Executive Director
Sohini is a social entrepreneur, development practitioner, author, and advocate for social inclusion and diversity. Her work consistently explores the question of why othering and dehumanization persist in an increasingly interconnected world, and how communities can organize to resist them in everyday life.
Over the past decade, Sohini’s journey has taken her from the familiar streets of Kolkata to the tribal heartlands on the fringes of West Bengal, the conflict-affected districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the politically distressed yet outwardly calm neighbourhoods of Leh and Kargil, and the serene banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh, where she has worked alongside marginalized communities often rendered invisible despite the centrality of faith and piety in the region. Her deep engagement with these geographies and communities led her to co-author an international, grant-supported book in 2024 that curates the journeys of 28 women from across the Indian subcontinent, foregrounding their lived experiences of resilience and agency.
Sohini regularly speaks on global platforms, including sessions associated with the World Bank Fragility Forum and the World Bank Youth Summit, as well as at UN Commission on the Status of Women side events and the Global Summit of Women, and is an active contributor to interfaith and civil society networks in India and beyond. She views advocacy as central to her practice, using dialogue, storytelling, and network-building to mobilize solutions and resources for a more connected, inclusive world.
A 2019 Fellow of the KAICIID International Fellows Programme, Sohini has received intensive training in interreligious dialogue, conflict transformation, and dialogue facilitation, and is also an alumna of the EU-funded Global Exchange on Religion in Society programme, which convenes practitioners working at the intersections of faith, diversity, and social inclusion. These experiences have strengthened her ability to design and lead community initiatives that advance social inclusion, social justice, and faith-informed reconciliation in fragile and polarized contexts.
As the founding visionary and Managing Director of the Centre for Inclusive Futures, Sohini is building a home-grown ecosystem for social inclusion that connects global expertise with local realities. Through the think tank, she aims to bring resources, networks, mentorship, and research to inform policy and practice, strengthen advocacy, and support sustained capacity-building in this often overlooked yet urgent area of social policy.
“Dialogue for Women’s Agency” is a collection of 28 stories highlighting the journeys of women as faith actors from the Indian subcontinent. The book traces a rich legacy from ancient India to the present, showcasing diverse voices, narratives, perspectives, and lived experiences of women who exercise faith-driven agency. It illuminates how women from various religious traditions, social classes, castes, and backgrounds have continuously shown up for social cohesion in the region. Presented in an accessible, narrative format, the book explores the evolving expressions of women’s agency—moral, emotional, spiritual, creative, and economic—across different times and contexts.
International Youth Program that brought together youth from across South Asia for a six-week live online experience focused on environmental activism. The program offered resources, expert advice, case studies, and insights on water conservation and river preservation initiatives while helping the young participants reflect on the symbol of the river as one representing resilience, life force and the power of nature. Funded by the Euphrates Institute Peace Practice Alliance Program micro-grant, this project was implemented by four international organizations from the United States, India, and Bangladesh as a collaborative effort. After a rigorous selection process, 12 young changemakers formed the inaugural cohort of environmental activists and successfully graduated from the program. The program was co-designed by myself and Miss Greshma P. Raju, founder of EcoPeace Green Café.
The Social Inclusion Project was developed as a website showcasing the work of 15 young changemakers trained over two months in Religion, Conflict, and Trauma-Sensitive Journalism. The training featured experts specializing in conflict reporting, mass violence, and trauma-sensitive journalism who used real-life case studies to illustrate the practical application of these concepts. This approach helped participants understand the psycho-emotional impact of media coverage on sensitive issues such as conflicts, riots, and episodes of violence.
The curriculum emphasized the importance of comprehending religious identity and its role in inter-group and intra-group dynamics that influence social behaviour and the potential for violence. The 15 participants were divided into five groups, each receiving a small reporting grant to cover a story related to social inclusion. These stories highlighted diverse contexts, including Jammu and Kashmir, a religious minority community in Uttar Pradesh, the tribal heartland of Jhargram, and the LGBTQ community. The stories were hosted on the project website for three years before the project concluded with the end of the grant cycle.
I designed and implemented the entire project—including the course curriculum and the website concept—with funding from the European Union’s Global Exchange on Religion in Society (GERIS) micro-grant. This initiative was part of the GERIS Fellowship Program, which selected 150 civil society actors globally to advance advocacy using new media tools around religious identity, inclusive policies, and freedom of belief.
As a Fellow in the “Reconciliation and Transitional Justice” group, I joined a European Union-sponsored delegation to Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. There, our team engaged with local journalists, activists, media houses, and social groups to explore how religious identity is represented in public narratives, while learning about Indonesia’s religious diversity and history. The Social Inclusion Project and the course titled ‘Religion, Conflict and Trauma-Sensitive Journalism’ was born out of my observed need after participating in the delegation and learning more about public media narratives and their impact on victimized and marginalized communities who have been exposed to direct violence.
Naya Pingla is a small village in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, globally recognized for its vibrant Patachitra Art tradition. Generations of artists known as Patuas have sustained this ancient folk practice, using natural colors to depict Hindu mythology, tribal folklore, and contemporary social issues on scrolls and pots. Remarkably, most of the village’s artists are practising Muslims, yet their creations bridge communities by preserving Hindu stories through their artwork and storytelling songs called Pater Gaan.
Artists have modernized Patachitra as a tool for community media advocacy, painting scrolls and composing topical songs to spread public health messages during the pandemic and promote social awareness, especially on issues like women’s empowerment and the prevention of dowry, female foeticide, and infanticide. Female artists in Naya have played a leading role in these advocacy efforts.
A recent documentary by my team captured how Patachitra serves as a cultural bridge and platform for inter-religious dialogue, as well as its dynamic role in social change. The artists also engaged with students at Sadhu Ram Chand Murmu University of Jhargram’s Media and Mass Communication Department in a collaborative event. This project was funded by the KAICIID Alumni micro-grant and was highly appreciated across the KAICIID International Fellows Alumni Network in 86 countries.
The political transition on August 5, 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir marked an unprecedented phase in Indian history, with the erstwhile state being split into two Union Territories—Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh—bringing them directly under central government authority and terminating their special status under Article 370. The move was executed in a manner characterized by a sudden communications blackout, curfews, mass arrests of political leaders, and the imposition of central laws, sparking speculation and skepticism, especially among the youth.
During this period, the opportunity arose to co-create a youth-led think tank in Kashmir, aiming to bridge dialogue between local youth and stakeholders, and actively advise on policy matters as the region adjusted to its new political reality. As the founding Executive Director of the Jammu and Kashmir Policy Institute, leadership was taken up during the ideation phase in March 2020, outlining the organization’s strategy, building research and dialogue methodologies, mentoring the founding team, developing core digital content, and establishing partners, a Board of Advisors, and a sustainable funding framework.
This proactive work was vital in catalyzing youth engagement and facilitating constructive platforms to inform and influence policy imperatives, making the think tank a key actor in shaping the region’s future amidst uncertainty and transformation.
Website: https://www.jkpi.org/
