Dr Bharat Kakade

President and Managing Trustee, BAIF Development Research Foundation

Dr Bharat Kakade is the President and Managing Trustee of the BAIF Development Research Foundation in Pune. BAIF has dedicated over 57 years to fostering sustainable rural livelihoods and climate action initiatives across 14 Indian states. The organisation creates opportunities for gainful self-employment – impacting more than 100,000 villages and over 4 million rural poor families.

Presently, he is also a member of the water resource-based Green Credit Committee set up by the Government of India. Dr Kakade has previously played an advisory role for many civil society organisations and several state government departments in India. As a sustainable development professional, he has also previously undertaken several international and domestic assignments for organisations including India-Canada Environment Facility, Plan International, Concern Worldwide, Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt Ltd, International Water Management Institute, Tata Trust, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, and USAID.

Dr Kakade has around 30 different publications to his credit, including watershed manuals, case studies, research reports, and research papers on sustainability, livelihood and natural resource management.