Founders

Mathew John

Organic and Fair Trade Expert
Founder-Director

Mathew promotes Keystone's approach in coalescing traditional forest livelihoods, conservation and social enterprise. He is the voice for our expertise on organic agriculture, fair trade and slow food.

mathew(at)keystone-foundation.org

Pratim Roy

Rural Development Expert & Ecologist
Founder-Director

Pratim provides strategic direction to Keystone's work, funding and vision, building staff capacities and action for institutional sustainability, and to widen the scope of our impact.

pratim(at)keystone-foundation.org

Snehlata Nath

Tribal Livelihoods Expert
Founder-Director

Sneh provides strategic inputs to Keystone's work, along with plans for expanding impact. She focuses on civil society networks across India and advises teams in the Eastern India Initiative and Aadhimalai, the indigenous producers' group.

sneh(at)keystone-foundation.org

Directors

Anita Varghese

Ecologist
Director

Anita developes long-term goals, research and action steps on field for the implementation of projects under the Biodiversity and Climate Change programmes. She also aids in human resources decisions.

anita(at)keystone-foundation.org

Jyotsna Krishnakumar

Natural Resource and Environmental Management-Human Dimensions
Director

Jyotsna develops long term action and research plans within the Community wellbeing and Water & Sanitation programmes, applied through the lenses of livelihood outcomes, improved community-based governance, health and wellness, and climate change.

jyotsna(at)keystone-foundation.org

Biodiversity Conservation

Aradkuttan

Restoration Ecologist
Additional Programme Coordinator

Aradkuttan facilitates eco-restoration activities at all sites, raising native flora, monitoring pollinators and checking invasives. He is part of our community awareness efforts on restoration.

Chandrasekar Das

Wildlife Biologist
Programme Coordinator

Chandrasekar works to monitor and manage human-wildlife interactions in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, and organises community awareness efforts. He also identifies and monitors ecological restoration sites.

Harshavardhini Angappan

Restoration Ecologist
Additional Programme Coordinator

Harsha manages our nursery of endangered and native plants and seed bank. She also conducts vegetation studies in Nilgiri habitats, and assists in population assessments.

Justin Raj

Pollinators Expert
Additional Programme Coordinator

Justin studies the impact of climate change on bees and other pollinators, works to improve and manage our apiaries and provides overall support to Keystone's biodiversity projects.

Mahadesha Basavegowda

Forests & Livelihoods Expert
Additional Programme Coordinator

Mahadesha strategises community conservation, sustainable forest practices and agriculture in the Sathyamangalam landscape and surrounds. He also works with local government bodies to deepen Keystone's impact.

Mathesan

Human Wildlife Interaction
Field Assistant

Mathesan works on propagating the nurseries in Sathyamangalam landscape, supporting ecological monitoring projects and documenting traditional knowledge from the region.

Mounthees Kuttan

Restoration Ecologist
Technical Coordinator

Mounthees works on the ecological restoration of four landscapes within the NBR. He also assists in cultural mapping of the Toda community.

Vishnu N.M.

Restoration Ecologist
Technical Coordinator

Vishnu is a field botanist who works on the ecological restoration of several landscapes in the NBR. He is a certified IUCN Red List assessor, and aids in the management of several native flora nurseries.

Nithya V.

Pollinators Expert
Field Assistant

Nithya conducts surveys on pollinators and flora, and monitors populations of the former. She also works to promote beekeeping and aids activities related to apiaries across Keystone's working regions.

R. Ramajeyam

Human Wildlife Monitoring
Field Coordinator

Ramajeyam works to monitor and manage the human- wildlife interactions in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. He also monitors ecological restoration sites, and promotes the community awareness as a nature educator for schools.

Rajendran R.

Pollinators Expert
Field Coordinator

Rajendran studies pollinators, their diversity and apiculture in Sigur and Pillur, monitoring bee populations, aiding activities related to apiaries and supporting work towards conservation.

Shivanna B.

Native Flora Expert
Field Assistant

Sivanna raises, propagates and collects native seeds and plants in several nurseries in the Sathyamangalam and Punanjanur landscape. His work also involves outreach and restoration activities.

Shiny Rehel

Restoration Ecologist
Senior Programme Coordinator

Shiny strategises ecological restoration projects, overseeing native flora nurseries and projects related to pollinators. She builds networks with global forums on biodiversity, and within local government bodies.

Vandana Kannan

Wildlife Biologist
Technical Coordinator

Vandana conducts long-term ecological monitoring studies, researching lesser-known and threatened animals in the NBR. She manages the wildlife database and supports outreach and training in Sathyamangalam landscape.

Jenner J Prince

Human- Wildlife Interaction
Programme Coordinator

Jenner designs and implements wildlife monitoring protocols. He also works on strengthening community participation in wildlife monitoring systems and coexistence initiatives.

