Kavita Nandini Ramdas (born 1963) is a globally recognized advocate for gender equity and justice. Previously, she was the director of the Open Society Foundations’ Women's Rights Program and the senior advisor to the Ford Foundation's president, Darren Walker. She assumed the position in 2015 after serving for 3 years as Ford's India country representative, representing the office in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Prior to that, she was executive director of the Program on Social Entrepreneurship at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Kavita is best known for her contribution to feminist philanthropy as former president and CEO of the

Global Fund for Women The Global Fund for Women is a non-profit foundation funding women's human rights initiatives. It was founded in 1987 by New Zealander Anne Firth Murray, and co-founded by Frances Kissling and Laura Lederer to fund women's initiatives around th ...

Background and affiliations

Kavita Ramdas is the daughter of Lalita Ramdas and Admiral

Laxminarayan Ramdas Admiral (India), Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, Param Vishisht Seva Medal, PVSM, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, AVSM, Vir Chakra, VrC, Vishisht Seva Medal, VSM, Aide-de-camp, ADC served as Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief of Naval Staff of the Ind ...

, former Head of the Indian Navy. Kavita Ramdas was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and grew up in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, Delhi,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. She attended high school at the Nikolaus Cusanus Gymnasium in

Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...

, Germany; the

Cathedral and John Connon School The Cathedral & John Connon School is a co-educational private school founded in 1860 and located in Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra.Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, and graduated from

Springdales School The Springdales Schools are a group of English-language, co-educational schools run by the Springdales Education Society in New Delhi, India. There are five branches of the school: Pusa Road, Dhaula Kuan, Jaipur, Kirti Nagar, and Dubai. They ha ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, in 1980. She studied Political Science at

Hindu College, University of Delhi Hindu College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in sciences, humanities, social sciences and commerce. In 2022, it is ranked 2nd nationally by Nationa ...

for two years until 1982. In 1983, she was awarded a scholarship to

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

South Hadley, Massachusetts South Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. South Hadley is home to Mount Holyoke Colleg ...

, where she received her B.A. in international relations in 1985 and her M.P.A. in international development and public policy studies from the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1988. In 1990 Ramdas married Zulfiqar Ahmad, a peace advocate, whom she had met in college. Zulfiqar is the nephew of the Pakistani academic and anti-war activist,

Eqbal Ahmed Eqbal Ahmad (1933 – 11 May 1999) was a Pakistani political scientist, writer and Academia, academic known for his Anti-war activist, anti-war activism, his support for resistance movements globally and academic contributions to the study o ...

, one of the

Harrisburg Seven The Harrisburg Seven were a group of religious anti-war activists, led by Philip Berrigan, charged in 1971 in a failed conspiracy case in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, located in Harrisburg. The seven wer ...

. Given her father's stature as a senior naval officer, there was speculation that their relationship could compromise India's national security. Ramdas is a former member of the Global Development Program Advisory Panel to the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, and serves on the

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

at Princeton University, on the Council of Advisors on Gender Equity to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and on the Advisory Council to the

Asian University for Women Asian University for Women (AUW) is an independent, international university in Chittagong, Bangladesh seeking to educate a new generation of leaders in Asia. AUW admits students solely on the basis of merit, regardless of their family's incom ...

and the African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty and

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

. She is a member of the Henry Crown Fellow's Program of the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...

and previously served as a board member for the Women's Funding Network.

Work at the Global Fund for Women

Kavita Ramdas was the President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

from 1996 until 2010. During Ramdas’ tenure, the Global Fund for Women assets grew from $6 million to $21 million.''Global Fund for Women Web site'' Grantmaking increased to $8 million per year, and the number of countries in which the Global Fund for Women made grants nearly tripled to over 160 countries. Ramdas also oversaw the Global Fund for Women's first endowment campaign and the creation of the Now or Never Fund to ensure women's participation on critical international issues. Ramdas also served in advisory and/or management roles at MADRE, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, and the Stanford University Program on Social Entrepreneurship. In 2018 Ramdas was named director of Women's Rights Programs for the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

Honors and awards

California Institute of Integral Studies California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private university in San Francisco, California.Otterman, Sharon. "Merging Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at Columbia". ''New York Times'', Aug. 9, 2012Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greenin ...

, Haridas and Bina Chaudhuri Award for Distinguished Service, 2009 * Duveneck Humanitarian Award, 2008 * Social Capitalist Award,

Fast Company (magazine) ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

, 2007 * Women of Great Esteem Award, 2007 * Girl's Hero Award, Girls' Middle School, 2007 * Woman of Substance Award, African Women's Development Fund, 2005 *

Juliette Gordon Low Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own gro ...

Award,

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...

, 2005 * Woman of the Year for the Public Sector, Financial Women's Association, 2004 * Leadership for Equity & Diversity (LEAD) Award, Women & Philanthropy, 2004 * Bay Area Local Hero,

KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both of which are PBS member outlets: KQED (channel 9) and KQEH (channel 54). Studio ...

Radio, 2004 * 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Award, ''

Women's eNews ''Women's eNews'' is a nonprofit online news service based in New York City. It was founded by the late Rita Jensen. Lori Sokol, PhD, now leads the organization, assuming the title of Executive Director since July, 2016. Women's eNews publishes inte ...

'', 2003

Background and affiliations

Work at the Global Fund for Women

Honors and awards

See also

References

External links