Being a Cause Ambassador can be one of the best ways to make people aware of and prevent Incest and CSA. Many un-named ambassadors have supported RAHI and continue to make the world aware of our work.
One of them went out of her way to use her professional and celebrity status to create awareness around incest and child sexual abuse and become a spokesperson for RAHI and the cause.
Nandana Dev Sen is an award-winning actor, writer, and child-rights activist. She lives in New York, London and Kolkata, and has starred in over twenty feature films from four continents. Nandana’s collaboration with RAHI dates back to 2000, when she originated the role of the traumatized protagonist of the acclaimed play 30 Days in September, commissioned by RAHI, written by Mahesh Dattani. As an actor, Nandana addressed the urgent topic of Child Sexual Abuse once again in the film Chuppee/ The Silence, directed by Nila Madhab Panda and sponsored by UNWOMEN. Nandana frequently chooses films with a strong social or political consciousness, and her nuanced performances have earned her the Kalakar, BIG Bangla, and TeleCine Awards for Best Actress.
Nandana’s children’s books - Mambi and the Forest Fire, Kangaroo Kisses and Not Yet! - have been translated into 13 languages across the world. Nandana also authors Youthquake, a monthly fiction series on the rights of the youth, published in The Wire, The Telegraph, and Youth Ki Awaaz. Written as narratives from a young person's point of view, these stories are inspired by contemporary reality, and explore urgent topics such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, and LGBT rights. The idea behind each story is to make its readers, parents as well as young people, think about the rights and freedom of the Indian youth.
Along with writing and acting, Nandana tirelessly promotes the cause of women’s rights and child protection. She has been actively fighting to stop the crisis of sex trafficking in India, with organizations such as the NCPCR, Sanlaap and Terre des Hommes Foundation. (In fact, Nandana's first children's book Mambi and the Forest Fire grew directly out of a workshop she conducted in a Kolkata home for women and children rescued from trafficking.) Nandana has been invited to speak at various international conferences, including the Global Call to Action Summit for Child Survival in Chennai (organized by UNICEF, Save the Children and USAID); the International Comprehensive Cleft Care Conference in Guwahati (organized by Operation Smile); an expert panel on Nutrition and the Girl Child at the Jaipur Literature Festival; as well as in top current-affairs shows such as We the People (on NDTV).
Nandana Dev Sen has never been afraid to make unconventional, maverick choices in her life. After studying literature at Harvard and filmmaking at U.S.C., Nandana worked as a book editor, a screenwriter, a poetry translator, a script doctor, an advocate for child protection, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. As an Ambassador and champion, Nandana has worked with RAHI and UNICEF for years to end violence against women and children, and will never stop doing so, as she believes that “there is no crisis of greater urgency in the world.” When Nandana is not writing, acting, or agitating, she loves to “cook, eat, bike, rhyme, and argue.”
To find out more about Nandana's work, visit her at www.nandanadevsen.com
