Somnath Sen is a Senior Advisor for the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore – India’s first prospective National Innovation University addressing the challenges of urbanisation through an integrated programme of education, research, consulting and advisory services.
Education:
- MBA (PGDRM), IRMA, Anand, Gujarat, India; 1989.
- B.A. (Hons.) Economics, St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, India;1986.
Trained in public economics, management and consumer marketing research, Somnath has managed and led a number of institutional development and strategic advice tasks, across public sector reform, urban management and environmental services delivery, natural resource management, social development and energy sectors.
Over the past two decades, he has
- Assisted the Government of India’s Urban Sanitation Task Force in preparing the National Urban Sanitation Policy for India.
- Worked with the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, on developing the methodology for and commissioning of Rating of Class I Cities of India on Sanitation.
- Carried out a study to contribute to the INDIA 2030: Vision for an Environmentally Sustainable Future (A World Bank-Govt. of India initiative).
- Led the survey study on assessing the impact of World Bank-supported Rural Water Supply and Sanitation projects in India
- Assisted the City Government of Monrovia, Government of Liberia, in devising institutional arrangements for improving primary solid waste collection in Monrovia.
- Assisted UNICEF Water and Environmental Sanitation in developing a (EUR 3 million) proposal on “Ensuring a Healthy Environment for Children in India” for IKEA Social Initiative funding.
- Played the role of Institutional Development Specialist in the team that carried out a Study of the World Bank-assisted Slum Sanitation Program in Mumbai.
- Been part of the WELL-team that carried out the Evaluation of DFID India’s support to the Water and Sanitation Program South Asia (WSP-SA)
- Led the TARU team that carried out a Rapid Assessment of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Sector in Bihar, jointly commissioned by Govt. of Bihar and UNICEF in India.
- Been Advisor for a short study on Panchayati Raj & Natural Resource Management in India for ODI and DFID, UK.
Somnath was the co-founder of TARU for Development, a non-profit professional research agency in 1990, that was restructured into TARU Leading Edge Pvt. Ltd., a privately-owned limited liability consulting company, since 1996, and TARU Research & Information Network, a research non-profit under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act. www.taru.org.
Somnath enjoys training and teaching – having trained more than 100 students as an animator for Leadership Training Service, a youth movement in India. At TARU, he was responsible for in-house training of professionals.
Somnath has travelled on work and leisure to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Liberia, Hungary, Belgium and the U.K. He has extensive field experience in more than 100 districts of 25 states, myriad cities including three of the 25 million-plus cities of India, and provinces and cities in Ethiopia, Liberia, China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
- Lead author of more than 60 reports and joint-author of more than 50 reports (in free-lance capacity and for clients of TARU – full list available on request).
- Co-authored (with Sarkar, Shyamal; and Ghosh Moulik, Soma) WSP Report Partnering with Slum Communities for Sustainable Sanitation in a Megapolis: The Mumbai Slum Sanitation Program” available at www.wsp.org (Sept, 2006).
- Co-authored (with K.R., Rajiv) IC Report “Experiences with Communities of Practice in India”, Intercooperation in India Working Paper Series 1 (Dec 2005).
- Co-authored a column (“The Rural Way”) in the Indian journal “Advertising & Marketing” (1995-96).
- Authored “Scenarios of Sustainability: India” (1998, INRIC), later published in Whole Earth, Spring 1999 (pp 99-100).
