Our Story
Registered as a society on 20th April 2014, DNA was founded by leading Disability Organizations in Karnataka with a vision to promote an inclusive society where there is an equal opportunity for all and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Over the last 7 years, DNA’s membership has continued to grow and now stands at 160 organizations from 27 Districts across all four divisions of Karnataka. These NGOs work with and impact the lives of nearly 30,000 Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and cover the entire range of disabilities i.e. Physical Disability, Intellectual Disability, Mental Illness, Multiple Disabilities, Blood related disorders & Rare Diseases. Our Member organizations work at the grassroot level and their interventions are across Life Stages of PwDs covering Early Intervention, Inclusive Education & creating Livelihood opportunities.
With a growing membership base of NGOs, we have actively supported them through capacity building, collaboration and strategic services. By bringing them together, we help in sharing best practices and build momentum to accelerate the overall impact.
We have created a platform for disability NGOs and experts in the sector to share their knowledge & skills with smaller and emerging NGOs to enhance their understanding & knowledge, transfer skills to them & enable them to improve their quality of intervention for Persons with Disability.
We have represented the sector with the State & local Government agencies & worked with them on many initiatives such as RPwD act implementation, COVID Vaccination drive etc. We are now recognised as the voice of the sector in Karnataka and invited by these agencies in their deliberations.
We have also conceived & facilitated a number of programs in the Livelihood space, Early Intervention space etc. The implementation of these is led by our Members. This operating model enables us to leverage the expertise within our Members whilst minimising Administration costs in DNA.
We have created a DNA executive council, a secretariat and a network with the leaders of our Members that gives us access to unparalleled experience in the Disability sector.
Having laid a strong foundation we are now moving to the next phase of our Strategy.
Our Strategy
In this phase, our priority is to scale up and multiply the impact of the ‘collective’ model that we have successfully created. Over the next 5 years we aim to impact the lives of 100,000 PWDs through our network of Member NGOs. We will leverage technology & data and strive to strengthen the entire ecosystem underpinning the Disability sector.
Our vision is to foster a healthy society with inclusion and justice for all
Our Mission is to build & support the ecosystem required for an inclusive & just society for PwDs across India
Our Objectives
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To enable a sustainable and growing Disability NGO sector
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To become a trusted partner of the Government in developing the sector
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To ensure improved quality of life for PwDs & their Families
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To foster Research on the sector
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To improve medical, rehabilitation & other support services for PwDs
Our interventions will focus on
Capacity Building of our Members & the Society at large
Policy & Advocacy
Livelihood Opportunities
Health & Education
Our Team
Executive Committee
Mr.Mohan Sundaram
President
30+ years of experience in Corporate & Start-Ups, Cross Industry experience, 6 years of experience exclusively in Disability. Board Member, Trustee & Ex-president of APD. Founder & CEO of ARTILAB Foundation.
Mr. Anurag Hasija
Vice President
30+ years of experience across banking and consulting. Led strategic initiatives for HSBC group. An Engineer & a MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad, he is a parent of an intellectually challenged boy & passionate about developing the Disability sector.
Dr. Victor Cordeiro
Secretary
A development professional with over 25 years of experience. He has actively contributed to the policy & practice of promoting inclusion of PwDs & managing rescue & rehabilitation during disasters and crises. He has a PhD in Community Based Rehabilitation ( CBR).
Mr. Murali Kumar
Treasurer
Currently the Program Director for Enable India, he has 22 years of experience across corporates, banks, govt organisations & NGOs. He has managed programs for NGO in rural areas and has played a major role in advocacy and in the implementation of the PwD Act.
