Prabha Desai

Director – Sanmitra Trust Projects

Mumbai, Maharashtra – India

Prabha has a long history of working with HIV positive women, sex workers, and trans women in the second-largest Mumbai slum. She implemented a project funded by the Gates Foundation from 2004 to 2012. She sees the challenge of women’s economic empowerment as not just about training and entering the labor force, but in creating the labor conditions for them to be able to sustain their work outside their homes. Currently, she is doing skill-building with 400 women and 127 adolescent girls (10 of whom are HIV+) on tailoring, at-home nursing, beautician, phlebotomy, and geriatric care. These are service-sector jobs that allow the girls/women more freedom in growing industries. Prabha also provides HIV support (medical care, ARVs, screening, nutrition) for women and girls. She also addresses NCDs with them to improve overall health.

Rise Up Cohort: CIP India – 2018