NEW STAFF MEMBER

Saurabh MISHRA has joined the ITTF Foundation team as the Programmes Manager.

I have witnessed the inability of marginalized communities to participate in sport and physical activity first hand, and am adamant that we need to treat this as a key issue. Having felt personally the positive impact sport can have if used in a planned and inclusive manner, I work every day to find policy solutions to ensure that the benefits of sport are accessible for more people, more often, more sustainably.

Originally hailing from Bihar in Northern India, Saurabh brings on board a wealth of experience across the sport and international development ecosystem. He has previously worked across the breadth of the sport sector including grassroots football, NGOs, national associations, sport broadcasting, and intergovernmental organisations, most recently having served the Sport for Development and Peace team as a social policy development expert, at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Saurabh is a trained professional in international law, human rights, government relations and diplomacy, and has extensive travel and diplomatic experience working in multiple countries across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean in order to enhance the socio-economic development of marginalised communities and demographics, through the use of sport.

My work is shaped by a passion for sport and a strong belief in the positive and inclusive change it can help create in the fields of health, gender empowerment, youth employment and peacebuilding, through a planned, evidence-based approach. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to contribute positively to the excellent work being done by the ITTF Foundation.

Taking a multi-sectoral approach to sport for development, Saurabh has previously led and coordinated projects to safeguard children, enhance the participation of women and girls, and has played a key role in the development of national and international sport policy and human rights frameworks to ensure that no one is left behind.  

Notably, Saurabh has been part of the team that created a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on SDP, has led the development of national sport policies aligned to the UNSDGs in multiple countries, and helped coordinate the global collaborative project to create the Sport and SDG Indicators.

 

 

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