Governing Board

Founder

Mr Avtar Singh Negi is the Founder Secretary of Mount Valley Development Association (MVDA). Since its inception in 1995, till the end of August 2023, Mr. Negi has been the Chief Functionary of MVDA.

Mr. Avtar Singh Negi

His major work experience spanning three decades includes the development of livelihoods for small and marginalized farmers through natural resource management, including sustainable agriculture, strengthening local governance and institutions building.

He started first project with the government on Joint Forest Management, his hard work and determination brought goodwill to the organization as well as gained the popularity and trust of the locals. During the initial period, he worked closely with youth to raise awareness about social stigmas like gender violence and liquor consumption, further moving on to promote and facilitate literacy, preventive health, and environmental awareness.His love for his community and the betterment of the oppressed led him to work through advocacy to eliminate the atrocities of the local community and to work religiously for improvement in the lives of the rural community. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s in History from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University. His enthusiasm for reaching out to communities and protecting nature and traditional practices is the same as when he first sow the seed of the organization. His passion and hobby lie in his work for his people and their empowerment.

Board of Members

Dr. Vinod Kumar Bhatt

(Secretary)

Having more than 30 years of experience in various capacities as a teacher, researcher, executive Director and advisor to various govt. and non- govt. bodies. Mr. Bhatt has been part of 30 research papers in national and international journals. Not only this, he also has 7 books published in his name. He is currently heading Ingenious Research and Development (IRD) Foundation Dehradun and Uttara Resource Development Society, Badowala, a Non-Governmental Organization based in Dehradun. In addition, he is also involved in evaluation of developmental projects being implemented by the NGOs on Sustainable Agriculture, Biodiversity and livelihoods, funded by the international donors. He is also consultant to various organizations including GIZ, New Delhi, Patanjali Organic Research Institute and Fair-Trade Forum India and Eramount Industries Pvt. Ltd. Dehradun. He is involved in monitoring & evaluation of developmental projects being implemented by the NGOs on Sustainable Agriculture, Biodiversity and livelihoods, funded by the international donors. His knowledge and expertise is extremely helpful to MVDA.

Mrs Beera Devi Chauhan

(Vice-President)

At present, Beera Devi is serving as vice-president for the governing board body of the organization. Before being a designator, Beera Devi has served as member for 7 years. Addressing social issues related on women, employment through Bhilangna Sakhi Sangathan, where she serves as secretary for later community organization. From September 2008 to September 2013, Beera Devi served as Gram Pradhan for Gram Panchayat Mundeti. As Gram Pradhan she focused on the developmental work for her village level constituency for which she was rewarded on Development Block level, Bhilangna. She has also played active role as president member for Conservation society from year 1999 to 2002. While playing active role in social grounds for development of her village, addressing local issues, Beera Devi is not only a homemaker but a progressive farmer as well.

Mr. Rakesh Mohan

(Member)

With 0ver 25 years of experience at senior management level as Humanitarian and Development Programme professional in the non-profit sector, Mr Rakesh Mohan has gained significant expertise in programming for long term development and humanitarian response works, developing operational strategy, and management of development, humanitarian response and early recovery works for the people living in poverty stricken, disaster and conflict affected, and protracted crisis set up. He has worked with different international NGOs and engaged and developed partnership with local CSOs and NGOs workings with poverty stricken and vulnerable communities in South and South East Asia, Middle East and African countries.

He is interested in and working on strengthening Localisation in development and humanitarian assistance works and engaged in coaching, mentoring and capacity building of organisations and practitioners for efficient programming and implementation that ensures timely and quality result.

Mr Rajender Singh Kentura

(President)

Served the Indian Army for 28 years and retired as Subedar under Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). Throughout his service, he was held responsible for documentation, editing and administration. During year 1988, he was the part of the troop sent to Sri Lanka by the Government of India. At present Mr Rajendra is running his business in Srinagar Garhwal. Along with his business, he is also intervening agriculture activities in his village Badisar Patti. Under Gaurav Purv Senani Sangathan, Srinagar Garhwal he has initiated many social welfare activities in the region along with taking care of grievances of ex-army personals. Being an active social worker in his grounds, Mr Rajendra is honing his years of experience with army and training the youth for army entrance exams for free of cost. This contribution of Mr Rajendra has set the youth from different villages of the region to find a career path through his guidance. After his retirement, he served as Senior Accountant for 7 years with Mount Valley Development Association from year 2006 to 2011. Later he served as member of the board for the organization. As of his continuous efforts, at present he has been elected as the President for the organization’s board body.

Mr. Rakesh Jha

(Member)

Mr. Rakesh caries more than 25 years of work experience. He had been associated with the organizations of repute like UNDP. DFID, UNICEF and many more. He has been working with the marginalized and underprivileged socio-cultural-ethnic communities for their upliftment and development. He has also been part of the govt. project in skill development program of Govt. of Madhya Pradesh with respect to MP Vision 2013 – 2018. Developed implementation plan with long, medium and short term strategies and action plan in coordination with department officials. He also has experience in state of Uttarakhand with Indo Global social service society for more than 7 years where he worked in the field of watershed development projects to ensure availability of drinking water and protection of cultivable land in the hilly villages. Not only this, Led and managed a multi-disciplinary team of professionals/consultants for strengthening of civil society governance and performance improvement for eradication of Poverty. His knowledge and expertise in Designed capacity building, community mobilization & outreach, will surely prove very useful to MVDA.

Mr Abbal Singh Rana

(Treasurer)

A Progressive farmer and a social worker are the true nature of Abbal Singh. While working for years in his field, Abbal Singh played a vital role in addressing various issues at his village level. As a social worker, he worked together with village development committee for the necessary developmental work. He is also one of the founder member for the organization. He played a key role during relief and response work for disaster that hit the region as in Earthquake in the year 1999, Himalayan Tsunami in the year 2013 as representative of Mount Valley Development Association. At present he is serving as Treasurer for the governing body of the organization’s board. His educational qualification is Secondary and for livelihood he does the job of Electrician in the villages.

Mr Anandi Lal Shah

(Member)

Being one of the founder member of the organization, he is the member of the board committee. As a Health inspector, Anandi Lal has served in health department for both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for 42 years. During his work service he was part of some of the major health care programmes of the department such as National Small-pox Elimination Programme, Family Welfare Programme, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Reproductive and Child health programme, National Pulse Polio Programme, National Leprosy Elimination programme, National Malaria Elimination programme and many more important health programmes. He has been rewarded for his successful implementation of his exceptional work on Family Planning for population control in district level which as notified by the current Uttar Pradesh government through a letter of Appreciation. Anandi Lal has also put his years of experience into training on many national and state level heath programmes and mission in block and district level. While working with other organization on implementation and awareness of various health programmes in Tehri, district level, he also initiated progressive method of farming in the fields to encourage the farmers.

Ms. Tashi Yangzom

(Member)

With more than 24 years of experience as a Finance Officer at a development organization in Dehradun, she was primarily responsible for overseeing accounts for operations in both India and Nepal. In addition to her financial duties, she also managed office administration and carried out financial evaluations for smaller development organizations in the region. This extensive hands-on experience has sharpened her skills in navigating complex financial environments while ensuring adherence to organizational objectives.

She has a passion for traveling and immersing herself in different cultures, always enthusiastic about meeting new people and embracing diverse viewpoints. In her free time, she enjoys expressing her creativity through crocheting, a hobby that blends artistic expression with meticulous attention to detail.