Manvita Baradi is the Founder and Director of the Urban Management Centre. She is also the executive director of the Theatre and Media Centre – an institute dedicated to the preservation of Gujarati theatre and the incubation of modern creators and medium. For almost 3 decades, she has been one of India’s leading voices advocating for the development of better cities. She is among the first in India to work towards professionalizing urban management. She has been a strong advocate for reforming and decentralizing urban development, and strengthening people’s participation in governance. 

She has worked directly in 5 countries, and over 300 city governments. In all her work she has focused on strengthening governance and democratic institutions. Through the Urban Management Centre she has supported major reforms in the National Urban livelihoods Mission, mobilized community groups in over 200 slums across India, and strengthened core municipal functions across 10 cities in the last 3 years. 

Alongside her work at the Urban Management Centre, Ms. Baradi has also served as the founding Dean of the Faculty of Management at CEPT university, has been the Convener of the Gujarat chapter of INTACH, serves as a member of the Heritage Conservation Cell of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and has consulted for several world organizations such as the World Bank, ADB, USAID, DFID . 

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