When the founder of SNEHA first asked Vanessa to help their doctor-led team with fundraising, she had already agreed to step up. But on her very first day, the founder arranged a field visit to an urban crèche where they were addressing child malnutrition. Having lived in Mumbai her entire life, Vanessa naively expected to walk into a room filled with lovely, bouncy, bubbly babies.
The reality shattered her assumptions within minutes.
“But what I saw on that site visit really shook me,” Vanessa recalled. Instead of playful infants, she was confronted by nearly twenty listless, lifeless children, including a two-year-old who could barely hold her head up. During a field visit deep into one of Mumbai’s slums, she realized how completely unaware she had been of the harsh living conditions affecting half of her own city’s population. That single afternoon transformed her fundraising volunteer assignment into a deeply personal mission, driving her to volunteer intensely before ultimately taking over as CEO.
A Life-Changing Epiphany
Vanessa’s journey from managing financial portfolios to directing public health strategies began unexpectedly when she volunteered to help SNEHA with fundraising. A single field visit to an urban slum creche completely altered her life trajectory. Confronted with overcrowded 8×10 rooms lacking clean water and toilets, she observed children severely weakened by extreme malnutrition.
Reflecting on that pivotal moment, she states:
“What I saw on that site visit really shook me becaus, though I’ve lived in Mumbai all my life, I’ve never walked so deep into a slum community and actually seen how difficult the living conditions are… You begin to wonder, what was I doing all these years living in a city like Mumbai and not being aware of what was happening to about 50% of Mumbai’s population.”
Breaking the Malnutrition Cycle
SNEHA seeks to break the intergenerational cycle of poor health by working at critical stages like, adolescence, preconception, pregnancy, and the first five years of childhood, while preventing and addressing domestic violence at all stage.
Operating extensively during the ‘golden period’ (from pregnancy to a child’s second year), the team ensures women undergo regular antenatal checkups, opt for safe institutional deliveries and promote optimal child growth.
The statistics achieved over more than a decade, under Vanessa’s tenure demonstrate remarkable success like Reduced Child Stunting from baseline levels of up to 45% when they started working, down to 18–21%. While Child Wasting lowered drastically from levels of 20% when they started working, down to between 8–10% and Maternal Anemia halved from nearly 50% when they started working, to roughly 20–22%.
Confronting Domestic Abuse
Safety and violence prevention form a core pillar of SNEHA’s work. The organisation campaigns for “zero tolerance to violence” by educating communities that abuse extends beyond physical violence to emotional violence like restricting mobility and controlling finances.
Vanessa underscores that power dynamics are complex, noting:
“Perpetrators are not only men, sometimes it may be the mother-in-law of the family, or the father-in-law… It’s anybody where there is a power play happening, and where one person can inflict violence on another.”
Through SNEHA’s support, survivors frequently transform into vocal community advocates. Vanessa remarks:
“To see that journey of the woman from being a woman without agency, without a voice and suddenly today actually leading with her voice as well as helping other women find their voice. I think that’s really very powerful in the work we do.”
Navigating Cultural Barriers
Gaining an entry point into highly conservative urban slums requires immense tact. SNEHA builds trust by entering neighbourhoods alongside familiar frontline workers like ASHA and Anganwadi staff. They map communities and actively listen to local needs, even helping residents improve water and sanitation, to establish goodwill.
The team frequently confronts entrenched cultural beliefs, such as the insistence on fasting during pregnancy or rumours that immunisations cause sterilisation. Today, however, SNEHA has successfully bridged these divides, with religious leaders actively using mosque loudspeakers during Friday prayers to announce local immunisation camps.
Guarding the Frontline Guardians
The emotional toll on SNEHA’s field workers is exceptionally heavy. Staff regularly encounter harrowing situations, from infants diagnosed with congenital illnesses to severe domestic abuse cases where women are beaten or locked inside small rooms all day.
To protect its workforce from burnout, Vanessa has institutionalised rigorous care mechanisms including Fun Fridays, In-House Counselling and Case Sharing Circles.
Scaling Through Knowledge
Rather than building scattered branches, SNEHA scales its impact by transferring its tested models to existing local organisations. Through the SNEHA Knowledge Center, they offer technical mentoring to NGOs and government, that already possess deep community trust.
The NGO also utilises real-time data dashboards and automated WhatsApp chatbots to deliver vital healthcare advice. Furthermore, SNEHA’s multi-tiered Maternity Referral Network has been fully handed over to municipal corporations in five cities, establishing permanent systems change.
Offering counsel to corporate professionals looking to transition into social impact, Vanessa advises:
“I think a lot of people from the corporate sector come in with very preconceived notions that they know it all, and they can add value to the social sector, before fully understanding the space. I don’t agree with that. There’s an abundance of knowledge in the social sector and very deep rooted community knowledge, which in a corporate world you may not get. And if you just keep an open mind and you’re open to learning, I think it can be a great journey and a truly life changing experience.”
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
SNEHA’s remarkable narrative proves that genuine social progress is achieved through deep empathy, structured dialogue, and unwavering commitment to community. Vanessa’s choice to scale through cooperation rather than institutional dominance stands as a beautiful testament to harmony, coexistence, and mutual respect.
By treating vulnerable communities as equal stakeholders and preserving the mental well-being of frontline workers, SNEHA sets a profound benchmark for compassionate leadership. In our own professional and personal spheres, how can we shift from a mindset of ‘knowing it all’ to one of humble learning, ensuring that our efforts to help others genuinely honour their lived experiences?
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