Varna Sri Raman

Current

• Research Manager at Sesame Workshop
• Team Leader, Fundraising and Communications at Hand in Hand Tamilnadu

Past

• Project Manager at Institute for Financial Management and Research
• Intern at Reason Foundation
• Intern at GRASSO and FIDR - Partner Organizations NASSCOM Knowledge Network

• Counsellor at The Princeton Review
• Intern at Centre for Civil Society
• Publication Assistant at Development of Integrated Value Applications (DIVA), India

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3 more...

Education

• Icfai School of Public Policy
• Delhi University
• Sankara

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Recommended

1 person has recommended Varna

Connections

139 connections

Industry

Public Policy

Websites

• My Blog
• Delicious Tags

Varna Sri Raman’s Summary

A postgraduate in Public Policy, with experience in the development sector.

Work interests include micro financing structures, credit market creation for poverty, transaction cost reduction in rural economies, information and communications technology for gender, development communications and applied economic research.

Varna Sri Raman’s Specialties:

Targeted data and empirical analysis, negotiation and government liaison, applied economic and econometric research, legal impact assessment, quantitative and qualitative statistical methods, research design, case approximation and development, participatory appraisals, project management, cost benefit and cost effective analysis, public programme evaluation and asking the right questions.

Varna Sri Raman’s Experience

• Research Manager

  Sesame Workshop

  (Non-Profit; Media Production industry)

  June 2009 — Present (2 months)

  Manage all formative and summative research for Sesame Workshop India.

• Team Leader, Fundraising and Communications

  Hand in Hand Tamilnadu

  (Non-Profit; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  April 2009 — Present (4 months)

  Design and implement fundraising and communications strategy for double bottomline microenterprise and microfinance services.

• Project Manager

  Institute for Financial Management and Research

  (Research industry)

  September 2008 — March 2009 (7 months)

  Design and implement innovative financial products with a rural focus addressing credit access issues from development economics/rural markets perspective through randomized controlled trials.

• Intern

  Reason Foundation

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Think Tanks industry)

  June 2008 — August 2008 (3 months)

  Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Institute of Humane Studies (Geroge Mason University) with the Reason Foundation working on a variety of public policy issues with privatization as a central theme.

• Intern

  GRASSO and FIDR - Partner Organizations NASSCOM Knowledge Network

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

  May 2007 — August 2007 (4 months)

  Assessed the impact of ICT interventions on 'Gender Inclusivity' in the NASSCOM Rural Knowledge Network across coastal states of India.

• Counsellor

  The Princeton Review

  (Non-Profit; 501-1000 employees; TPR; Education Management industry)

  November 2004 — April 2005 (6 months)

  Taught English for standardized entrance tests, conducted attribute-matching for students and universities, met course enrollment targets and led the TPR brand building/marketing for CAT training.

• Intern

  Centre for Civil Society

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Public Policy industry)

  April 2004 — August 2004 (5 months)

  A policy-research based internship. Research areas included the market for household waste and informal waste trade and globalization and the market for handicrafts.

• Publication Assistant

  Development of Integrated Value Applications (DIVA), India

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Research industry)

  August 2003 — March 2004 (8 months)

  Involved with research on applied ethics, developed content for the annual publication, put together a traveling exhibition of media and medical ethics and developed audio transcripts for seminars and conferences.

Varna Sri Raman’s Education

• Icfai School of Public Policy

  Masters , Public Policy , 2006 — 2008

  Average GPA: 8.33 (10), First Division, First Rank
  
  Credit Honours: Micro/Macro Economics, Sustainable Development, Statistics for the Social Sciences, Public Finance and Policy, Sociology for Public Policy, Policy Analysis and Evaluation, Development Economics, Strategic Management, Urban Management, Law and Public Policy, Law and Economics, and Environmental Economics.
  
  Full tuition waiver for academic performance
  
  Academic research papers on subjects including education vouchers, an assessment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, aspiration traps for the poor, the economics of climate change, the Total Economic Value of forests, the political economy of anti-defection laws in India etc.

  Activities and Societies:

  Member of the Policy and Popcorn Movie Club.

• Delhi University

  B.A , Philosophy , 2003 — 2006

  Credit Honours: Applied Ethics, Aesthetics, The History of Western Philosophy
  Full tuition waiver (2nd & 3rd Year) for exceptional performance in ECA for debating

  Activities and Societies:

  Convener- The Debating Society, Member- Informal Discussion Group
  Editorial Board Member- Philosophy Journal; College Magazine and the College Newsletter. Member of several other ECA societies including GlassI (Film Society), The Women's Development Cell, Hues (Arts Society) and others.

• Sankara

Additional Information

Varna Sri Raman’s Websites:

• My Blog
• Delicious Tags

Varna Sri Raman’s Interests:

I particularly enjoy thinking in order to play the devil’s advocate in addition to exploring the English language and living the many colourful experiences that life has to offer.

Varna Sri Raman’s Groups:

International Debaters Association (IDEA), Taking It Global (TIG), Voices of the Youth (VOY), Open Source League (OSL), Environmental Working Group (IWG) - India, Movement Against Nuclear Weapons (MANW), Rotary International, The Creative Directors Club, Creative Commons, Students for Free Tibet, The Liberal Youth Forum India (LYFI), The Global Libertarian Society, The Indian National Interest Group, First Peoples Worldwide, MUN, International Policy Network (IPN), Blank Noise, International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY), IndieBloggers, International Young Professionals Foundation (IYPF), United Arts Society, The Libertarian Alliance, Ideas42, Bureaucrash, Young Liberals and Democrats of Asia (YLDA), 24 Pandeys, Liberal Youth South Asia (LYSA), Washington Intern Association, Volindia Foundation, BreakThrough, DigiActive

•    Rotaract
•    The Institute for Humane Studies
•    NetSquared
•    KIVA
•    On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs
•    Grameen Foundation
•    TakingITGlobal
•    AIESEC
•    Ubuntu Users ( 9000+ members ) Official Group
•    The Association for Project Management
•    Young Republicans
•    Wikipedia Users Group
•    Ludwig von Mises Institute
•    Foundation for Economic Education
•    Mac Users
•    India Leadership Network
•    WSG
•    Predictive Analytics
•    Free Market and Limited Government
•    NEW YORK CITY
•    National Rifle Association (NRA)
•    National Geographic Society (NGS) ♣1500+ members ♣
•    BoardSource
•    Austrian Economics
•    Imagination Club
•    Freedom and Capitalism in India
•    Friends of Gist
•    Citizens In Charge Foundation

Varna Sri Raman’s Honors:

Among the top two percent at the IHC Young Visionary Award, ‘Best Delegate’ on the UNDP committee at the Lahore Model United Nations Conference, Pakistan. Convened six extracurricular activity societies during my first degree. Won seven national and three international debating awards, in addition to others.

Varna Sri Raman’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch