Gazala Paul

Gazala has a Master in “Coexistence and Conflict Management” from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA and Social Work degree. Trained as development worker she started her journey with Oxfam, and played a crucial role in establishing Samerth Charitable Trust. Gazala has received various awards for her service to the society such as Phoenix Leading Lady Award 2019- for Social Change and Mahatma Award 2020 for impact leader and change maker.

She believes in making society a better place to coexist.  She has inexorably worked for empowering people for achieving poverty eradication, created awareness of their rights and entitlements, equipped with skills to make informed choice and facilitated access to resources for their development.

For 2 decades, Gazala has been helping marginalized groups such as women, persons with disabilities, tribal people, access and develop natural resources and go beyond economic considerations to explore sound mechanisms for increased and inclusive participation in Kutch, Chhattisgarh and Ahmedabad. Her vision is to see increase access to education for the most vulnerable communities, building resilience – climate and otherwise and access to clean water and improved food security.

Her writings ‘War and Gender’ have been published in Society for Study of Peace and Conflict, and World Watch Institute, Washington DC on “Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Tsunami and Tsunami Interventions on Conflict in Sri Lanka and Aceh/Indonesia.

Since 2000, her organization under her leadership has helped more than 1 lakh low-income households to gain access to water for drinking/irrigation and education and confidence they need to transform their lives and communities.