Suvendrini Kakuchi is a Sri Lankan journalist covering development issues, higher education and research and Japan-Asia relations. She has a long career of over 3 decades in journalism, communication trainer and participant in Japanese aid projects as writer and communication expert. Her recent experience was in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Varanasi, India for developing disaster management project publication under JICA funded disaster management projects. She is a graduate from Sophia University in Tokyo and a Nieman Fellow for journalists at Harvard University, her expertise is bringing research to the grass-roots and facilitating training on communication. Suvendrini has extensive experience working with diverse governments, communities and gender including schools. She is a strong supporter of empowerment of local communities to be leaders in their development.