Log in
Join

The Legal Empowerment Network stands for justice, equality, and inclusion. Membership is free and voluntary; it does not constitute a funding relationship or employment arrangement with Namati or the Network. Learn more.
logo

S M Sehgal Foundation

The foundation's mission is to strengthen community-led development initiatives in food & water security, social justice to achieve positive social, economic & environmental change across rural India.



Presence in: India
Focus: Education, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Housing Rights & Informal Settlements, Other, Right to Information

S M Sehgal Foundation, a public, charitable trust registered in India since 1999 works with the mission to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic and environmental change across rural India. Recognising that human rights are central to developing every person’s potential, work of the foundation emphasises on gender equality and women’s empowerment across all issues. The foundation team works with rural communities around three thematic areas viz. water security, food security and social justice. Apart from this, the foundation also engages in participatory research, impact assessment, interactive dialogue and community media to take informed actions and achieve sustainable results. The foundation started its work from Mewat[1] district of Haryana in 1999 and has expanded its work to Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in recent years.

People Associated With This Organization

Ajay Pandey

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined November 2017
Interests: Citizenship & Identification, Community / Customary Land Rights, Education, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Health, Right to Information
CEO Of SM Sehgal Foundation.

I have been working to address the disconnect between promises of law and their reality and in making law , its processes, its mechanisms and its language inclusive of masses engaging various stake holders including law schools, communities, legal services authorities, NGOs, institutions of governance and justice.

Jane Schukoske

United States  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined June 2013
Interests: Education, Environmental Justice, Generalist Legal Services, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Housing Rights & Informal Settlements, Livelihoods, Right to Information
Collaborations that interest me are legal empowerment workshops, rural development in South Asia, social justice NGO leadership, research and writing projects, mentoring, training development, and related networks. I have expertise in community development, legal education, NGO leadership, and legal services delivery in the USA and India, and I have served as a resource at judicial education workshops in India.

Jane Schukoske is the former Chief Executive Officer, S M Sehgal Foundation, an Indian trust with a mission of strengthening community-led development initiatives to bring about positive social, economic, and environmental change in rural India. The vision is of every person across rural India empowered to lead a more secure, prosperous, and dignified life. She is now a development and higher education consultant in Arlington, VA.

Jane earned her B.A. at Boston University, J.D. at Vanderbilt University, and LL.M. at Georgetown University. She practiced law as a legal services attorney in Virginia, headed the Virginia Poverty Law Center, and taught as a fellow at Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University. She later taught (clinical courses, Ethics, Law and Social Reform, Contracts, and an LL.M. course introducing the law of the US to non-US lawyers) on the faculty of University of Baltimore School of Law (UB), Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and established UB's Community Development Clinic. A Senior Fulbright Scholar at University of Colombo Faculty of Law, Sri Lanka, in 1995-96, Jane later served in New Delhi as Executive Director of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India (binational Fulbright Commission) from 2000-08. Jane is a member of the Maryland bar, inactive status.

Jane’s professional community service in India includes: 2000- present: Member, Global Alliance for Justice Education; 2009-present: Member of the Governing Body, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India; Member, American Bar Association International Section India Committee. 2011: Appointed to Subcommittee on Strengthening Community Engagement of Higher Education Institutions, Planning Commission of India. 2013: Advisory Board Member, Tata Institute of Social Sciences School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance; 2013-present: Advisory Committee, Asian Journal of Legal Education; 2015-present: Nalanda University Academic Council; 2015-16: resource person for three workshops at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, India.

Her book chapters and articles address topics in community development, environmental justice, legal education, and international education. They are available on the Social Science Research Network, www.SSRN.com.

Contributed Resources:

Navneet Narwal

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined February 2012
Interests: Community / Customary Land Rights, Education, Gender-based violence, Generalist Legal Services, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Housing Rights & Informal Settlements, Right to Information
I have over seven years of work experience with regard to access to justice, rights and entitlements of the rural communities across states in India. I work with Governance, Policy and Advocacy team of S M Sehgal Foundation since 2008. I am engaged in grassoot leve training and awareness generation initiatives, makes training manuals, information booklets, newsletters on important right-based government programs and also networks with a number of CBOs as well as relevant government departments for improving local governance in Haryana, Bihar and Rajasthan. I hold an LLB degree from Faculty of Law, Delhi University, with post graduation in English from Punjab University, Chandigarh. I also hold M.B.A degree in HR from SMU University and a one-year post-graduate diploma in journalism from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Chandigarh.

Contributed Resources:

Niti Saxena

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined August 2018
Interests: Education, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Housing Rights & Informal Settlements, Other
I am working as Director, Development Research and Policy Initiatives at S M Sehgal Foundation. I have development experience in Asia while working across sectors for nongovernmental organisations, the United Nations and international donor agencies. I hold a master's in Human Development from Lady Irwin College, Delhi University and have 12+ years of experience in social science research. My areas of expertise include qualitative research and participatory development. In my current role, I am responsible for developing a coherent research and policy framework for the foundation encompassing issues of water security, food security and social justice. Generating evidence and linking to relevant policy in order to make pertinent policy recommendations is a key responsibility. This network furthers my understanding of the research I am undertaking on social justice issues. Legal empowerment is an important part of our work and this network will enrich my knowledge and keep me updated.

Pooja Murada

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined March 2015
Sehgal Foundation works together with rural communities to create sustainable programs for managing water resources, increasing agricultural productivity, and strengthening rural governance. The team’s emphasis on gender equality and women’s empowerment is driven by the realization that human rights are central to developing every person’s potential.

Every person across rural India deserves to lead a more secure, prosperous, and dignified life. With that vision in mind, our mission is to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India.

Contributed Resources:

Saurabh Sood

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined October 2017
Interests: Citizenship & Identification, Environmental Justice, Governance, Accountability & Transparency
Saurabh currently works as a Senior Research Associate at Development Research and Policy Initiatives in a non-profit organization Sehgal Foundation. He holds a Masters degree in Sustainable Development Practice from New Delhi, India.
He has interests in a wide range of developmental issues including governance, legal aid and policy change. He is currently engaged in research on the process of legal empowerment, and its linkages with good rural governance. He has close to four years of onfield experience working with rural communities across multiple states in India. Previously he has worked on climate adaptation strategies, household water treatment systems, research methodology, and needs assessment.
At the time, he wears two hats- one is of a practicing researcher and second is of a student of Public Policy. In his second post graduation on public policy he is keen to better understand the political and economic processes that lead to policy change.

Saurabh Srivastava

India  
S M Sehgal Foundation
Joined April 2016
Interests: Citizenship & Identification, Gender-based violence, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Health, Housing Rights & Informal Settlements, Livelihoods
A budding professional with nearly 4 years of experience gained in Project implementation, Project Management, Project Planning, Proposal Formulation, Report Writing, Micro-Planning, Participative Training, and Community Mobilization in the area of Governance, Education and Health in Development Sector; 6 months professional experience in Pharmaceutical Industry as a production chemist.

Possess sound knowledge of Project Development Life Cycle, Report writing, Proposal writing, Project Design, Project Analysis and Micro-planning, Participative Training and Sangthan Formation.

Adept in end-to-end formulation of pharmaceutical products (Tablet & Capsule) including manufacturing, quality analysis, quality control, testing, monitoring, & documentation.
Niti Saxena is the network champion (main point of contact) for S M Sehgal Foundation.

Please contact community@namati.org to report outdated information or to ask a question about this profile.