Kavita Kalsi

Kavita is a Senior Researcher at Bodhi with 15 years’ experience in the international development and humanitarian sectors. She has significant experience in gender and social inclusion, including women’s economic empowerment, girls’ education, gender-based violence, and disability inclusion. 

Prior to joining Bodhi, she spent six years at Social Development Direct, where she carried out rapid desk research for FCDO’s Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk across a range of geographies and topics within women’s economic empowerment. She also worked as the Helpdesk Manager, where she designed rapid research assignments and budgets for FCDO staff members. In addition, she was team leader for a study on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) for the GSMA, where she led qualitative research with TFGBV experts, mobile operators and digital stakeholders to understand women’s experiences of TFGBV in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and to explore potential solutions to prevent and mitigate it.

Kavita has a particular interest in the role of AI in development and humanitarian settings. She has published research in this area and spoken on panel discussions about the risks and opportunities of AI to women experiencing GBV in humanitarian settings.

Kavita previously worked for CARE International UK where she focused on projects in South Asia, including a large FCDO-funded SRHR, nutrition and WASH programme providing technical assistance to the government of Bihar, India; a Girls’ Education Challenge programme in Afghanistan; and a global women’s economic empowerment programme. 

Kavita speaks French, Spanish and Italian, and has field experience in India, Afghanistan, Nepal, the Philippines and Tanzania.