Vipula Srivastava started her professional journey with Clifford Chance LLP, a leading international law firm. She enhanced her legal skills with the global exposure she got while working in various Clifford Chance offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and others. She developed a pragmatic approach to complex legal and policy issues. Vipula started taking interest in policy making and was motivated to come back to India and learn the finer nuances of policy making in India. Her accomplishments in the legal and policy domain and her zeal to make a larger impact in society took her to working in e-governance, where she got a chance to work closely with government and contribute towards policy-process from a corporate perspective. She was primarily engaged in projects to make government programs and services more participatory and inclusive. The projects she initiated were targeted towards bringing these services to citizens’ doorsteps and thus making citizen services more inclusive.

Drawing heavily from her experiences in the field of law, e-governance and development sector, she has conceptualized citizen-centric projects making e-governance more inclusive and effective. She has successfully managed Digital Interventions for “Education for All” Programs, for students. While working on that project, she realized the challenges faced by children with disabilities which inspired her to work towards making education more accessible to them. She founded an organization, IFORAA (Innovations for Advance Accessibility), to help make things more accessible to persons with disabilities. She has been a part of many citizen-focused policy initiatives including making public services affordable and accessible for all. Vipula intends to continue her work in public policy towards making public services more accessible for common citizens in India with the use of growing technology.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Project Saksham: Creating an Enabling Environment for Children with Disability in Tribal Areas

This project was created to establish a sustainable model to provide care and support to differently abled children and their families, develop a trained workforce at the community level, and raise awareness and educate the community about the importance of early childhood intervention services. The project organized awareness campaigns and capacity building sessions, taking place in the tribal regions of Madhya Pradesh, in the districts of Chhindwara and Pandhurna.

The awareness campaigns involved visiting village community centers, organizing camps in schools, and conducting awareness drives during local festivities, and reached about 30,000 people. The capacity building stage focused on training 800 people in the workforce known as Saksham Saarthi, who provided continuous support and guidance to the community regarding early childhood intervention. Project Saksham improved access to care and support for children and their families in the tribal regions of Madhya Pradesh. It also helped to empower local NGOs and self-help groups to build stronger partnerships between the government and the community.

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Vipula was a participant in the IVLP Project A Global Moment in Time - Reflections on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center.

U.S. Communities Visited

San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; Portland, OR

Country: India

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