Tirtha Prasad Saikia
Member
North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
Tirtha Prasad Saikia is a frontline development activist, deeply rooted in the civil society landscape with a strong foundation in grassroots experience, passion and visionary leadership. He serves as the Director of North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a locally-driven organisation based in Assam in the north-eastern region of India, working with vulnerable communities in their pursuit of justice, dignity and resilience in the face of humanitarian crises and poverty. Over the past 15 years, Tirtha has led and contributed to a wide spectrum of initiatives at NEADS, including humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, environment and climate action, livelihood promotion, governance, people’s economy, participatory research and rights-based advocacy.
Since the inception of the India Humanitarian Hub (IHH), Tirtha has been actively engaged in shaping and strengthening humanitarian coordination and localization processes in India. Through his involvement with IHH, he has contributed to collective humanitarian analysis, civil society coordination, advocacy on principled humanitarian action and efforts to amplify the voices and leadership of local organizations in humanitarian decision-making spaces.
Tirtha is also actively engaged with various networks and coalitions at local, national and international levels, and plays a vital role in working with governments to influence policy development processes that reflect the needs and aspirations of marginalized communities in the region.