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Revathi Radhakrishnan

2022 Fellow

Director of Vanavil Trust

Revathi R
India

Revathi Radhakrishnan comes from a middle class, small-town background and she built herself into a crusader and for the Nomadic Tribes. A changemaker who keeps women and children in the centre of everything she does, Revathi finished her B.Sc in mathematics from Bharathi Women’s College in Chennai and has completed a Diploma in Theatre for Education and Social Transformation from the Shiv Nadar University.

Revathi has undergone leadership and social sector training and serves in the district committees for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, SSA and ethics committee of the Nagapattinam Medical College Hospital. She started her career as a television journalist, producing shows and workimg in the movie industry. The Asian Tsunami of 2004 took Revathi as a volunteer to Nagapattinam and she ended up founding Vanavil for the betterment of the children and women of Nomadic Tribes through education and empowerment. Vanavil has now grown into an organization that has liberated more than 500 child beggars from that condition and has educated them. It is creating livelihoods to more than 500 Nomadic Women who are otherwise into begging. Vanavil runs a school, children’s home, and after school program reaching to 800 children and a higher education program for Nomads.

Revathi has transformed the lives of children and women in the Boom Boom Maatukarar community through her passionate and one-of-a-kind educational model and financial support program. She also runs an independent publishing house named Maitri Books specializing in feminist titles. She has also translated books on Ambedkar and written a book of poems published by Kaalachuvadu Publications in 2014.