Samanvaya was started in 1998 by Rama and Ramasubramanian. Rama was working for a environmental group in Chennai for a few years before that and Ramasubramanian quit corporate consulting career just prior to starting Samanvaya.
Like the traditional rule in life, Samanvaya has changed its working ecosystem every 7 years. We primarily worked with the green groups, civil society organisations and Gandhi scholars in the first 7 years, civil society organisations and intellectuals / scholars in the subsequent 7 years, government and civil society groups in the third 7 years and increasingly now with governments and multi-lateral organisations since over a decade now. It has not always been a conscious decision, with our growth, our growth in the scope of engagement and agencies that sought our services has increased.
The founders were lucky to have some of the Great Masters as inspiration and mentors in this journey – the name, “Samanvaya” (meaning Harmony in Sanskrit) comes from a powerful visionary lecture by the former President of the Ramakrishna Mission, late, Swami Ranganathanandaji. The bo-leaf as our logo, comes from an actual leaf, given during the initiation into the Precepts given to our co-founder, Ramasubramanian, by the renowned Zen Buddhist teacher, late Thay Thich Nhat Hanh.
Our work is inspired and shaped by the framework and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, about whom the founders had their initial education with the late Gandhian Historian, Sri. Dharampal and later shaped by Ven Samdhong Rinpoche and late Sri Ravindra Sharma. Our thoughts in social sector are owed much to the learning opportunities provided by the members of the erstwhile Patriotic People oriented Science and Technology (PPST) group, particularly Sri. T M Mukundan, Dr PLT Girija, Sri. AV Balasubramanian, D Vijayalakshmi, and many more eminent people who call us friends - Prof. Sultan Ahmed Ismail, Sri Pawan Gupta, Dr Claude Alvares, late Md. Idris, Prof Shiv Vishwanath, Mr. Joseph Thomas among others. It has been an honour for us to have had deep conversations and interactions with all these amazing personalities. They have shaped our thoughts, ideas and shaped the nature and scope of work we do as well.
Get to read about our advisors, team members and associates -
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Ramasubramanian
Director, Samanvaya
Recognized globally as a leading authority on ethical, sustainable livelihood eco-system building. Has been facilitating new forms of institutions, curriculum, cultures, initiatives, and ideas in the social sector for over 25 yrs. with several prestigious ventures in India and abroad. Currently, shaping one of the largest skill development programmes that impacts over 300,000 youth, also conceptualizing and designing several people-centric research programmes and academic programmes with mainstream and alternative institutions on green economy.
He has designed policies, programmes, curriculum, processes and systems for governments, academic institutions, and civil society organizations. As a teacher, he facilitated and trained several thousand enterprise leaders through innovative management courses for cross section of society, viz., farmers, rural women, youth, professionals, and officials. Has been invited to deliver lectures, seminars, and lead workshops in several prestigious institutions in India and abroad, including Cambridge, Yale, IITs and many more in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany, Ecuador, and USA. He has given invited talk on Ethics, in the Parliament of World Religions, in Toronto and Chicago. Earlier studied engineering and management, he quit corporate management consulting (1991-98) to start Samanvaya along with Rama in 1998.
Download Ram's lecture intro. short profile here.
Download Ram's detailed profile here.
Schedule a call / meeting with Ram using the Google Calendar here
Rama
Founder Director / Yoga Teacher / Cultural Counsellor
Rama found her calling as an environmental activist in Chennai and coordinated the Exnora green initiatives between 1995 and 1998. She quit to start Samanvaya along with Ram in 1998. Since then she has been part of several initiatives and ventures of Samanvaya. She has trained as a yoga practitioner and teacher under the tutelage of Ms. Lakshmi Ranganathan, a direct disciple of renowned late yoga teacher Sri. Krishnamacharya. She currently splices her time between teaching yoga as therapy, to women professionals, expecting mothers, and elderly in particular.
