Shoba Raja

Who is Shoba Raja?

Shoba Raja has a highly specialised knowledge and experience of developmental issues of vulnerable groups particularly within the field of disability and mental health.

She graduated with a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Bombay and later with a Masters in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. She worked for a number of years as a Medical social worker for various organisations in Mumbai, including “Asha Sadan”, a home for destitute women and children and adoption center, The Spastics Society of India where she fulfilled a number of research and consultant roles, as well as a number of other organisations working with people with disabilities.

In 1999, Raja began her work with ActionAid as a Policy analyst, which included specific focuses on decentralized governance and elementary education. Raja later joined BasicNeeds which works with people with mental disorders and their carers in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Lao PDR and Vietnam. Here she took on a number of research roles, starting as a Research Policy Analyst, then later becoming Programme Manager for International Policy and Research. She currently is Director of Policy and Practice for BasicNeeds which involves overall monitoring, evaluation, impact assessment and quality assurance of all field programmes of the countries where the organisation operates. Since 2000, the organisation has reached 78,036 people with mental illness or epilepsy.