PEOPLE Nalamdana has eight permanent staff and nine part time staff who hail from the communities where we work, many of whom joined the Nalamdana troupe after having seen a play enacted in their community. These actors bring to the stage their knowledge of the community: the beliefs, the rhythms of speech and declamation and the language dialects - the minute details that draw the audience into the play.
Uttara Bharath Kumar
Uttara Bharath Kumar has an Master's degree in Public Health from the John's Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA from Wellesley College. Uttara has worked for the Johns Hopkins University/Center for Communication Programs (JHU CCP) since 1997 based in Baltimore till 1999 and then in Zambia field office supporting Southern and East Africa programmes from 1999 - 2009. She is currently a Senior Program Officer for JHU CCP based in Chennai, providing support to programmes in India and in Asia and Africa. She co-founded Nalamdana in 1993 and was executive director until 1996. She continues to actively serve on Nalamdana's Board of Trustees and provides technical guidance to Nalamdana's projects, research and planning as well as training and workshops. Her energy, commitment and vision continue to inspire the team at Nalamdana.
Nithya Balaji
Nithya Balaji has been a trustee of Nalamdana since its inception and became Executive Trustee in 1996. As Executive Trustee, Nithya oversees project planning, implementation, fund raising and ensures the smooth functioning of Nalamdana. She continues to spearhead all new projects undertaken by the group. She was the Principal Investigator for the Earthwatch funded Maternal and Child Health Communication Research Project. Nithya has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Madras University and more than twenty years of practical experience as a communication professional in the field of advertising and marketing in Chennai.
Jeevanandham R. Jeevanandham is the Project Director and creative vision behind Nalamdana's plays and communication projects. A Master's graduate who has also studied Folk Arts and Videography, Jeeva has been leading his troupe of actors in creating and staging street plays since his college days in Madurai. Jeeva is the main-spring in creating over 30 successful street play scripts, interactive teaching and communication materials. His extraordinary inter-personal skills have enabled him to plan and execute specific behavior change communication projects in the fields of HIV/AIDS, Maternal and Child Health, Suicide Prevention, Alcoholism, Child Rights and other issues for Nalamdana. Since 2004, Jeeva has undertaken specific capacity building for the Johns Hopkins funded Zambia Integrated Health Project (ZIHP) on invitation from Ms. Uttara Bharath (based in Lusaka.) He created training films on ART and accessing counselling and testing by HIV positive people which are being used there now. This past year, in Tamil Nadu, he has actively widened the dissemination of several of the IEC materials he created - linking Nalamdana's expertise with the local UNICEF office and the State Government agencies, TANSACS and CAPACS
Tara Thiagarajan Tara Thiagarajan one of the three original trustees of Nalamdana. Her commitment to fund raising and identifying suitable funders and volunteers has helped the organization grow. Tara's brainchild, the Nalamdana Student Leadership Program was started in 1995. Through this project, Nalamdana has supported over sixty school students from challenged backgrounds in Chennai. She has a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University and is currently working with the National Institutes for Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. Tara continues to contribute actively in Nalamdana's priority areas.
M. Sampath
M.Sampath is a naturally gifted singer, actor, mimic and trained counsellor. His role in Nalamdana's pre play live entertainment helps the group to round up the average 700 strong crowd for every street play. Sampath has often acted as hero in Nalamdana's plays and also doubles up as Office Administrator and Student Program Coordinator, working closely with Tara and overseeing selection, monitoring and reporting to the funders. Sampath has a graduate degree in Business Administration, and a postgraduate diploma in Computer Applications.
Oyyavandhan P.Oyyavandhan hails from a traditional village actor's family; he is a 5th generation actor. Traditionally, his family did the comedian's role in village plays. Oyya's many roles in the organization, however, include those of an accountant, brainstorming companion of Jeeva in creating entertainment materials, song writer, senior actor and trained evaluator. Oyya, a first generation learner in his family, is a graduate in Business Administration, has a post graduate degree in Commerce and also a post graduate Diploma in Personnel Management.
