SURESH HALEMANI

Suresh completed his graduation in agriculture from the College of Agriculture, Dharwad in 2002.
After graduation, Suresh worked as a field officer at the Agricultural Science Foundation in Hulkoti. Program areas included watershed development, organic farming and livelihood improvement. Prior to joining the Deshpande Fellowship Program, he was involved in creating awareness among rural farmers on the importance of water and soil conservation in dry land farming. Specifically, Suresh’s work involved motivating farmers to adopt technology such as bunding, farm ponds, construction of waste weirs, etc. He also engaged in promoting sustainable agricultural practices through organic farming, and he helped to organize people into self-help and joint liability groups for livelihood development.

THRIVENI

Thriveni was born and brought up in Chikmaglur. She received her  bachelor’s degree in social work from Kuvempu University. She started her career as a National Dervice Volunteer in Nehru Yuva  Kendra in Chikmaglur. A year after being trained as a counselor she worked on several different projects, such as the HIV/AIDS intervention program for commercial sex workers in Bangalore.

After that she worked as a psycho social counselor for sexuality minority groups in Sangama Bangalore. She has attended many trainings on gender issues as a resource person.

Thriveni’s particular areas of interest include health program improvement, elderly home development  and programs for mentally retarded children. Her extracurricular interests lie in interior designing, fashion designing, trekking, nature camps, music  and more.