Insia Dariwala (Founder & President)

Insia Dariwala, is an award-winning international filmmaker, TEDX Speaker, and a Creative Campaign Strategist who effectively uses her storytelling skills to spotlight difficult topics of society in her films, and other visual communications. Having worked in the Indian television and film industry, for over a decade now, Insia has created high quality, international, and award-winning content for short fictions, and documentary films.

As a natural extension to her dedication for bringing social change, Insia took her passion for creativity and married it to social good by founding two NGOs that work at the grassroots level in India. While ‘The Hands of Hope Foundation’ works at creating awareness on child sexual abuse in schools, communities & slums in India,‘Sahiyo’ empowers Asian communities to end female genital cutting (FGC) in India and transnationally.

Most well-known for the first ever Photo campaign and petition on male child sexual abuse in India, which led to making the victim compensation scheme available for male victims of csa, Insia has also been actively involved with the government in formulating effective Creative Preventive Measures on Child Sexual Abuse, and is instrumental in changing the narrative of CSA to also focus on the vulnerability of boys.

Her preliminary online study on Male Child Sexual abuse which established a correlation between increasing violence on women and children, and unresolved sexual trauma on boys, led to the Indian Government inviting her to lead the first ever Male CSA study in India.

She has also been Creative Consultant for several high profile international campaigns like ‘Say No To Pain’-Hollywood Health and Society in Los Angeles and ‘My Body My Choice’- Global Health Strategies, New York.

Insia is recipient of several domestic and international awards for her work as an activist, including the Shoorveer Award, the prestigious ‘Women have Wings’ courage award, U.S.A, and the ‘We the Women’ award, in India, hosted by Barkha Dutta and U.N Women.

She has also featured as one of the 100 most inspiring women of India, in a book called ‘The Phenomenal She’, and has been spotlighted by BBC World on their series , ‘My Indian Life’, with Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin.

Besides her creative endeavours, Insia is also known for her ability to connect with large audiences, and her talks are featured at many high profile conferences in India, and internationally.

She is also a published Poet and a travel writer, who loves to experience life through different cultures and cuisines.

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Pranav Joshi (Member Executive Committee)

An MBA from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Pranav is Co-Founder & CEO of a Mumbai-based financial services firm and he also supervises his family’s business of chemicals distribution.

He joined the fight against Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in late 2017. He is convinced that the scourge of CSA needs to be eradicated for the progress and the betterment of our society and is dismayed that this cause remains one of the most under-addressed ones in India. He believes that a pan-India, force-multiplier `movement’ is required for this cause and is determined to do all he can in that direction.

He was responsible for establishing and driving new vectors of fund-raising for a Mumbai-based NGO working at the grassroots for the same cause. He has also supported and been involved with The Hands Of Hope Foundation (THOHF) over the past few years and formally joined the NGO in March 2020 as member of the Executive Committee. His area of responsibility includes organization development, structure & governance, business development and facilitating tie-ups and collaborations that are aligned to THOHF’s mission and goals.

An enthusiastic distance runner, his interests include astronomy, bird-watching, trekking, travelling and history and being a permanent foodie.

Chandni Shiyal (Manager – Admin & Operations)

Chandni acquired her Masters Degree in Sociology from the University of Mumbai. Thereafter she completed her M.Phil. from the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai on the subject of female genital mutilation in Africa with a special focus on Ethiopia. She is also a freelance researcher. In 2019 she completed her Ph.D. from the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai.

In 2015 Chandni authored a book titled `Female Circumcision/ Female Genital Mutilation: A Human Rights Violation – A case Study of Ethiopia’.

Chandni feels very strongly against the social injustices prevalent in our society and is not one to remain a silent bystander. She is passionate for causes related to children and women’s rights. Since 2016, she is working at Sahiyo, a NGO whose mission is to empower Asian communities to end the practice Female Genital Cutting (FGC). Chandni joined The Hands of Hope Foundation (THOHF) in August 2020 and she looks after the operational, HR and general administration aspects for the NGO.

Her interests are travelling, watching documentary films, drawing and research.