Dr. K. Vijaya Lakshmi

Dr K Vijaya Lakshmi is the Chief Advisor of Development Alternatives. Her main focus and achievements are in the area of water quality testing, associated with development and application of innovative technologies that address the problems of women. Dr Vijaya Lakshmi realised that 90 per cent of water borne diseases are due to coli form bacteria that largely affect women and children in rural areas and urban slums. She took upon herself the challenge of demystifying the science of water quality monitoring and developed filter and testing kits that can be taken to villages in India.

At DA, Dr. Vijaya Lakshmi is responsible for strengthening the organisation’s capability in designing solutions for the brown issues of the environment i.e., air, water and land pollution due to industrialization and urbanization and the related socio-economic implications on people and ecosystems. Under her leadership, the industry and urban environment groups have pioneered addressing the environmental and social issues of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large Corporates.

She has expertise in Environmental Management Systems (EMS) planning, design and facilitation of implementation; EIA & EMP studies; corporate responsibility - policies and procedures; corporate sustainability - measurement and verification; state of environment studies and regional assessments in the framework of pressure- state-impact and – response strategies. She is associated with IISD, the key advisory committee member for ISO, advising on CSR standard development. Designed and implemented multi-stakeholder processes for setting up of voluntary standards for Corporates.

She is also responsible for promoting the NGO-Business and other Stakeholder Partnership models especially for handling the Environmental issues of SMEs. As a founder member of NGO-Business Environment Partnership -Asia Working Group she provides consultancy services for small and medium scale enterprises.