We are inviting our members from across South Asia for our very first virtual facilitated discussion aimed to understand and explore decolonial feminist perspectives in research and practice.

As we prepare for our first South Asia Listening Circle, we’d like to give you a little bit of homework (tiny, minuscule):

Can you think of a time you struggled with designing a feminist research project or a program?

Or, a time when you struggled with creating/implementing a ‘decolonized’ project (for ex: collaborative, co-designed with communities)?

This is a listening circle, and we will spend a good amount of time listening to each other, discussing dilemmas from the field, and exchanging ideas and tips about making our practices more accessible and collaborative. Let’s as a group think up some past or current challenges and share them on April 25th.

Your participation is eagerly anticipated!
Register today to receive a unique link to join us via Zoom.

About our facilitators:

Surabhi Awasthi is a Senior Research Associate for the SWAYAM (Strengthening Women’s Institutions for Agency and Empowerment) program at the IWWAGE (Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality). She specializes in monitoring, learning, and evaluation and manages qualitative research studies. Before joining IWWAGE, Surabhi worked as a research consultant with the National Human Rights Commission. She previously led the Indian research team for the Geography of Philosophy Project at the University of Pittsburgh (USA). She is a trained qualitative researcher whose research interests include gender, labor, the care economy, and changing family institutions. Surabhi holds an M.Phil. in Social Work from the University of Delhi.

Moumita Sarkar has more than 16 years of experience in the field of gender and development, with a focus on leading strategy, policy, and programs on women’s economic empowerment. In her current role as co-lead of the SWAYAM (Strengthening Women’s Institutions for Agency and Empowerment) program for the IWWAGE (Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality), she works with the United Nations, the Indian Ministry of Rural Development, and Panchayati Raj on gender-responsive policy, programs, and financing outcomes. She is passionate about linking grassroots voices with policy and has spent her career in programming, advocacy capacity building, and research toward this goal. Moumita holds a postgraduate degree in rural management.  

Gayathri Sreedharan is an Indian applied anthropologist and ethnographer, and qualitative research specialist. She started her career as a broadcast and print journalist. In 2014, Gayathri earned her MA in Anthropology degree from the University of Chicago, where she studied sociocultural and linguistic anthropology. Gayathri uses her skills as an ethnographer and qualitative researcher to study communities, user behavior and journeys, changing cultures, sociocultural norms, behaviors, rituals, and beliefs and to co-design strategies for change and intervention. In February 2020, Gayathri founded Anthropie, an anthropological research, communication and design consultancy. Anthropie has originated its own applied research approaches and has worked consistently on multiple projects that integrate qualitative, quantitative, and design research approaches.