Our Team
IDC team is multidisciplinary, and professionals have rich work experience and diverse professional backgrounds. It consists of people with backgrounds in Health, Education, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, Natural Resource Management, Social Work, Sociology, Engineering, Urban Planning, Architecture, Project Management, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. The team has wide ranging experience of working in various parts of India in providing consulting and advisory services. IDC has extensive field experience in development projects across various themes, supported by a variety of institutions. Each assignment is the responsibility of a customized task force (including specialized consultants as required), which is co-coordinated by one of the core team members.
Akhilesh Gautam – Akhilesh has more than three decades of professional experience in public policy and social development. He is a former United Nations staff member (2000-2011), during which time he served as Chief of Water. Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) section for UNICEF Chhattisgarh and Chief of Social Policy, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Section in UNICEF Uttar Pradesh. He served as Senior Advisor (2012-2015) to lead the German Government’s bi-lateral cooperation with Indian Ministry of Urban Development and 4 state governments of Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala for Support to National Urban Sanitation Policy (SNUSP) primarily responsible for establishment of State Urban Sanitation Policy with Governments of Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and implementation of City Sanitation Plan. More recently, he served as Country Programme Director for Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP), India, to lead a highly successful USAID grant (2015-2018) on “Building Capacities for Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban” with a pilot in the city of Vizag. Government of Uttar Pradesh utilised his rich and vast experience in advisories at the apex level for drinking water, waste water and sanitation for 700+ towns and cities (ULBs) and 58000+ Gram Panchayats (RLBs) in the state of Uttar Pradesh from 2018 to 2025. Presently, he serves role of Expert member of the Environment Monitoring Committee (EMC) to the Office of the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
He is an alumnus of Delhi School of Economics and School of Urban Planning from Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University, Ahmedabad. He is a member of Institute of Town Planners India (ITPI) and American Planning Association. He received Chief Minister Award from Government of Uttar Pradesh for special contribution to urban sanitation in 2018, furthermore, he serves on several State level Committees of the Urban Development Department of the Government of Uttar Pradesh in the field of urban development. He has several publications to his credit, especially Urban WASH chapter on national report on status of children in urban areas and Uttar Pradesh State Policy on Septage Management. He directs Tethys Development Services and also, Indian Development Center
Ar. Priti Gautam – Priti is a qualified Architect from MANIT Bhopal with more than 20+ years of experience in designing, planning, executing and supervising public infrastructure projects, earlier with ILFS and several large consultancy organizations. She has served as the Director of Tethys Development Services since 2012, leading the direction of the partnerships with Municipal Corporation of Mathura, Aligarh and Bareilly to Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). Later, GIS-based Master City Plan development for the city of Sambhal, Chandausi, Amroha, Agra, Saharanpur, and Bareilly under the national flagship programme of AMRUT.
Priti has done Bachelor’s in Architecture from Regional Engineering College Bhopal (MACT) and is member of the Council of Architecture and Institution of Valuers, India. She has been worked in several states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
Er. Vishnu Dutt – A Quantity Surveyor and Building & Road Contract Specialist par excellence
Er. Vishnu Dutt is a senior civil engineer with extraordinary specialization in the quantity surveying and management of the contracts for building and roads projects. He has about five decades of seasoned experience in dealing with public infrastructure covering services such as highways, roads, water supply, sewage treatment plants, airport, dams and large building construction projects.
A former IDSE Officer has served Ministry of Defence and large number of construction corporate houses and consultancy firms, both national and international. He is member of Institutions of Engineers, Indian Road Congress, Institute of Public Health Engineers, Indian Water Works Association, Institution of Surveyors India and Institution of Valuers India. His expertise is most sought after for government and public sector construction related contracts management and risk control including from the Council of Arbitration and NHAI.
Deepak Mehra – Social Behavior Change, Communication & Capacity Building Advisor.
Deepak Mehra is an advocacy, social behavior change and communication practitioner with over 25 years of experience in Europe, Central, and South Asia. Countries served include India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Denmark, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nigeria, Serbia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines. He has rich range of skill such as, evidence-based social behavior change strategy development and campaign management for regional and country programs on health and social determinants. He has a robust ability to drive consensus and shared decision-making through advocacy with government, donors, communities, media, and private stakeholders. He has carried out institutional behavior change assessments, capacity building, and participatory training expertise in role as International Master Trainer.
After a decade in the private sector, Deepak shifted focus to the social sector. He has led campaigns on health, education, environment, literacy and Anti-discrimination. Besides leveraging social media strategies for segmented audiences, and developing e-learning and knowledge management tools, he also advises Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) formative research studies and has facilitated impact evaluations as an international expert.
Assignments with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Manila, UNICEF, UNOPS, UNESCO, UNDP, WHO, BBC, PwC, Deloitte, FHI 360, Palladium, IPE Global, European Union, USAID, DFID, and the World Bank give him the ability to contribute to policy decisions as well as grassroots implementation.