PEOPLE

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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 MHS degree from the John's Hopkins
Schoolof Hygiene and Public Health and a BA from Wellesley College.
Uttara currently works for the Johns Hopkins University/Center for
Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) in their Zambia field office
as the Deputy Project Director of an integrated public health project.
She has spent the last ten years working for JHU/CCP in Southern
and Eastern Africa as well as in India. She founded Nalamdana in 1993
and was executive trustee till 1996. Though not currently a resident
in India, she continues to involve herself in Nalamdana’s research,
projects 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.

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