Programme coordinator – Anita Gurumurthy

Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and executive director of IT for Change (ITfC), an India-based NGO engaged in policy research and advocacy on ICTD. Anita’s academic work covers the areas of gender, public health, globalisation and the information society. She has written extensively on gender and ICTD from a Southern perspective, interrogating the construction of the mainstream discourse on social justice and equity. Anita’s earlier work has included research and writing on the qualitative indicators of women’s empowerment and policy research on reproductive health and rights of women. Her research on private-public partnerships in the health sector in India has been a significant addition to the body of critical work on the emerging public policy area. At the behest of, and in partnership with, IDRC, Anita is currently providing conceptual and programmematic leadership to the Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society Programme.

Internal Programme Advisor – Parminder Jeet Singh

Parminder Jeet Singh worked for nearly a decade in the government, where he initiated innovative e-governance projects. During this time, in 2001, he co-authored the book, Government@Net: E-governance opportunities for India (Sage Publications). He has worked with many ICTD field projects, as well as in policy research and advocacy related to information society issues. At IT for Change, Parminder is the coordinator of a UNDP-funded field project, which aims to bring new ICTs to disadvantaged rural women, and is co-coordinator of IT for Change’s research and advocacy project ‘Information Society for the South’. Parminder is a member of the Strategy Council of the UN’s Global Alliance on ICTs and Development, and a Special Advisor to the Chair of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group of the UN’s Internet Governance Forum.