Our Team - Shanthi Maargam

Kamani Jinadasa
Executive Director/Founder

Kamani, a social justice activist and gender specialist, has worked with youth for almost two decades. She is a national and international expert in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence (GBV), engaging men and boys for gender equality and securing the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. In recent years Kamani has worked as a consultant. Her assignments include developing Minimum Standards in Child Protection Work for the National Child Protection Authority working as Gender Advisor for UNFPA at the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. She currently works for the World Bank as a Senior Gender Specialist and GBV specialist for the South Asian Region. Kamani implemented a groundbreaking research project on engaging men for gender equality as project director at Care International Sri Lanka from 2010-2013. The study showed the importance intervening with boys, to end the cycle of gender-based violence and a less violent society. A desire to put the study into practice, and increase the emotional well-being of youth using a holistic approach, led Kamani to pursue her dream to establish Shanthi Maargam in 2016. A lawyer by training, Kamani has an MBA from the University of Western Sydney in 2004 and a second Master’s from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. In the field of HIV, Kamani helped establish an HIV support organization, “The Positive Women’s Network”, in Sri Lanka. Kamani was also part of the legal team instrumental in a landmark Supreme Court case in 2016 that secured the right to education of a child affected by HIV.

Natasha Balendra
Director

Natasha Balendra is the former chairperson of the National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka’s apex statutory body for advising the government on law and policy for the prevention of child abuse and the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of child abuse. She is a lawyer by training and has practiced law in Sri Lanka and New York. Her particular interests are in international human rights and advocating for women and children both nationally and internationally. She has held lecturing positions at Kings College, University of London and New York University, School of Law and is a former scholar in residence and fellow of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU. Natasha holds a LLB from Kings College London, an MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, an LLM from Harvard Law School, and a DPhil from the Oxford University. She is an Attorney at Law of Sri Lanka and New York and a Barrister at Law of Lincolns Inn, United Kingdom.

Vathsala Jayasuriya-Illesinghe
Director

Dr. Vathsala Jayasuriya-Illesinghe is a consultant community physician and former senior lecturer in Community Medicine in Sri Lanka, currently pursuing a PhD in Policy Studies at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. With more than 12 years of research, knowledge dissemination and advocacy work addressing intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in Sri Lanka, Dr. Illesinghe has worked with local and international violence against women researchers, community agencies, advocates and various other stakeholders to improve the health sector response to addressing IPV in Sri Lanka. Educated in Sri Lanka, Sweden, UK, and Canada with capacity to carry out multi-site, community-based action research in diverse settings she has led a Canada-research collaboration focused on strengthening the health sector policy and practice responses to address intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka. As a director of Shanthi Maargam she hopes to continue engagement with Sri Lankan colleagues and communities, implementing sustainable projects for the improvement and well-being of young people living in Sri Lanka.

Rohith Pradeep
Director

Currently, CEO of SAKS Global, an off shore and technology services company, offering services in the areas of data science, software development, contact center and finance and accounting. His former careers involved holding management positions at Esna Group of Companies and MAS Holdings. He completed undergrad at UMIST, specialising in marketing and management, and securing his MA in International Management at the University of Nottingham, China. Outside of work, his interests lie in technology, music, spirituality and mental wellness.

Caryll Tozer
Director

A women’s and child rights activist and an environment and wildlife conservationist, Caryll Tozer works on several Social Programs. Building homes for women-headed households, building wells for villagers who don’t have access to water, and providing women with life skills are just some of them. Former national athlete and a recipient of an award from the International Olympic Committee for her work `in gender equality in sport, Caryll believes that if we want to save our women, children, and our environment, we ourselves must become socially active and engaged; that we must teach women life skills and give children every encouragement to grow into socially conscious adults. She believes that we must be guardians of our forests and the environment- the very basic life support for our existence. Caryll is on several committees and is a trustee of various organizations as she believes in the power that is inherent in each one of us to be the change.

Ardlay Mohamed
Director

Ardlay Mohamed has been a practicing counselor since 2016. She has been a part of Shanthi Maargam since its inception as one of the first staff members. She has played an integral role in helping the organization become what it is today. She started as a counsellor and then on moved on to be Asst. Centre manager and counsellor, Head of Counselling and Asst. Coordinating manager to Deputy CEO and Head of counselling services. Ardlay has always held SM close to her heart and gone above and beyond to do what’s best for the organization. She streamlined the counselling department and has trained many staff, interns and volunteers during her tenure. She has been part of initiating the hotline and created the internship program which is a highly sought-after program to help young people from the field of mental health to gain knowledge, experience and exposure. She is an advocate for mental health and has facilitated many trainings and workshops for various groups such as children, adolescents and adults. Topics such as suicide prevention, Gender and gender-based violence and domestic violence are areas she feels are very passionate about on creating awareness. She was the Staff Counselor at EMERGE Global Lanka, an organization that works with teenage survivors of sexual abuse in Sri Lanka, a Counselling coordinator who trained counsellors at Indira Cancer Trust which is an organization that helps cancer patients and a Mentor for Without Borders an instructional design company creating accessible and impactful learning experiences. Ardlay is currently in Canada continuing her work in the field of mental health by working for the Canadian Mental Health Association at a Crisis Centre for Mental Health and Addiction. She continues to focus on working and expanding her knowledge and experience in the field of mental health.