Expertise in: Women’s Rights and the Democratisation of Governance

Shalmali Guttal is a Senior Analyst with Focus on the Global South (Focus), and lives in India. She has been working on trade, investment, debt, the commons, and peoples’ rights to land, resources and food, for over 30 years, with emphasis on women’s rights and democratization of governance. Her work includes research, writing, campaigning and popular education on issues related to economic, social, gender and ecological justice.  She works with social movements, unions, civil society organisations, jurists, legislators and policy makers on natural, social and knowledge commons, food sovereignty, human rights and public goods and services. Guttal is involved in several regional-international platforms and spaces, including the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum, (AEPF), the Mekong ASEAN Environmental Week (MAEW), Nyeleni food sovereignty, Civil Society and Indigenous People’s Mechanism (CSIPM) in the Committee for World Food Security (CFS), and the Peoples Working Group on Multistakeholderism (PWGM).  She is a panel member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). In May 2024, she was appointed to the Working Group for the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.

Focus is a regional policy research organization headquartered with country offices in Thailand, India, Cambodia and the Philippines. Focus combines policy research, advocacy, activism and grassroots capacity building in order to generate critical analyses and debates among social movements, civil society organizations, elected officials, government functionaries and the general public on national and international policies related to globalization, social and environmental justice, peace and democracy.