Aashritha Murali

Age: 21

Home Town: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Education: B.A (Hons). Liberal Arts, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

Specific Field Interests: Gender equality, Education, Public and Global Health

Placement: Pudiyador, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Area of Focus: Gender equity, Education

Fellowship Project: Implementing Pudiyador’s gender equity initiative in different states by supporting and completing existing pilot projects. Developing technical and leadership curriculum for the cohort of girls from different communities, deploying metrics to track progress, coordinating the implementation of the Playquity Curriculum, support operations and outreach.

Highlights: Aashritha Murali is serving as an AIF Banyan Impact fellow with Pudiyador in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. For her fellowship project, she is dedicated to advancing Pudiyador’s gender equity initiative (Playquity) by developing a leadership curriculum, using metrics to monitor progress of girls in different communities, and support outreach and operation activities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from NMIMS Mumbai. In her academic journey, Aashritha has completed 3 semester long independent research projects on accessibility to health insurance and microfinance. Additionally, she has also been part of the Millennium fellowship with her cohort on a project titled 'Students for Sustainable Living', encouraging students to carry sustainablity initiatives into their homes and surroundings. Her research volunteering experiences with Rethinking Economics and in maternal health have enabled her to look at gender related barriers in academia in economics and healthcare respectively. She most recently interned with the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission where she worked on comparing the efficiency of different districts in the Tamil Nadu state in terms of delivering healthcare services. Going forward, she is looking forward to furthering her experience and skills at the intersection of gender, education and health. The AIF fellowship gives her the opportunity to leverage her skill sets effectively and work in the gender equity space at a grassroots level and gain a deeper understanding about the development sector.