Forty-year-old Judith D’Souza was abducted in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday night from the vicinity of Qala-e-Fatullah area of the city. Government sources have indicated that the Indian embassy is working to ensure her release. They are also in touch with her family.
According to her LinkedIn profile, D’Souza had been working with the NGO, Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul as a senior technical adviser since July 2015. Before moving to Kabul, she had close to fifteen years of experience as a social and environmental specialist in West Bengal, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. D’Souza hails from Kolkata where she went to Loreto Day School. She completed her Bachelors in English Honours from St. Xaviers college, Kolkata and followed it up with a Masters in Social Work from University of Mumbai.
Since 2000, D’Souza has been working actively on gender issues, poverty and environmental conservation with reputed non-profit organizations in India. Some of the names she has worked with include International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and Gram Vikas, Orissa. She has also authored a number of research papers on water management systems.
Before having joined the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul, D’Souza had been working as an independent consultant. She provided advice and developed assessment tools on rural development and gender strategies to the Ministry of Rural Development in India and international organizations such as WorldFish, Malaysia, IFAD and International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), Afghanistan.
As part of the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul, D’Souza had been working towards conducting research and developing strategies for women empowerment.
Source: The Indian Express
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