Jyoti Patale

Environmental Education
Additional Programme Coordinator

Nandakumar K

Human Wildlife Interaction
Field Assistant

Reshma Majhi

Traditional Food and Diet Diversity
Programme Associate

Robin C

Human Wildlife Interaction
Field Assistant

Rohan Mukherjee

Agroecology
Programme Coordinator

Sasikumar R

Human Wildlife Interaction
Field Assistant

Community Wellbeing

Ayoob A.

Governance & Livelihoods
Field Coordinator

Ayoob supports climate change and health initiatives in Wayanad and Nilambur. He works to leverage funds from government schemes for local interventions and facilitates tenurial right processes for Indigenous communities.

Bagavanidhi M.

Grassroots Governance
Additional Programme Coordinator

Bagavanidhi mobilises forest communities and government bodies in the Nilgiris towards improved governance systems and advocacy efforts, particularly in claiming rights under India's Forest Rights Act. He also facilitates linkages between governance, health and livelihoods efforts.

Kannan

Community-led Water Use
Field Coordinator

Kannan coordinates water and sanitation activities in the semi-urban regions of Aracode, Konnavakarai and Kotagiri, working closely with community-led foundations and local government bodies.

R. Chandran

Traditional Livelihoods
Field Coordinator

R. Chandran focuses on improving governance systems, healthcare and sustainable traditional livelihoods in Pillur. He is keen to promote the just implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

Faseela V.

Governance
Additional Programme Coordinator

Faseela assists Keystone's work in Nilambur, primarily to improve local governance, sustainable forest livelihoods and community wellbeing. She engages with community health workers and aids water management efforts.

C.M. Rajesh

Governance & Livelihoods
Field Assistant

Rajesh supports the implementation of interventions in the Sigur region. In addition to this, he coordinates activities on the Forest Rights Act in the region.

Lalitha M.

Governance & Food
Additional Programme Coordinator

Lalitha works to implement community well-being efforts in Sigur, coordinating activities related to the Forest Rights Act, and supporting work related to healthcare and conservation of traditional seeds.

Muhammed Rafi

Governance
Field Coordinator

Rafi assists interventions in Wayanad, promoting native agriculture, governance and mentoring community health workers. He is also involved in water management efforts.

Saneesh P.B.

Land & Water
Field Coordinator

Saneesh assists implementation of agriculture, healthcare and water management efforts in Wayanad. He is also involved in activities related to water and land conservation.

Ramachandran K.G.

Governance & Livelihoods
Programme Coordinator

Ramu provides strategy and inputs in Wayanad and Nilambur on strengthening traditional livelihoods, local governance systems, healthcare and the preservation of traditional knowledge.

Rabiullah Md

Programme Coordinator
APF Project

Rabiullah works to ensure access to water for all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) by restoring water sources and strengthening community institutions for water management in 30 villages of 3 GPs across Sundarpahari Block, Godda District Jharkhand.

rabiullah(at)keystone-foundation.org

Sunil Kumar

Pollinators & Healthcare
Field Coordinator

Sunil assists our community wellbeing work in Nilambur, working with volunteers and field staff to facilitate work in agriculture, healthcare, apiary, conservation, livelihoods and governance.

Sriram Paramasivan

Livelihoods & Enterprise
Technical Coordinator

Sriram supports planning and delivering of interventions under the livelihoods focus area. He aids in the facilitation and strengthening of traditional and organic agricultural practices and enterprise development.

Vijayan

Restoration Ecologist
Technical Coordinator

Vijayan is a field botanist who works on the ecological restoration of several landscapes in the NBR.

Monisha

Programme Associate

Ujjainee Sharma

Programme Associate

Miller

Consultant, Enterprise Hub

Sivakumar

Field Assistant

Nagaraj

Field Assistant

Shiuli Chandra

Consultant, Enterprise Hub

Prema Tigga

Technical Coordinator
Field Assistant- Sundar Paharia

Knowledge Hub

Jeyanthi R.

Communications
Additional Programme Coordinator

Jeyanthi coordinates the publication of the Seemai Sudhi newsletter, supports Radio Kotagiri, and aids in the mentoring of local and indigenous researchers and activities of the community archives projects.

jeyanthi(at)keystone-foundation.org

Merab Vilomina Manu

Trainings and Field Courses
Programme Associate

Manickam A.

Community Media
Additional Programme Coordinator

Manickam focuses on operations of the Radio Kotagiri programme and associated infrastructure, coordinates content generation with community members and records feedback on the programme.

manickam(at)keystone-foundation.org

Shawn Jacob Stephen

Communications
Programme Associate

Ajay Parthiban

Radio Kotagiri

O.M. Wilfred William

Organisational Information Systems
Additional Programme Coordinator

Organisational Development

Amsaveni C.

Accountant
Subject Coordinator

Amsaveni ensures backend work runs smoothly, delivering payments and reimbursements on time, settling bills, preparing project expense reports and coordinating employee welfare funds.

