Nivedita Varshneya (PFM 1997-99) is currently working as the Country Director, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (WHH) India and is based at New Delhi. WHH is an international non-profit working in more than 35 countries with its headquarters at Bonn, Germany. It is one of Germany’s largest non-denominational and politically independent non-profits, with the federal President of Germany as its patron. It works in the fields of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. Welthungerhilfe holds the Seal of Approval awarded by DeutschesZentralinstitut für SozialeFragen (DZI). In 2014, Welthungerhilfe received the honour of being the most transparent German organization along with World Vision.
Nivedita is one of the first national country directors within WHH and is responsible for coordinating, planning, designing and implementing the India country programme carried out in cooperation with local partner organisations and co-financers. Prior to Welthungerhilfe, she worked with government, non-profits and CSR on issues related to food security and sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, forestry and natural resource management, strengthening civil society and improved governance. Post IIFM, she honed her skills in the development sector through studies and courses abroad, for which she received scholarships and awards like the British Chevening scholarship, Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NUFFIC), VLIR scholarship (Belgium), UNEP/BMU fellowship etc.
She is passionate about the cause of sustainable living and believes that the current GDP based development paradigm and pursuit of profit is ecologically unsustainable, economically inefficient, socially dehumanizing and spiritually depleting. She is committed to this cause in her professional and personal life.
Twitter: niveditavarshne
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nivedita-varshneya-1b1a1b5/
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. My journey from IIFM onwards has been smooth. Since the beginning, I was a nature lover and during the IIFM days itself, I was quite clear that I wanted to work on NRM, water and energy. In fact, I had this clarity much earlier and joined IIFM because I knew this was the door which could lead me to my labour of love. The degree and great exposure at IIFM equipped me with the skill set to follow my heart.
From the campus I joined CAPART as a Young Professional- a pretty much respected cadre they had in those days- and got good exposure on grantmaking. Along with honest officials, I was part of the team that weeded out ‘rotten’ NGOs from the CAPART system. Working with national level NGOs (Vandana Shiva’s Navdanya and AFPRO)gave me hands-on ground experience on issues related to NRM, food sovereignty, market access and sustainable agriculture and formed the foundation of my learning within the development sector. I also got good exposure to CSR when I joined the CSR wing of Anand group of industries, where I established the NRM wing and worked towards mainstreaming environmental and NRM concerns within the company and as part of its CSR.
In 2007, my hop-skip-jump in the sector came to a kind of halt after I joined Welthungerhilfe, then called German Agro Action. I have remained (steadfastly) with the organization in different roles since then- learning, growing, enjoying and contributing, of course. I started as a Programme Manager where I managed grants to CSOs and progressed to being the Regional Programme Manager, working in the South Asia Regional Office of WHH. In this role, I supported different countries in Asia on programmes and grant management. In 2014, I took over as Country Director, India, a role which has given me enormous growth both personally and professionally.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. I think the most important thing is to identify what you want to do further in life and what gives you inner satisfaction. The course and exposure at IIFM is rich, diverse and while you may groan under the load (did-not sure how it is now), it is an opportunity to identify what excites you. And then go for it full steam, never mind the initial roadblocks, lower salaries etc. If you follow your heart, your work will be its own reward, in addition to contributing to your career.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. A lot. I am connected to the local communities (through my colleagues and partner CSOs). Through our work, I am doing what gives me the most satisfaction- working for agriculture, climate resilience, conservation of nature, water, rural livelihoods, and rights of the communities. I have a great team and we are known for our innovative approaches. Along with my team, I get to work across different countries and scale up innovative approaches. But perhaps the most satisfying part is the work culture of my organization which is based on values, freedom, trust, work-life balance, innovativeness, risk appetite, cross learning and solidarity. And the most exciting part is the travel-national and international and getting to know different countries.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. IIFM forms the foundation of my work today and has served as a springboard that helped me jump into the sector. The diverse courses, internships (OTs as they were called then), exposure, pedagogies, strong faculty, interaction sessions with alumni, guest lectures etc. contributed to shaping my approach to my profession.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your career. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. In terms of drivers, I would say it’s single-minded devotion to the cause and the passion. Like the fish’s eye, having your priorities clear and walking unwaveringly on the your path- that’s the key. I used to have a comfortable government job before I joined IIFM, but resigned from there to study Ecology and Environment, despite many people telling me that it was the biggest mistake of my life. But I had full faith in myself and there has been no looking back ever since.
Influences have been many including senior colleagues within WHH who groomed me in my earlier years and from whom have I learnt a lot. But I would like to talk about inspiration. One of the most charismatic persons who have inspired me is Shri Rajendra Singh- Waterman of India. His single minded pursuit of the cause of water and the energy he brings to it never ceases to amaze me. The adoration and affection he gets from the community, the number of lives he has touched and the zeal with which they collectively march on to revive rivers, remove encroachments, fight for their community rights (Jal Biradari, Jal Jan Jodo Abiyaan)- it’s all immensely inspiring and demonstrates the value of being focused. I am not sure how many IIFMites are choosing to go into the development sector these days. If they are, my advice would be to spend the initial years – around five at least- after IIFM on ground. And on ground means really on ground zero- with rural communities, working closely with them and being based in smaller towns/ district headquarters. Some good organizations that give a great opportunity for learning are Pradan, FES, AKRSP etc. This learning and experience from the initial years will form the foundation of a career in the sector which could be with civil society organizations, consultancies, start-ups, INGOs and other international agencies. Degree/s from abroad will give you an added edge and international exposure. This experience on the ground should be your inspiration, passion and spark that fires you. And the rest is really 99% perspiration, as they say. And if it doesn’t spark your soul, then know that the development sector is not for you and change your track.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. Many. The excitement of (almost) stumbling upon a python, the panic following a monitor lizard popping by your room, dance parties at Bamboosa. But the best ones are from the field work, the visits to the forestry institutes and national parks, stays at (sometimes eerie) forest guest houses where you woke up to the sight of deer in your backyard, the search for the tiger (tiger ki dhun me kahan kahan nikle par tiger mila na..). I looked forward to the National Forest Sports meets, and thanks to Prof. Biswas, we got a silver for IIFM in Table Tennis doubles (completely unexpected for me, given that I could hardly get time to practice).
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, and alumni. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. IIFM provided me the platform to switch my career (from revenue) to environment and showed me the pathway to development work, for which I am always grateful. I think everything there contributed- most of all, the courses and the faculty members who provided the guidance. The library was awesome- remained glued there but usually to out-of-curricula stuff!
Q. The best friends / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share.
A. I remember the numerous discussions with Dr Suprava Patnaik, who was also my Faculty Advisor. I was always impressed by Dr Rathore and the clarity and interest he brought on a not-so-easy but interesting subject. Prof Biswas and Prof Madhu Verma’s sessions were something I always looked forward to. Preparing for Kalpataru and other occasions (like 15th August) with batchmates and seniors was a lot of fun and evokes nostalgia even when we meet today. Luckily, social media and numerous offline events enable us to remain connected with our classmates and other batches.
Q. As an alumnus, what is your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. Work hard, enjoy, introspect, use the opportunity to explore your calling and connect a lot with the faculty and peers.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. Besides continuing internships, it would be great to have research projects collaboratively with IIFM, when possible.
Q.Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Several of my batchmates: Reena Gupta, Alice Lakra, Anmol Jain, Puja Gour, Vijay Ganapathy.