Jeroo Billimoria

Founder, MelJol

Founder & MD Child and Youth Finance International

Jeroo Billimoria founded MelJol in 1991 and is part of the Programme Committee on MelJol’s Board. She is a pioneering social entrepreneur and the founder of several award-winning international NGOs. Her work has been featured in Business Week, The Economist and several books. Currently, she serves as the founder board member of Child and Youth Finance International. Her most recent initiatives include Aflatoun (Child Savings International), Childline India Foundation and Child Helpline International. She was also a professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Ms. Billimoria is a globally respected speaker and an advocate of economic empowerment for children. Her social and humanitarian work has reached the lives of millions of children around the world. Ms. Billimoria received an MA in Social Work from TISS and an MS in Non-Profit Management from the New School for Social Research University in New York.

Dr. Roshni Nair-Shaikh

Executive Secretary, MelJol

Faculty, Centre for Criminology and Justice, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr.Roshni Nair-Shaikh is the Executive Secretary on the  Governing Board of MelJol and is also a part of the programme committee. She has been a Faculty with the Centre for Criminology and Justice, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai since 2006. She did her Master’s in Social Work with a specialisation in Criminology and Correctional Administration (TISS-1993) and Ph.D. in Social Work (TISS-2015) with a focus on Field work in Criminology and Justice.

Prior to 2006, she worked for twelve years with an NGO, which she was a founder member of, and did pioneering work with youth living on the streets and runaway girls. Her research and teaching interests are with themes of child and youth rights, work with victims, processes which focus on self and criminal justice social work. She serves on the Board of two NGOs, Meljol India and Urja Trust.

She has published seven articles and is a co-editor of a book, ‘Field Instruction in Social Work Education, The Indian Experience’, Routledge (2020). At the 41st All Indian Criminology Conference, in 2019 (Feb) she was awarded the Indian Society of Criminology – ISC Fellowship Award.  Of a twenty-eight-year career connected with Social Work, she has spent equal time being a social work practitioner and an educator.

Dr. Lata Narayan

Board Member, MelJol

Retired Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr.Lata Narayan is the Board Member on the  Governing Board of MelJol and is also a part of the programme committee.She has been a faculty member at TISS since 1984.She joined the Unit for Child and Youth Research in 1984 and shifted to the School of Social Work, Centre for Equity for Women, Children, and Families in 2006. Since 2011, Dr. Narayan has been with the Centre for Lifelong Learning at TISS.She has worked on the thematic areas of children, social work, and human rights.The current thematic areas of her interest are social work education and practice, youth, lifelong learning and dance movement therapy.

Dr. Denzil Saldanha

Board Member, MelJol

Retired Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr.Denzil Saldanha is part of the Programme Committee on MelJol’s Board. He is a retired Professor from the Centre for Studies in Sociology of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Dr. Saldanha’s research interests have been in the areas of social movements, voluntary social action groups, development organizations, and elementary, non-formal and adult education. He has taught, carried out research and contributed to policy-decisions in these areas for over three decades.He has been an active member of the National Literacy Mission Authority, various state and national level committees for policy-making, and planning sub-committees. He has also provided his expertise as a consultant to governments, funding agencies, and multilateral organizations

Vijaya Chauhan

Board Member, MelJol

Development Professional

Ms.Vijay Chauhan is part of the Programme Committee on MelJol’s Board Currently retired, Ms.Chauhan was the former Programme Officer at UNICEF for a major part of her career .She has also been  activist associated with various Human Rights movements. Developing action-oriented work plans with the communities and ensuring implementation through Government machinery as well as with the support from the NGOs and people themselves has been a key aspect of work .she travels widely to monitor and support the implementation of programs at a field level. Prior to UNICEF, Ms, Chauhan worked with the various voluntary organization providing services to women, children, communities, and helping them to help themselves to increase their participation in the development process

Rewati Bhagwat

Board Member, MelJol

Development professional

Ms. Rewati Bhagwat has more than thirty years of global experience in directing macro, regional and local level social services in the field of women, child, and Youth Welfare.She has worked as team leader in children’s Aid Society in Canada. She has advocated for Child Welfare and provided leadership in achieving excellence in the protection of children. Ms. Bhagwat was the CEO of MelJol. Her area of expertise has been programme design and management, Organizational  Governance, Developing policies and procedures for organization, staff management development.She has served as a task force member for Child Participation in Aflatoun Program globally.She has also been working with corporates in helping them create the right organizational culture focused on Diversity and inclusion and Women ‘s Safety.Ms. Bhagwat is also serving as a Board member of Abhivyakti Media for Development, Nasik