With more than eight years of experience in the field of environment, Rashmi has been a part of the ICLEI family since 2008 and manages the activities of Maharashtra. She is currently working with Thane Municipal Corporation in developing green building policies and assessing the techno-economic feasibility of energy efficiency in street lighting in the city. She is also helping in developing a tool kit for Integrated Urban Water Management for Indian Local authorities. 

What has your contribution to city governments been through ICLEI?

Cities are key to tackling climate change issues and being an ICLEI employee, my major contribution has been to support them in mastering this challenge. I have been working closely with various corporations and councils, particularly within the State of Maharashtra since the last 6 years to build the capacity of local council decision makers and municipal staff through training and workshops, the implementation of demonstrative pilot projects, and awareness generation activities. Through our various projects, we have enabled our partner cities to assess their energy consumption pattern, find ways to reduce greenhouse emissions, formulate city level policies and plans and execute awareness raising activities.  At every stage we work closely with the local politicians, stakeholder groups and local citizens to achieve wider outreach and greater acceptability.   

How has your experience of working with ICLEI been so far?

Working with ICLEI South Asia has been a great learning experience for me.  The organization has given me an excellent opportunity to learn from a variety of new projects and areas; I feel lucky to have been able to spend six years working with ICLEI, getting cities to walk independently on the path to sustainability. These last few years have been an incredible enriching journey. 

What, according to you, makes ICLEI a great place to work at?

ICLEI is definitely a great place to work at – excellent people to work with and an amazing work culture which allows you to work with flexibility and ease. We work with different municipalities across the region, sometimes a quick decision is needed and what is great is the trust bestowed upon you by the organisation to take decisions that would be best suited for the scenario, thus enhancing your decision making capabilities.  To wrap it up in one sentence – ICLEI makes me feel at home!