Why you should listen
Deepa Narayan is a social scientist and author of Chup: Breaking the Silence About India’s Women. Until 2008, she served as Senior Advisor in the vice president's office of the Poverty Reduction Group of the World Bank.
While at the World Bank, Narayan advanced program development and evaluation and conducted two studies that resulted in key policy changes: "The Voices of the Poor," which examined the experiences of 60,000 women and men from 60 countries around the world; and "Moving Out of Poverty: Understanding Freedom, Democracy and Growth from the Bottom Up," which studied people from 15 countries to understand how some people climb out of poverty while others remain stuck. Both studies highlight how policy mindsets and unexamined assumptions about impoverished people distort policy decisions.
Narayan's current interests include shared and sustainable living, reducing inequality, making corporate social responsibility a reality, ethical development and economic policies that create wealth for poor people. She holds a PhD in psychology and anthropology and has authored or coauthored more than 15 books.
