Why SoCh?
Grounded, Experience & Enterprising
Flexible & Sustainable
Who We Are?
SoCh for Social Change was founded in 2015 by Anusha Bharadwaj and Rohit Ranganathan with a vision to tap into the potential and passion of women for social action. SoCh has been providing technical support to its sister organization, VOICE 4 Girls to train their pool of counsellors who are predominantly college students. It is during this endeavour with these young women that SoCh realized that women lacked information about health, safety and rights, skills and agency, social impact and leadership irrespective of socio- economic status.
According to the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) Report 2017-2018, the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of females fell to 23.3 %, of which the LFPR in rural areas declined by more than 11%. The role of SoCh becomes crucial due to the abysmal workforce participation rate of females in rural and urban areas and the lack of women leaders in development sector. We at SoCh work with women in equipping them with the knowledge to be future changemakers.
Anusha Bharadwaj
Position: Founder & Director
Anusha has an MBA in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) and an MA in Sociology from Annamalai University. Anusha believes that she is a catalyst of change, which brought her into the development sector in 2002.
Anusha is passionate about enabling and empowering the next-gen women in the social impact leadership space to find their cause and chart their path. The genesis of SoCh was Anusha’s drive to demystify the development sector for these young women and to help them become social leaders. The inspiration behind SoCh have been the 1000s of incredibly passionate and committed young women who have interned with SoCh’s sister organisation, VOICE 4 Girls who helped them transforming the lives of close to 85,000 adolescents and that of their communities. It is through these young women that Anusha realised that irrespective of their socio-economic status, women lacked the essential skills to become future changemakers. Anusha believes that by actively engaging with young women and driving them to become leaders in their communities is the fastest way to achieve the SDGs. Apart from leading two organisations, Anusha occasionally likes to take a break by travelling or indulging in visual storytelling.
Rohit Ranganathan
Position: Co-Founder
Rohit is our in-house quantum science geek! He did his MSE and BE in Physics and EEE from BITS Pilani. He holds around 9 patents and has led projects with leading companies in the automotive and mobile domain. He was a delegate at CSC World Leaders summit at London/Glasgow and continues to work with a group of seven CSC Leaders from seven countries on a Public-Private-Partnership Model on creating a set of indices to rate energy inequity. He is also a member of the Skoll Leaders Regional Initiatives where he worked with four Skoll Leaders to create a multi-country Impact Program that embraced girl education, renewable energy, water sanitation and rural development. Rohit believes that young women can unleash their true potential with the right information and experiences and wants to create a space and peer-group for such effective conversation. Rohit has a fascination for motorbikes and in his free time likes to listen to classic rock.
Vanitha Prabhu
Position: Core Group Strategist
Vanitha holds a Masters in Public Policy with a career spanning over 11 years in various social sectors. Vanitha’s core expertise lies in girl child programming, public health, research and monitoring. She has presented research papers in national and international forums. She has set up new processes and systems at place, for smoother implementation of the projects.Vanitha is passionate and dedicated towards empowering adolescent girls and women. She believes that educating them guides them to question stereotypes and helps them to become leaders in their communities – driven with responsibility. Vanitha has a great sense of humour and passionately enjoys talking about food.
Nayonika Roy
Position: Senior Program Officer
Nayonika has obtained a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. She has also worked for women’s rights and safety under the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Delhi and MV Foundation, Hyderabad. Nayonika is an outspoken young woman filled with passion for social justice, gender equality and empowering the girl child. A feminist researcher at heart, she has made it her life’s mission to uncover stories of marginalised communities and create a better world for women. She is an avid reader, a connoisseur of art and accomplished classical dancer in both Odissi and Kathak.