Samyuktha Sundararajan

Age: 24

Home Town: Cumming, Georgia

Education: Georgia Institute of Technology

Specific Field Interests: Sustainability, Development, Field Research

Placement: WASSAN, Hyderabad, Telangana

Area of Focus: Environmental protection, Rural Livelihoods, Agriculture, and Climate Change

Fellowship Project: Strengthening the capabilities of civil society, governments and businesses to collaborate in system-level change for resilient social, ecological and economic outcomes through robust decentralized governance of Commons, centring the agency of women, Scheduled Castes and tribal peoples

Highlights: Samyuktha is passionate about nurturing sustainability in all its holism in underserved areas. She graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Master’s degree in International Affairs and was a part of multiple research projects spanning a variety of topics. She helped write a published paper on the effects of institutions on disaster resilience and how culture influences disaster preparedness in constituents. She also participated in FGDs in Bihar to understand the dropouts of girls from school and assess the influence of local political officials on education. She also extensively worked on NGO projects to improve healthcare access for sex workers and LGBTQI+ individuals, assess farmers’ well-being and current agricultural policies, and recommend strategies to incorporate small and medium businesses (SMEs) into supply chains. Samyuktha hopes to further delve into the topic of sustainability by serving with WASSAN in Hyderabad, Telangana. She looks forward to working on the Common Ground Initiative, where she will understand the needs of tribal communities, interact with various stakeholders, and assist with landscape planning.