Rajesh Tandon

Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organization providing support to grass roots initiatives in South Asia, in 1982 and has been its chief functionary since that time. A Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and an electronic engineer (IIT) Kanpur with a graduation in management (IIM Calcutta), Dr. Tandon has specialized in social and organizational change. His contributions revolve around issues of participatory research, advocating for people centered development, policy reform and networking in India, South-Asia and beyond. He has advocated for a self-reliant, autonomous and competent voluntary sector in India and abroad. He is currently promoting Local Government bodies (Panchayats and Municipalities) as institutions of local self-governance in South Asia with special focus on women and marginalized sections. Building alliance and partnerships among diverse sectors in societal development is another current area of his work. Under his leadership, PRIA has developed numerous methodologies of participatory learning and training, participatory bottom-up micro-planning, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. He has served on numerous government task forces, committees and the boards of many civil society organizations including the committee constituted by Ministry of Rural Development to determine the empowerment of Panchayats. He is the founder and has been the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. He was recently nominated as a Member of Civil Society Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Foundation, UK. Currently he is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of: Montreal International Forum, Montreal, Canada, Charities Aid Foundation (India), New Delhi and Voluntary Action Network India, New Delhi.