Rita Sarin

Rita Sarin, a sociology lecturer turned grassroots activist, joined the ranks of women’s rights movement in India in the early 1980s. She has committed her life to igniting and sustaining the leadership spirit of elected women at the grassroots level in India.

Rita Sarin was the Global Vice President and Country Director of The Hunger Project-India (THP). Prior to joining THP, Rita served as a National Programme Advisor for the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). She was also part of the team which set up India’s first women’s non-governmental organization, the Centre for Women and Development Studies.

She has been recognized for her commendable work in forging pathways that put issues of social and gender justice at the centre of policy-making. She is a recipient of several awards: ’25 Women of Excellence’ by the FICCI; ‘Women Leadership Achievement Award’, ‘Women of Pure Strength’ by Vodafone Foundation; ‘Iconic leader in nurturing culture and ecosystem for relevant innovation in developing countries’; ‘Phenomenal She’ by the Indian National Bar Association; and more recently, the ‘Devi Award’ by the New Indian Express.

Rita holds an M. Phil in Sociology from the University of Chandigarh and a post-M. Phil in Development Policies from the University of Nottingham, UK.