PAYAL TIWARI, LUCKNOW

CATEGORY: SOCIAL WORK

Payal Tiwari completed her studies from City Montessori and Army Public School, Nehru Road, Lucknow. Post which she enrolled in women’s studies for a postgraduate degree at the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She belongs to a defence background and her family is settled in Lucknow. Since past six years she has been actively working in the field of gender based violence by writing papers, publishing evidence based research and voicing her opinions at national and international forums. In 2014, Payal represented India at MASHAV, Israel where she discussed the issues of violence against women and children. She has published research reports documenting stakeholder response and implementation on ground of Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Payal has also actively engaged herself in Prime Minister’s vision of cleanliness and sanitation. Her extensive documentation of women’s access to public toilets in informal settlements in Mumbai entails a citywide monitoring and evaluation of present state of infrastructure under use. The documentation was subsequently made into a documentary film and opened at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Film Festival in Mumbai. She uses her film as advocacy for spreading awareness on the importance of Swatch Bharat Abhiyan and sanitation issues and has been invited to screen the film and talk about the findings of her work at various venues. She has collaborated with private, government and international agencies to work in improving the systems and making cities accessible and safe for women and children. In the month of February, her work was presented in Future Women Conference, Malaysia. She has been regularly presenting papers and innovating models to work with communities in bringing issues of the marginalised and the voiceless to the table.