Ms.Vaishali Pai
Jt Secretary
Founder-Director of Tamahar Trust, she is an Occupational Therapist with over 30 years’ experience. She specialises in holistic development of intellectually challenged children & adults. She has a Masters in Occupational Therapy and certifications in EMG Biofeedback from Miami university & in Early Intervention from California State University
Dr. Senthil N.S. Kumar
Executive Council Member
22 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation across areas in clinical, academics, research, innovation, commercialization, strategic development, and grant writing. He has a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation from the National University of Malaysia and has authored a book on biomechanics. Currently he is the CEO of The Association of People with Disability (APD)
Ms. Jayashree Vaitheeswaran
Executive Council Member
Cofounder of Amogh, an NGO working with Adults with Intellectual Disability. Over the last 7 years Amogh has created livelihood opportunities by creating a sheltered work space and WFH options in Digitisation. She is a Postgraduate, an SRV Graduate & has also done a program on Social Entrepreneurship. She is also an active Social Venture Partners (SVP) member
Advisory Board
Mr.V S Basavaraju
Member Advisory
Basavaraju has been closely involved to improve Rehabilitation services for PWDs for over three and half decades. His interest and commitment enabled him to found an organization of organizations, as its Founder Secretary and the first CEO of Unique organization and first of its kind in the Disability sector called “Disability NGOs Alliance [DNA]“ as registered Society. And it has over one
Ms.Sumana Dutta
Member
Ms.Sumana Dutta is Founder Managing Trustee of Akshadhaa Foundation which is working for rehabilitation of persons with autism and intellectual disabilities. She is an expert in Autism Intervention, holds Masters in Special Education from University of Northampton, is RCI certified Autism Consultant & an ARTS based Therapist.
Ms.Maria.S.Santamaria
Member
Ms.Maria.S.Santamaria is CEO & Founder of Diya Foundation, Bangalore. A special educator by profession, she started by teaching at a school for children with special needs in Mumbai. A Masters in Special Education from Cardinal Stritch College, Milwaukee, and work experience in job coaching uniquely equipped her to start a Vocational Training Centre for differently-abled adults and led to her founding the Diya Foundation in 1999.
Mr.Dipesh sutariya
Member
CEO and Co-founder: Dipesh Sutariya brings 18 years of software experience and 5 years experience of building offshore companies. He is the “rock” who has steered Enable India’s thought leadership with the livelihood framework. He has created platforms and initiatives which have brought large scale impact for the disability sector. He has setup honeycomb structures to “setup, build, transfer, operate and maintain” for the various pieces of the livelihood puzzle. His mantra is “eye on the ball”, perhaps due to his passion for golf. He is on the board of Workability Asia.
Mr Alex Rodrigues
Member
Mr Alex Rodrigues is the CEO and Co-Founder of MAYA.He has over 4 decades of work experience in the social development sector. He, along with the core team of MAYA, has initiated and incubated three entities namely Prajayatna – the education reform initiative, LabourNet (a social venture on skilling and livelihood) and MAYAORGANIC (a livelihood social venture for artisans). He has also co-founded Disability NGO Alliance – of which he is at present Honorary Secretary – and Social Convergence. He is also the chairperson of Social Development Society, a rural organization working in Anantapur
Mr. Ashok Pamidi
Advisory
A purpose-driven leader with over 30 years of cross-functional experience in IT, D&I, and social development space. Ashok led NASSCOM Foundation by aligning, scaling, sustaining initiatives that propelled the industry in achieving its goals of social transformation and impact through technology. At NASSCOM, over 5 years, he has donned multiple hats at leadership level.
Administrative Committee
Mr.N.E. Kumaraswamy
Chief Executive Officer
31 years of experience in developing Businesses in emerging Markets, Reengineering Business processes, Marketing Strategy and setting Operational frameworks. An Engineer from REC Bhopal ,Executive Management Program from IIM Kolkata , Chartered Engineer , Member Institution of Engineers and Life Fellow of Broadcast Engineering Society .Has a rich NGO experience from Unnati, as a Co-Opted and as a Director Strategy and Relationship Management in Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement .
Ms.Leticia Pires
Manager – Member Support & Admin
Over 35 years of experience in the Government and development sector. She has worked in various State and Central Government Departments apart from NIMHANS from various capacities. She has a Post graduate degree in History from Bangalore University
Mr.Babu Nejakar
Divisional Manager
He comes with a rich experience of 16 years having worked as a Divisional Lead, Manager, Zonal Coordinator, Team Supervisor, and investigator with a long stint in APD. He worked in disability sector, He has joined as divisional manager in North Karnataka.
Ms.Shruthi Shetty
Divisional Coordinator
have 6 years of experience of working for different organizations as General Admin and project coordinator .She has worked in Cheshire Homes in Mangalore and has expertise in Member Coordination, She is expertise in Government Interface, and Project coordination. She is done graduation under Mangalore University
Ms. Savitha Devi
Head Policy & Advocacy
25 years of experience in the social sector across urban & rural areas handling supervisory & consulting assignments. Lead & managed a centre for over 6 years for APSA (Association for Promoting Social Action) in Ramnagar district. She has a Master in Economics from Bangalore University.
Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi
President - Capacity Building
• Teaching Faculty at Pathology Department, JJM Medical College, Davangere & working experience in Blood Disorders, Blood Bank/ Blood Safety for more than 25 years. • Established “Karnataka Hemophilia Care & Hematology Research Centre” at Davangere by mobilizing the resources from various sections of the society including the state Government. HTC, Providing Diagnosis, Treatment & Rehabilitation services to patients with Hemophilia & other Rare Bleeding Disorders under one roof since more than 20 years
Managing Committee
Jayashree Ramesh
President - Policy & Advocacy
Jayashree Ramesh started her career in the field of special education in the year 1986. She later moved to USA to complete her M A (SP. Ed.) from San Jose State University, California. After a stint of six years, she returned to Bangalore and became the founding member of Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism (ASHA). She is associated with ASHA since inception in 1995 and currently is the Director. She wanted to support the families of older children and adults with autism. She encouraged parents and other well-wishers to form Nav Prabhuti Trust (NPT).
Aarthi K T
President - Livelihood
Mrs. Arathi K.T born in Madikeri, Coorg Dist, Karnataka Founder and Managing Trustee Saadhya Trust for Social Development Vice President Special Olympics Bharath Karnataka National Trainer Special Olympics Bharath • Studied MSW with Specialization in Medical & Psychiatry with 2nd Rank to Mangalore University in 2005. • Post-Graduation Diploma in Industrial Relation and Personnel Management from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan,2006 • She runs two Residential schools for Intellectually Challenged Children at Hospet and Hassan
Mr.Mahantesh Adappa Agasimundin
President - North Karnataka Managing Committee
Currently the M D of BIRDS NGO in Hungund, Bagalkot.He has over 25 years of experience in the social sector largely in rural Interventions.He has won many awards including Vruksha Mitra Award.Man of Achievement from International Publishing House, Delhi & Bharat Jyothi Award from Achievement from Indian Economic Council.
Ms. Poornima R. Bhat
President Coastal Karnataka Managing Committee
After completing her M.S. from Wright State University, Dayton, OH, she worked in Rehabilitation and Counseling areas at Albany, NY, USA. With a B.Sc (Electronics) from Bangalore University and a diploma in Computer Applications from Hyderabad Central University, Poornima decided to change the course of her career with a MS in Rehabilitation Counseling after having to bring up a special son and dreaming about creating ARIVU.
Sumedha Joglekar
President - Health and Education
Sumedha Vijaylaxmi Joglekar is the Executive Director of VAANI Deaf Children's Foundation. She has more than 18 years of experience in the Development sector. She has done her Masters in Education of Hearing Impaired Children-M. Ed (HI) from Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Hearing Impaired, Mumbai and has a deep understanding of the issues associated with Hearing Impairment with a career that spanned special schools and centres of hearing-impaired children.she was exposed to issues related to Women & Girls, Rights of children, Differently abled persons and larger Civic issues.
Partners
Dhwani Foundation works towards improving the productivity and efficacy of social sector organisations through direct and indirect engagement with key stakeholders. The Foundation provides valuable, long-term support
Beginning from 2001, iVolunteer delivers impact in social development areas. It achieves its mission by working closely with volunteers at one end and with organisations at the other end. iVolunteer, as a thought leader for volunteering in India, is committed to deepening the understanding of volunteering and leveraging it to create an enabling environment for volunteers and organisations engaging them.
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RBSK is an innovative and ambitious initiative launched under the National Health Mission by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The programme utilizes the existing school health programme to promote Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services, leading to early detection and management of a set of 30 health conditions prevalent in children under 18 years of age. They include, Defects at birth, Diseases in children, Deficiency conditions and Developmental delays, including Disabilities - 4D's.
VACCINATION DRIVE : To enable DNA to work with the existing local resource , member organization and other relevant players to ensure the vaccination accessing process and mechanism collectively in smooth administering the vaccination .Total Amount Allocated by Thought Works :I Total 14032 Vaccine shots to PWD's and Caregivers The work was carried out by 52+ DNA Partners 90+ Camps Across Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rural Areas
