About the CEO
Sanjay Sharma
CEO, Anmol Foundation
Sanjay Sharma is a committed social development practitioner and grassroots leader with over 30 years of experience working for the empowerment of tribal, rural, poor, and marginalized communities. His work has been deeply rooted in community realities and guided by a strong belief that sustainable change becomes possible only when people are organized, informed, and able to lead their own development processes.
Over the years, he has worked extensively on community institution building,
leadership development, social awareness, environment education, and strengthening civil society networks. His approach is centered on enabling communities to recognize their own strengths, claim their rights, and shape a more dignified and self-reliant future.
Building Community Leadership through Gram Adhikar
At present, Sanjay Sharma is leading efforts through Gram Adhikar, an initiative focused on organizing rural communities and nurturing grassroots leadership. The initiative works to strengthen people’s ability to collectively understand local issues, participate in decision-making, and take ownership of the social, economic, and health-related development of their villages.
Under this process, communities are encouraged not merely to remain beneficiaries of schemes, but to emerge as active leaders and decision-makers within their own social and development systems. His work aims to build local leadership that is capable of creating long-term change from within the community itself.
Jan Judaw: A Platform for Stories of Change
Sanjay Sharma is also the driving force behind Jan Judaw, a people-centered social media and public engagement platform created to document and amplify stories of positive grassroots change.
Through Jan Judaw, he is bringing visibility to the work of voluntary organizations, community-based organizations (CBOs), local leaders, women’s groups, and youth collectives that are making meaningful contributions at the grassroots but often remain unseen in mainstream spaces.
The platform serves as a space for:
Documenting success stories and community innovations
Promoting recognition and dignity for grassroots efforts
Encouraging learning and exchange of experiences
Strengthening local initiatives through public visibility and shared inspiration
Jan Judaw reflects his belief that meaningful social transformation must not only happen at the grassroots, but also be seen, valued, and connected.
Strengthening Civil Society Networks
Recognizing the importance of collaboration, Sanjay Sharma has also been actively involved in bringing voluntary organizations together at the state level. He works toward building stronger networks among NGOs and civil society groups so they can learn from one another, respond to emerging issues, and collectively create a more supportive environment for social action.
His efforts in this area are helping to foster:
Greater solidarity among grassroots organizations
Shared understanding on new and emerging development issues
Stronger collaboration and collective voice
A more positive ecosystem for citizen-led and community-driven initiatives
Promoting Nature Education and Environmental Awareness
Environment is another important dimension of Sanjay Sharma’s work. He is currently leading a Nature Education Campaign across 10 districts through the engagement of CBOs, NGOs, students, and youth leaders.
This campaign seeks to cultivate a deeper relationship between people and nature by building awareness, responsibility, and practical understanding around environmental conservation. It promotes the idea that environmental protection is not separate from daily life—it is directly connected to health, livelihoods, culture, and the future of communities.
Reviving Traditional Ecological Knowledge
One of Sanjay Sharma’s core concerns is the gradual disappearance of the traditional ecological knowledge, practices, and lived wisdom that rural and tribal communities have long used to protect their environment.
He strongly believes that communities possess valuable knowledge related to:
Natural resource conservation
Water and forest management
Biodiversity protection
Sustainable local livelihoods
Living in harmony with nature
His vision is to help revive, document, and promote these indigenous and community-based environmental practices so they can guide future generations and contribute to more sustainable development pathways.
A Vision Rooted in Community Dignity and Self-Reliance
Sanjay Sharma’s journey reflects a long-standing commitment to community dignity, people’s leadership, environmental responsibility, and social justice. Through his work, he continues to build bridges between local wisdom and contemporary development challenges, ensuring that communities are not treated merely as recipients of aid, but as active agents of transformation.
At the heart of his work lies a simple but powerful belief:
when communities are organized, recognized, and trusted, they can lead meaningful and lasting change themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment