Nigel Martin Editor

Nigel Martin is the founding President and CEO of FIM. He has over 35 years of experience in the NGO community in Canada and elsewhere and has served as Executive Director of several organisations, including the Canadian Council for International Cooperation in Ottawa (Canada), Euro Action Accord in London (UK), as well as the Organization Canadienne pour la Solidarite et le Developpement and Oxfam-Quebec in Montreal (Canada). Nigel began his career with the Canadian International Development Agency in 1971, where he was one of the earliest staff members of the then-fledgling NGO programme. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Development Programme Platform HD2010 and has been an official advisor on development issues to both the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec. He has served on several boards of directors including the Carold Foundation Board in Toronto. He is also an initiator and co-founder of the World Bank NGO committee and Mothers' Call International. Nigel has previously contributed to Practice-Research Engagement and Civil Society (The Hauser Center, Harvard University, 2001); Critical Mass: The Emergence of Global Civil Society (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2008) and has written the Foreword to Democratizing Global Governance: Ten Years of Case Studies and Reflections by Civil Society Activists (Mosaic Books, 2009). Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He founded Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organisation providing support to grassroots initiatives in South Asia and has been its Chief Functionary since 1982. He has recently been appointed Co-Chair of the prestigious UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. A renowned authority on participatory research, he has championed the cause of building organisations and capacities of the marginalised through their knowledge, learning and empowerment. He has contributed to the emergence of several local, national and international groups and initiatives to promote authentic and participatory development of societies. He has authored more than 100 articles, a dozen books and numerous training manuals on democratic governance, civic engagement, civil society, governance and management of NGOs, participatory research and people-centred development. For his distinguished work on gender issues, the Government of India honoured him with the prestigious Award in Social Justice in March 2007. The University of Victoria, Canada, awarded Dr Tandon the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) in June 2008. He is the first Indian to be inducted to the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame (class of 2010).