Manvita Baradi

Manvita Baradi has over 25 years of technical experience in developing and administering programs to local governments in the areas of service delivery, local governance, urban planning, heritage management, citizen participation, capacity building of local government associations, development of urban indicators and performance measurement and international development. She has served as Director-South Asia for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), been technical consultant for United Agency for International Development (USAID) and served as an expert on World Bank funded programs for local governance, association development and urban planning programs in post-conflict regions like Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In her role as director of UMC, she provides expert guidance to the various projects undertaken by the organisation. She is the Gujarat State Convener of Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Manvita is an alumni of the senior executive institute, Darden Business School, University of Virginia, USA. And has done a summer course for local government management from University of Illinois, USA. Manvita is passionate about theatre and is a renowned name in Gujarati theatre. She has been actively involved in developmental communication using street theatre as an effective medium for communication. She has guided over half a dozen video productions on urban issues. She effectively uses her knowledge of city planning, design and theatre to work with people across age groups and knowledge skills. Manvita also serves as the Dean of School of Habitat Management at CEPT University. manvita@umcasia.org