Anoushka Gupta

Project Associate

Anoushka Gupta is a development professional with about four years of experience working in the Indian development sector. She has been engaged with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as Senior Programme Officer, and in the PMU for the last three years, undertaking program management, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning, along with strategy formulation & consultation.

She has played a key role in initiatives addressing drug demand reduction, transgender welfare, education for vulnerable students in remote areas, and the protection and well-being of the elderly, among other critical social issues. As a state coordinator in the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, she travelled extensively across the country to carry out real-time impact assessments of the schemes of the Ministry. Her work emphasized participatory methods and the use of real-time data collection, management, and analysis to evaluate on-ground outcomes.

Her journey began at TISS, where she undertook multiple field-based and remote internships and projects, engaging with diverse vulnerable communities. These experiences ranged from working with mica mine workers in Koderma, Jharkhand, to engaging with single mothers of Meghalaya, as well as assisting migrant workers, and survivors of domestic violence in Assam. She also had a chance to closely work on themes of human trafficking, peace and conflict resolution, gender-based violence and humanitarian mapping, working at the intersection of public policy, gender empowerment and social justice.

She was selected as one of the co - founders by Volunteer for India, a nationwide volunteer initiative by the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, where she designed and led several projects including a 50-member volunteer research initiative that examined the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She graduated from the Dexterity School of Leadership and Entrepreneurship in 2022, gaining the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Forbes-listed CEOs, policymakers, and sector leaders. She also worked as a remote UN Volunteer (UNV) with the UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Unit, contributing to efforts aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

With one foot in a book and the other tapping to rock music, Anoushka lives somewhere between a concert, a movie hall, and a bookstore; she just hasn’t figured out where to nap yet!

Through the IIC fellowship at the University of Chicago, Anoushka aims to work at the crossroads of governance, technology & AI research, and equitable development – steeped in her previous experiences, and driven by a commitment to inclusive and impactful servant leadership.