Tirtha Prasad Saikia

Tirtha Prasad Saikia is a frontline development activist, deeply rooted in the civil society landscape with a strong foundation in grassroots experience, passion, and visionary leadership. He serves as the Director of North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS), a locally-driven organisation based in Assam in the north-eastern region of India, working with vulnerable communities in their pursuit of justice, dignity and resilience in the face of humanitarian crises and poverty.

Over the past 15 years, Tirtha has led and contributed to a wide spectrum of initiatives at NEADS, including humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, environment and climate action, conservation through nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, livelihood promotion, governance, people’s economy, participatory research and rights-based advocacy. His work has been instrumental in connecting ecosystem-based approaches with disaster risk reduction and community resilience, ensuring that adaptation strategies are locally relevant, sustainable and rooted in people’s lived realities. Much of this work is targeted towards indigenous communities, recognizing their unique vulnerabilities as well as their traditional knowledge and leadership in shaping sustainable solutions.

Tirtha is also actively engaged with various networks and coalitions at local, national and international levels, and plays a vital role in working with governments to influence policy development processes that reflect the needs and aspirations of marginalized and indigenous communities in the region.