Pooja Taparia
Pooja Taparia is the Founder and Chief Executive of Arpan, a globally recognized, award winning non-profit working towards the elimination of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in India. Arpan is one of the world’s largest non-profits working in the space of Child Sexual Abuse, and has impacted over 3 million children and adults to date, through a range of outreach models.

Under Pooja’s leadership, Arpan has been instrumental in breaking new ground in a complex and resistant social space, due to underlying taboos and infrastructural deficits. Arpan’s thought leadership and advocacy have been one of the key contributors in the Indian government formalising CSA prevention related concepts in life skills curriculum and implementing across the country. Pooja envisages a world free from Child Sexual Abuse and is determined to make that a reality for all children.

Pooja and Arpan are recipient of multiple international Awards, including the Architects of the Future Award from Austria, WISE Award from Qatar Foundation and the C. Henry Kempe Award from ISPCAN, USA. Her life work has been added to the Waldzell Collection for posterity in the library of the Melk Abbey in Austria. She has recently been invited to the Champions Group, which is the leadership group of a global initiative by Oak Foundation, Switzerland to end sexual violence against children across the world.

She was commemorated by Hershey India (chocolates) as a SHERO and was one of the six women in India whose galvanising stories were shared across the country during International Women’s Day in March 2022. Pooja is profiled and quoted for her expertise and entrepreneurship in varied media over the years.

As a global thought leader and TEDx speaker, Pooja speaks on the issues of Child Sexual Abuse, Arpan’s journey on addressing Child Sexual Abuse, Lessons for Start-up Social Entrepreneurs, Fundraising and Talent Management.

Pooja advices multiple social impact start-ups, and currently sits on the board of Sol’s ARC, a non-profit which addresses the challenges experienced by struggling learners across their lifespans and works towards improving their life outcomes.

Pooja is a graduate in Applied Art and Commerce and Economics and has done an Executive Education course in Non-profit Management from Columbia University, NYC, USA.