Dr. Yogesh Kumar completed his Ph.D. from the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow as an ICSSR Doctoral Fellow in Development Economics in 1990. Dr. Kumar is the founder member and Executive Director of “Samarthan – Centre for Development Support” working in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. He has an experience of more than 25 years in the development sector and is a professional of international repute on the issue of participatory governance and development. Dr. Kumar has active engagement in local governance, accountability and transparency discourses with expertise in participatory planning, social audits, citizens report card, community score cards etc. He facilitated emergence of a network of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Madhya Pradesh. In initial years, he worked to strengthen capacities and institutional mechanisms of voluntary development organisations by designing and conducting trainings on various themes viz. development management, organisational development and participatory training methodologies. His training of trainers in participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation and process documentation have been widely recognised. Dr Kumar facilitated promotion of various networks of CSOs including a national campaign of CSOs on MDGs known as Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.