Basheerhamad Shadrach (Dr)

Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach advises the Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM). He helps the IPLM in devising the right strategies towards building momentum for this movement which aims to be the ‘voice’ of the Indian public librarians and the other stakeholders interested in reviving public libraries in India. He is also the Asia Coordinator for the World Wide Web Foundation for its Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) programme. In this capacity, he helps to build coalitions of private, public and civil society organizations to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line internet in Asia. In addition, he consults for the Global Libraries Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in their programme in India.

Until recently, Dr Shadrach served as the Global CEO of the Telecentre.org Foundation. Prior to that, Dr Shadrach worked for IDRC, Canada, managing ICT4D research grants in Asia, including the Mission 2007: every village a knowledge centre initiative of India. As the global head of the telecentre.org Academy programme, he spent time developing the ecosystem for training one million knowledge workers in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. In partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Dr. Shadrach also launched the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign which was recognized for offering digital skills to over 1 million women worldwide in March 2014. He was the global coordinator of the Grassroots Caucus at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and Tunis.

Dr Shadrach has also served in senior management capacities in a variety of organizations such as the British Council, Transparency International at its International Secretariat in Berlin and OneWorld International, and has consulted for a number of organisations including the Department for International Development, UK; the International Telecommunications Union; the United Nations Development Program among others. At present, Dr Shadrach is associated with the Global Libraries Program of BMGF, USA; India Education Collective; READ India; and, International Network of Emerging Library Innovators, USA as a pro bono advisor.

For his thesis on measuring the impact of rural information access initiatives, Dr Shadrach was awarded a PhD by Loughborough University, UK.