Ashif Shaikh

Biography

Born in India to an excluded community, Ashif is President and CEO of People's Courage International. He is also cofounded Jan Sahas with the dream of empowering socially excluded communities drawing from his own lived experience. He’s since grown the organization from five volunteers to a network of thousands, and they have helped millions of migrant workers and their families access safety nets, supported and rehabilitated survivors of sexual abuse, trafficking, and manual scavengers. In 2020, Shaikh launched the Migrants Resilience Collaborative, a grassroots-led effort to closely partner with governments, private sector, and nonprofits to support vulnerable migrant families become socio-economically resilient. He was awarded the Harvard Kennedy School's Gleitsman International Award in 2022, and named Schwab Foundation Social Innovator of the Year in 2020 and an Ashoka Fellow in 2016. Ashif serves as a member of various committees of the Government of India.