H.R. Eswaran

Finance
Senior Programme Coordinator

Eswar provides direction to Keystone's finance and accounts processes, maintaining project reports, ensuring statutory requirements like FCRA are in place and building capacity for staff and finance infrastructure.

Hari

Security

Hari works to maintain Keystone's beautiful campus in Kotagiri, ensuring water supply, waste management, office vehicles, campus bills and other logistics are in place.

Sabitha

Admin
Subject Coordinator

Subject Coordinator

Sabitha helps keep Keystone's Kotagiri campus functional, overseeing maintanence of the canteen, guesthouse and office buildings, from electric to carpentry and water supply.

kf(at)keystone-foundation.org

Sarasasmeeta

Admin
Senior Programme Coordinator

Sara provides direction to Keystone's administrative team, coordinates with local and national government bodies to facilitate our projects, and aids the activities of several partners, including The Nilgiris Foundation.

Sumin George

Funding & Strategy
Senior Programme Coordinator

Sumin provides inputs to strategy and development of our networks and relations with partners and donors. He focuses on building proposals and reports to further our collaborations and funding opportunities.

R. Samuel Clement

Accounts
Subject Coordinator

Devika Raj

Accounts
Subject Assistant

S. Soniya

Accounts
Subject Assistant

J. Anupriya

Accounts
Subject Assistant

Sanjhla Soren

Subject Assistant, Accounts

Prakash Chandra Bit

Accounts

People & Nature Collectives

Faisal Rehman

Archiving and Research
Programme Coordinator

Faisal coordinates projects building community archives, mentors local and indigenous researchers, creates archiving tools and supports community-led foundations and media platforms.

faisal(at)keystone-foundation.org

Jeyanthi R.

Community Media
Additional Programme Coordinator

Manickam A.

Community Media
Additional Programme Coordinator

Mira Kudva Driskell

Archiving and Research
Consultant

Mira assists with projects in the institutional archives and creating pedagogical modules, and engages in research on human migration and One Health systems.

Daniel Samraj

Archiving
Technical Coordinator

P. Chandran

Grassroots Governance
Programme Coordinator

P. Chandran helps conceptualise activities across Keystone's working areas to strengthen governance systems, focusing on community forest rights and habitat rights.

Kavyanjali K

Technical Coordinator

Vinodh Chellan

Consultant

Aswathy GV

Consultant

Ranjani Prasad

Archiving and Research
Programme Coordinator

Ranjani maintains institutional archives, creates digital tools archives, and supports community-led foundations and media platforms with mentorship. She also develops tribal leadership trainings.

ranjani(at)keystone-foundation.org

Syamjith PK

Technical Coordinator

Climate Change

Bhavya George

Climate Solutions
Programme Coordinator

Bhavya strategises the vision for the climate change programme, working with climate historians, educators and journalists in the Nilgiris and Central/Eastern India to build action research on climate impacts.

bhavya(at)keystone-foundation.org

Gunashekar M.

Technical Coordinator

Gunashekar works on climate just transition initiatives in Tamil Nadu, focusing on grassroot stakeholder engagement including farmers, NTFP collectors and fisherfolk. He specializes in developing environmental monitoring plans, facilitating community-led environment monitoring, and delivering capacity-building trainings on climate literacy.

Reshma R

Climate Solutions
Technical Coordinator

Reshma focuses on gender just climate solutions, such as analog forestry.

Vidya S.

Climate Educator
Technical Coordinator

Vidya focuses on implementing our Climate Smart Schools project, coordinating with educators and creating teaching materials to facilitate activities in 14 schools across the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.

vidya(at)keystone-foundation.org

Akhil Sivadas

Programme Coordinator

Akhil co-leads the Programme, working towards resilient, multifunctional landscapes through community-led, evidence-based approaches grounded in social-ecological systems thinking. His work seeks to connect local knowledge, science, governance, policy, finance, and climate action towards this vision..

akhil@keystone-foundation.org

Robert Leo

Consultant

Robert Leo is Keystone’s in-house expert on traditional practices in apiculture and organic agriculture. He is a graduate in Rural Developmental Science. As the Deputy Director of Keystone, he holds workshops for our beneficiaries and advises the Indigenous producers' company Aadhimalai.

Sangeswari M

Field Coordinator

Sangeswari manages on-the-ground climate resilience operations and community mobilization in the coastal region of Killai. Working directly with local fisherfolk, she supervises community-led environmental resource monitoring and delivers targeted climate literacy training. She anchors the project's local governance strategy, securing necessary village-level compliances and ensuring alignment with local government regulations.

Chitra R

Field Assistant

Chitra manages on-the-ground climate resilience operations and community mobilization in Aracode. Working directly with local Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) collectors, she delivers climate literacy trainings and supervises community-led environmental monitoring. She also oversees site-level administration, ensuring all project interventions strictly align with village protocols and local government compliances.