Rakesh is the Vice President of Programs at Co-Impact, global philanthropy committed to systems change and gender transformation at scale. From 2001 to 2007, Rakesh served as the founding Executive Director of HakiElimu, from its infancy to becoming Tanzania’s leading citizen engagement and education advocacy organization. After HakiElimu, Rakesh founded and led TWAWEZA East Africa, which works across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to promote citizens’ agency, open government and basic education. He is also a founding member and served as one of the first co-Chairs of the Open Government Partnership, which now involves over 75 countries. From 2015 to 2018, Rakesh served as the Director of Democratic Participation and Governance at the Ford Foundation, leading its work on civic engagement, elections and budgets.
Rakesh sits on several national and international governance and advisory boards, including the Hewlett Foundation, the International Budget Partnership (IBP), Innovations in Poverty Action (IPA) and Luminate. He is also an active member of HakiElimu, TWAWEZA and the Foundation for Civil Society. Rakesh graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis and Harvard Universities and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was a fellow of Harvard University from 1998 to 2013 and has written and edited over 400 papers, articles, opinion pieces and popular publications in English and Kiswahili languages.