Nafisa Barot has four decades of experience in building gender sensitive institutions working to empower rural marginalized communities. A champion of women's rights to water, and a global voice on gender justice and sustainable development, she passionately pushes aside all sorts of adversity to persevere day after day on the issues she holds dear to her heart. With a quest to take forward the implementation of a Block participatory planning excercise she had worked on at Ahmedabad Study Action Group (ASAG), she along with three other women co-founded Utthan in 1981. The desolate Bhal region of coastal Gujarat where she worked with marginalized communities to self-organise around critical livelihood issues and develop local leadership, provided Nafisa with her real learning. Today, Utthan has established its identity as an organization which has successfully demonstrated socio-technological alternatives that address the issues of the most marginalised. In June 2016, she stepped aside from being the Executive Director. She continues to be on the Board and formally mentors Utthan’s new leadership. This being a clear marker of her will and belief in ensuring leadership and institutional sustainability. Actively associated with the women’s and other people’s movements, she has influenced policies especially those around water and gender. With skills to work with a wide range of stakeholders, Nafisa has served on Government task forces of CAPART, NABARD, DWACRA, Planning Commission amongst a few. She is a founder member of several forums including Pravah and Working Group for Women & Land Ownership (WGWLO), Gujarat. She is on the Boards of India Wash Forum, Pravah, WGWLO, Development Support Centre, Mahiti and the Steering Committees of Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch (MAKAAM), Water Conflict Forum, SDG 6 National Committee formed by FANSA & Wada na Todo Abhiyan to collectively report on WASH. Nafisa is a recipient of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment’s T.N Khoshoo Memorial Award for exemplary work in conservation and sustainable development. She has published several articles on gender/water governance and community agency and been invited to speak at national and international forums. Her many interests include community mobilization, advocacy on human rights and theatre. She presently undertakes consultancy in the broad sector of water, gender and conflict transformation. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Food and Nutrition from M.S. University, Baroda.