Ankita Panda

Ankita Panda is a seasoned professional in women's empowerment and gender equality, currently serving as a Senior Program Officer at The Asia Foundation since July 2022. Prior experience includes roles at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative as a Graduate Researcher focusing on gender-based violence risk mitigation in South Sudan, and at Physicians for Human Rights, where guidance was provided on participatory research methods for engaging survivors of sexual violence. Additional roles encompassed various research and analytical positions, including contributions at The World Bank and MIT D-Lab, aimed at advancing gender-lens impact investing practices. Ankita has supported academic initiatives at Harvard Business School and has extensive experience in capacity building within nonprofit organizations through roles at Dasra and Results for Development Institute. Ankita holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rutgers University.