Our international community of advisors

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Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena is an internationally recognised pioneer of the world wide localisation movement and a leading analyst of the impact of the global economy on culture and agriculture. She is the founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) - based in the US and UK, with subsidiaries in France, Germany, Australia, and Ladakh. Helena has given birth to many ideas, books, articles, films and not least the concept of ‘Localisation’ which she has been promoting for three decades. Her landmark book and film ‘Ancient Futures’ (translated into nearly 50 languages) opened the eyes of many to the shocking effects of economic development on vibrant traditional cultures like Ladakh.  Helena is truly an international figure but her feet are placed firmly on the ground - particularly on the soil of Ladakh - where she has been active in supporting local causes and deepening friendships since 1975.

Jan Visser
Jan is a deep thinker and supporter of the self-directed learning processes. His profound insights and knowledge about science, history and music as well as about spirituality and humanity is without comparison a true feature of his personality. He once presided over UNESCO’s innovative programme called ‘Learning Without Frontiers’ which tried to release learning from the rigid confines of institutionalised settings and make it more accessible and fun. Jan is a writer of vast depth and quality, and a great person to be with, especially if you like to go on long walks in the early hours of the morning. He presides over the ‘Learning Development Institute’ (LDI), which is based in the USA , France and The Netherlands. LDI’s work is geared towards getting a better, and particularly more complete, understanding of human learning, as well as to creating the conditions for such learning to actually happen. Jan sees ‘ Swaraj University ’ as one such opportunity.

Kishore Saint
Kishorebhai Saint has a vast repository of knowledge and anecdotes from his long association with many national and international organisations, including CIDOC with Ivan Illich  and Friends World College . Listening to him is such a pleasure that you straight away realise that you are in a challenging/questioning presence. So penetrating are his thoughts and queries that you are struck by their sheer simplicity and of course exceptional synthesis of experience, wisdom and reflections. His range of thinking from development discourse to scathing analysis of contemporary reality to spiritual and Sufi traditions is deep and conveyed with passion and affection. His tone is inviting and sonorous, and soon you are immersed in his world of art, poetry, aesthetics, language, ecology, history and philosophy, which he mixes with easy charm and compassion.  He is a Gandhian, and a rare visionary who is concerned about the modern civilizational crisis and failing values and integrity of present political and educational system which he wants to transform for a better, socially and ecologically just and peaceful world to emerge. He lives with his wife in Udaipur. 

Margaret Wheatley
Meg, as she is fondly called by her friends and colleagues, has been deeply influenced by different disciplines: science, history, literature, systems thinking, organizational behavior, social policy, cosmology and theology.  She  values what she learned from each of these different fields, for she believes that no one discipline, institution, or specialization can answer the questions that now confront us.  She says “We all must draw from many different perspectives to reweave the world”. She has been consultant, professor and speaker since 1973 and has worked with diverse organisations and people on all continents. They range from the head of the U.S. Army to twelve year old Girl Scouts, from CEOs to small town ministers.  This diversity includes Fortune 100 corporations, government agencies, healthcare institutions, foundations, public schools, colleges, major church denominations, professional associations, and monasteries. She is the co-founder and President emerita of the Berkana Institute, a global charitable foundation established in 1992 and author of several books including the acclaimed ‘Leadership and New Science’ which introduced a new way of thinking about how organisations need to be viewed and transformed.  Her work on leadership also has influenced the next generation of thinkers and leaders to move away from individual heroic leaders who seek to control towards team leadership and people’s ability to self-organise. She has been Associate Professor of Management at two universities. Since 1989, Meg lives with her family in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, USA .

Munir Fasheh
For Munir Fasheh, the directorship of Arab Education Forum sat lightly on his wise shoulders, and therefore when it was time to move to the land of his birth he did without any qualms. His knowledge and wisdom are so profound that he is one of those rare beings who are equally at ease in expressing in both writing as well as speaking, and either way you want to continue to soak in the depths of his acumen and simplicity. His critique of modernity compels you to think about the destruction and mayhem caused by the Institutional authority and its control over our lives, as it invites you to consider alternative possibilities in tune with humane and organic living. He is passionate about his country and what Palestine has suffered for so many years and is currently engaged in protecting the ability of communities to regenerate themselves as an integral part of liberation, which necessarily requires living wisely. This brought him and his family back to Palestine after serving at the Harvard College for many years.

Vivek Bhandari 
Vivek was the Director of IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand), a post he accepted in early-2007 after a long stint as Associate Professor of History and South Asian Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, USA.  Vivek is interested in the historical evolution of democratic institutions, and how these have been shaped by the choices and actions of people over time.  He is particularly interested in the relationship between modern forms of knowledge and the construction of socio-political identity, an issue he is currently exploring through a Gandhian prism. His passions are photography and trekking, and he lives in Anand, Gujarat, with his family.

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Claude Alvares

Claude Alvares is an environmentalist based in Goa. Alvares is the editor of the Other India Press and Director of the Goa Foundation, an environmental monitoring action group that has filed successful pueblo interest litigation cases. He has also supported the Multiversity Network and the Organic Farming Association of India.

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Zaid Hassan

Zaid Hassan is a strategist, facilitator and writer who is passionate about bridging divides. His work is focused on supporting individuals, communities and institutions who recognize that new approaches are needed in order to shift contemporary intractable situations.  He is CEO of 10 in 10, a new type of organisation, a cross between a foundation, a marketplace and Complexity University. Our mission is to tackle ten global challenges in ten years. He is also a Co-Founder of Roller Strategies and Reos Partners, an international enterprise that helps businesses, governments, and civil society organisations address complex social challenges.

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Late Narayan Bhai Desai

Narayan Bhai Desai was a Gandhian activist and author. Following the Bhoodan movement launched by Vinoba Bhave, Narayan Bhai traversed through the length and breadth of Gujarat, by foot, collecting land from the rich and distributing the same among the poor landless villagers.  He was involved in the setting up of Peace Brigades International and was elected as the chairman of the War Resisters’ International. He along with a Pakistani peace group were awarded the UNESCO prize for International Peace. set up the Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya (Institute for Total Revolution). The Institute imparts training in non-violence and Gandhian way of life. He recited 'Gandhi-Katha' (narratives on the life of Mahatma Gandhi) across the world starting 2004.

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Deborah Frieze

Deborah Frieze is an author, entrepreneur and social activist. She served co-president of The Berkana Institute where she worked to support pioneering leaders who were walking out of organisations and systems that were failing to contribute to the common good—and walking on to build resilient communities. These leaders are the subject of her award-winning book, Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now.  The Old Oak Dojo learning center in Jamaica Plain, MA, is now home and host to many friends, neighbors, organizers and activists who share a commitment to creating equitable and inclusive communities. She also co-founded the Boston Impact Initiative, a place-based impact investing fund that takes an integrated capital approach to building resilient local economies.