, and worked as a advocate for the community. This rebuilt her trust, and her confidence and health improved. When she learned about the Saheli Women she joined us. She is a wonderful addition to our team. Mobilising the ladies, linking them, arranging the trainings and handling all things at the Kaliberi center.