Background
Kavita Ramdas is the daughter of Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, former Head of the Indian Navy. Kavita Ramdas was born in Delhi, India and grew up in Mumbai, Delhi, London, Rangoon, and Bonn.
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Kavita Ramdas
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended high school at the Nikolaus Cusanus Gymnasium in Bad Godesberg, Bonn, Germany. The Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and graduated from Springdales School, New Delhi, in 1980. She studied Political Science at Hindu College, University of Delhi for two years until 1982.
Career
Prior to that, she was Executive Director of the Program on Social Entrepreneurship at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Fund for Women. Both of Kavita"s parents are have been closely associated with the Aam Aadmi Party.
In 1983, she was awarded a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in international relations in 1985 and her Master of Public Administration in international development and public policy studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1988.
In 1990 Ramdas married Zulfiqar Ahmad, a peace advocate, whom she had met in college. Zulfiqar is the nephew of the Pakistani academic and anti-war activist, Eqbal Ahmed, one of the Harrisburg Seven.
Given her father"s stature as a senior naval officer, there was speculation that their relationship could compromise India"s national security. Kavita Ramdas has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Fund for Women since 1996.
During Ramdas’ tenure, the Global Fund for Women assets have increased from $6 million to $21 million.
Grantmaking has risen to $8 million per year, and the number of countries in which the Global Fund for Women has made grants has nearly tripled to over 160 countries. Ramdas has also overseen the Global Fund for Women"s first endowment campaign and the creation of the Now or Never Fund to ensure women's participation on critical international issues.
Achievements
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California Institute of Integral Studies, Haridas and Bina Chaudhuri Award for Distinguished Service, 2009 Duveneck Humanitarian Award, 2008 Social Capitalist Award, Fast Company (magazine), 2007 Women of Great Esteem Award, 2007 Girl"s Hero Award, Girls" Middle School, 2007 Woman of Substance Award, African Women"s Development Fund, 2005 Juliette Gordon Low Award, Girl Scouts of the United States of America, 2005 Woman of the Year for the Public Sector, Financial Women"s Association, 2004 Leadership for Equity & Diversity (LEAD) Award, Women & Philanthropy, 2004 Bay Area Local Hero, KQED-FM Radio, 2004 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Award, Women"s eNews, 2003.
Membership
Ramdas is a former member of the Global Development Program Advisory Panel to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and serves on the Board of Trustees at Princeton University, on the Council of Advisors on Gender Equity to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and on the Advisory Council to the Asian University for Women and the African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights. She is a member of the Henry Crown Fellow"s Program of the Aspen Institute and previously served as a board member for the Women"s Funding Network.
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Born
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Political Party
Aam Aadmi Party