Accelerating Gender Equality: Towards a #DigitALL Maldives, Nepal & Sri Lanka

Ayesha Zainudeen is a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia. Her core areas of interest lie at the intersection of technology and inclusion in the Global South, with a focus on the future of work. She has over 18 years’ extensive experience in this field, having designed, managed and led numerous research projects in the South and Southeast Asian region for clients such as IDRC (Canada), the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the GSM Association, the Asian Development Bank, inter alia. In her current research, she is documenting how digital technologies are changing work opportunities and contexts, in particular for women in South Asia. She is also mapping online job portals in the Asia Pacific to understand their potential as a data source for near-real-time labor market analytics.

Nhasala Joshi is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Women Leaders in Technology (WLiT). WLiT is a community and organization working with young women for inclusivity and leadership in tech. She has an academic background in engineering and has previously worked for educational and IoT-based startups. She is passionate about shaping an inclusive digital future and supporting societal reforms by working at the intersection of the technology and development sector. She is a Co-organizer of GDG Kathmandu, Women Techmakers Kathmandu Ambassador, and a member of Global Shapers Kathmandu. She is currently involved in works relating to gender data, digital inclusivity, and building a supportive tech ecosystem.

Niuma Faiz is the co-founder and President at Women in Tech Maldives. She is an experienced Data Warehouse Administrator with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry as well as e-gov implementation projects. Skilled in SQL development, SSRS, SSIS, Power BI, IT Service Management and Business Intelligence. She is a strong IT professional specialized in Business Intelligence Systems, an ITIL practitioner and PRINCE Certified project manager.

Mansi Kedia is Senior Fellow at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Her areas of research include telecommunication and digital policy, trade and industrial policy. Her ongoing research includes issues related to the governance of the internet, competition, emerging tech and the future of work in India. She was a member of the task force rewriting the Direct Tax Code for India (2017) and a mid-career fellow of the Internet Society (2022). She is currently a co-chair of the T20 task force on Our Common Digital Future: Affordable, Accessible and Inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure. She also has a background in management consulting and financial services with close to four years of experience in the private sector. She received her B.Sc. in Economics from St. Xavier’s, Kolkata and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Her PhD is from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.