Board of Directors

Chitra Bahadur KC

President and Chief Executive Officer

Chitra formally joined the Social Sector in 1995 as the General manager of a German based NGO, which joined the Fair Trade sector in 1999. He is now serving as Vice Chair of Fair Trade Group Nepal and is currently involved in a number of Fair Trade organisations in Nepal and in the Netherlands including NEW SADLE.

 

 

Mallamma Shivananda Yalawar

Vice President

Mallamma has been the CEO of Sabala Handicrafts in India for over 10 years and specializes in women’s empowerment and sustainable livelihood through education and training. Her experience in Fair Trade stretches back 25 years. She established Chaitanay cooperative Bank for Women which Received KitturaniChennamma State Award in 1997. She is the President and founder of a number of other organizations and won Janaki Devi Bajaj Purskar award for rural entrepreneurship in 2008.

 

 

Tanu Dey

Secretary

Tanu Dey is the Director & CEO of Dhaka Handicrafts Limited. She has been working with DH Ltd. for more than 19 years. She is also Executive Board member for Ecota Fair Trade Forum in Bangladesh. Her passion is to be of service for poor women artisans, helping them to create sustainable livelihoods with dignity.

 

 

Mitos Urgel

Treasurer

Mitos Urgel is the Executive Director of WEAVE Foundation (Women’s Education for Advancement & Empowerment), supporting refugees and indigenous communities on the Thai-Burma border. She has been actively involved in WEAVE’s work in advancing the rights, status and dignity of refugee and displaced ethnic women through education and economic empowerment in the last 15 years.

 

 

Johny Joseph

Asia Representative to WFTO Global

Johny Joseph is a professional social worker working in the field of social work and social research for the last 20 years. He was previously the Head of the Dept. of Social Work, St. Xavier’s College, Kathmandu, Nepal. He has presented a number of papers on Social Enterprises and Social work at various international seminars and workshops in several Asian and European countries and has had articles and research published in various periodicals. He is also currently the Secretary of WFTO Global.

 

 

Harry Wathittayakul

Member

Harry Wathittayakul is currently the Partner Development Coordinator of International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Thailand. His extensive involvement in community development efforts to advance sustainable development for under-privileged multi-ethnic communities in the borders of Thailand and Myanmar has spanned for more than 10 years now.  Harry is passionate in supporting initiatives to alleviate poverty through community engagements and Fair Trade.

 

 

Dr. Somboon Panyakom

Member

Dr. Panyakom, an expert of Social Enterprise and a strong Fair Trade advocate, has served at Payap University, Thailand since 1997 and as the Dean of the International Colleges for 4 years. Prior to this appointment, he served in the faculty of Business Administration Department. He was country director for Compassion International Inc. (Thailand) from 1984-1996. He received  his Doctor of Social and Behavioral Science from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and Master of Social Administration from Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.

 

 

Roopa Mehta

Member

Roopa Mehta is the CEO of Sasha Association for Craft Producers (“Sasha”) and the Secretary of Sarba Shanti Ayog (SSA) its associate development organisation. Sasha and SSA provide business support inputs and market access for sustainable livelihoods to artisan groups based largely in rural communities and semi urban areas.