2010, Development Concentration

Consultant to the United Nations (UN-Globe), Author of The Paths of Marriage

Mala is an expert on ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development).

MalaKUMAR_alternatephotoField Experience During SGPIA: During the 2009 International Field Program (IFP) in Senegal, Mala worked with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) field office to conduct a study on the factors contributing to reproductive health service access of the transhuman population in the Sahel. Mala attributes her professional proficiency in French to the experience. 

Master’s Thesis: Reprogramming Success: Evaluating the Replicability of Karnataka State Information Technology Models in Senegal from a Human Rights Based Approach

Faculty Advising and Collaboration: Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr served as both Mala’s thesis advisor and faculty advisor for a student organization that Mala co-founded with four others called The Association for International Development (AID).

Career Path: Mala has worked in ICT4D capacities with several funds and programs of the United Nations, including World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and UN Global Pulse. At WFP, she was a Programme Officer on the African Risk Capacity, an initiative that finances food security during disasters. At UNICEF, she worked in the context of MDGs 4 and 5, child and maternal mortality. At UN Global Pulse, she authored a series of papers analyzing immunization sentiment in three countries—India, Pakistan and Nigeria. Mala has also authored various Op-Ed/articles appearing in The Advocate, USA Today, and TechCrunch. 

Watch Mala’s New School Minute lecture from April 2015.