Ms. Sohini Bhattacharya

Sohini is the CEO of Breakthrough, an organisation focused on transforming gender norms and building the leadership of young people to prevent gender-based violence. Sohini has worked in Breakthrough to build a wide portfolio of supporters and partners since 2010.

 Sohini has been working in the development sector for 30+ years. Closely connected to the Women’s Movement in India, she has co-founded a Gender Resource Centre, worked on economic empowerment of women and market-artisan interfaces. Sohini has a rich experience in institution building across South Asia. She was the India strategy advisor for the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network from 2010-2013. Sohini is a founding member of the Coalition for Good Schools - Voices from the South, represents Breakthrough in a flagship programme on What Works to Prevent Violence against women and Girls from UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and co-chairs the Award Committee for Catalyst 2030, a global movement of social innovators focused on SDGs.

 Sohini is an advisory board member at Ignite Philanthropy, a philanthropic fund that supports bold efforts to ensure every child lives a life free from violence;  a board member of The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre For Women (ARROW), a regional women and young people’s organisation that has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations; and a trustee of Read India, an organisation that sets up self-sustaining community libraries across the country. Sohini is also a member of the Global Reference Group of the Spotlight Initiative, the United Nations high-impact initiative to end violence against women and girls.

 When she is not working, Sohini loves to cook and feed people, watch films and travel. She lives in Gurgaon, India with her daughter, her partner and Momo, her weird, moody but adorable dog.