Raja Rajeswari is a social development expert with more than 28 years of experience in fostering social and economic empowerment of marginalized communities, promoting rural entrepreneurship, and advancing gender and social inclusion. She has vast experience in international development and has contributed as a gender and social development specialist for agriculture and development projects supported by OXFAM, USAID, BMGF, FAO, and ADB. She is Associate Vice President at Cornell Sathguru Foundation for Development (CSFD), India. She has initiated women-led vegetable nurseries under the Feed the Future Insect-Resistant Eggplant Partnership to ensure meaningful social and economic participation for women and youth.

She has a Master’s in Social Work from Osmania University, India, and has previously led projects on women’s empowerment, rural development, child welfare, and public health. As a strategy for positive prevention and minimizing risk taking behavior among sex workers, transgenders, and men who have sex with men (MSM), she has promoted sex workers’ cooperatives, financial inclusion, and alternative livelihoods in Andhra Pradesh, India.