Sonalini Mirchandani

SonaliniMirchandani has more than three decades of experience in social sector communication in India. Her work in the subcontinent in communications research, strategic design, capacity building and implementation of interventions has spanned sectors including reproductive health, child rights, communicable diseases, gender-based violence, governance, and others. She started her career as a civil servant in the Indian Foreign Service. Moving on to work in the private sector, she was Vice- President Operations Research Group (presently AC Nielsen- ORG) before joining Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in 1995 as Resident Advisor on the Innovations in Family Planning Services Project (IFPS) in Uttar Pradesh. Subsequently, as Country Director India for JHU (2004-07), Sonalini led the design and implementation of a USAID- supported HIV/AIDS communication programme. Today she heads The Communication Hub, an organization founded by her in 2007.

Sonalini's work has included major health communication initiatives that have won international recognition such as the Dabbawalla Campaign. Her work on stigma reduction was featured as a best practice at the Vienna AIDS Conference. She is a member of several communication advisory bodies including the Technical Resource Group for the Department of AIDS Control, the Steering Committee of the global Stigma Action Network, Review Panel member for the Echoing Green Fellowships for Social Entrepreneurship, and UNICEF's International Polio Communications Review Team. She is a Member of the Advisory Council of Population Foundation of India and serves on the Advisory Boards of SNEHA, CCDT, and the Mariwala Health Initiative.