She is also a widely consulted counsellor on cultural issues from traditional remedies for preventive healthcare, lifestyle related challenges, counselling parents, grand parents and youth alike in issues of cultural and traditional practices. Currently she is also teaching chanting of specific portions of the ancient tamil scripture, Thirumandiram.
Kavery Subramanian
Director (Admin)
Subbu, as he is popularly known, manages all the administrative, accounting and compliance issues of Samanvaya. He is the invisible anchor on which holds and ensures the success of several initiatives, projects and ventures. A complete backend person, he hates to sit through meetings, evaluates situations and arrives at quick actionable solutions. Deeply interested in the spiritual traditions of south India, Subbu prefers to spend time on troubleshooting situations and pursuing solutions faster than many people can comprehend the issues. He has trained several village youth to become career accountants and continues to mentor them as well.
Rev. Sara Wolcott
International Advisor
Founder - Director, Sequoia Samanvaya, California and a long time collaborator with Samanvaya. She has created a movement for eco-theological seminary in the USA and shapes the thoughts and actions through the several courses that she offers online to professionals, funding groups and corporates. Samanvaya has collaborated with her in several projects in Himalayas, in India, Germany, Canada, Ecuador and in USA. More about the collaboration available here.
Rev. Sara has been an advisor on the International collaborations for Samanvaya and both the organizations have jointly coordinated and participated in the Parliament of World Religions in Toronto and Chicago in 2019 and 2023 respectively.
Subashini Sridhar
Research Collaborator
Subhashini Sridhar is a long term friend and associate of Samanvaya, collaborating and co-working on several recent initiatives, including as a trainer in the Sustainable Livelihood Venture, and also as a Trustee and research collaborator at the Nammalvar Multiversity. A renowned expert in the organic farming sector, Subha has successfully worked both as a researcher in the bio-pesticide development area and also as a leader in forming and coordinating the Farmer Producer Company in Sirgazhi (a town in the Cauvery delta region where she lives) with over 1300 organic farmers as its members.
Baskar Manimegalai
Concept Developer / Dhamma Teacher
Director, of Nammalvar Multiversity and a collaborator in several ventures of Samanvaya, Baskar is a Dhamma teacher based out of Tiruvannamalai. He has collaborated with the Green Economy programme, and in co-creating and coordinating the Nammalvar Multiversity, a decolonizing project that has started facilitating several innovative ventures in strengthening local economies, articulation of the local cultures, histories and worldviews on livelihoods and lifestyles. Baskar and Ram collaborate to produce a weekly podcast in Tamil called Raatai the Wheel. As on June 2024, the podcast has run for nearly 100 episodes.
Dr. Aishwarya Raman
Research Initiator & Coordinator
Aishwarya is an interdisciplinary researcher with over a decade of experience in participatory research, climate change adaptation, social entrepreneurship, agribusiness management, and digital governance. She has demonstrated progressive professional growth through her associations with various organizations, including a CSIR institute, NGOs, IIT Madras, and Tamil Nadu state departments, where she has significantly contributed to national and international development projects. She has been a pivotal member of core teams responsible for situational analysis, monitoring & evaluation reports and in implementing the technical frameworks derived across projects’ life cycle. Her doctoral thesis on farmer producer companies (FPCs),the new generation food systems in India deployed mixed methods research in understanding resilience of food systems during uncertainties. The research outcomes emphasized considerations on social capital, natural farming and network perspectives of agrifood systems. Her certifications in ESG and consultative experiences on projects pertaining to human and environmental rights risks in global supply chains utter her potential in this new evolving niche.
Samadhi
Community Institution & Networks Initiator
Currently managing the networking platform of Sahayogi Parivar, she is based in the western state of Maharashtra and travels across the western belt regularly. Her work takes her to several states in India where she links volunteers and constructive work through regional community institution building and strengthening. She also herself volunteers with several institutions and individuals. Samadhi had earlier set-up and managed a organic farmer support consumer network with over 1000 farmers in the city of Pune. She currently has initiatives in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat as community institution support network creation.
Green Economy India - Advisors, Team and Associates
Green Economy India - Volunteers for Advocacy