Anisha is a senior global professional with two decades of progressive expertise working at the intersection of international development, human rights, and business, spanning Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Pacific regions as well as experience of strategic communications. Anisha works primarily in social sustainability with a particular focus on ESG, gender equality/economic empowerment of women, climate change, Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and business integrity. Essentially, focusing on facilitating positive economic, environmental and social impact for communities and business.

Anisha is a British national of Sri Lankan origin and has been London based over much of her career working for the Commonwealth as its head of Human Development, and Director, External Relations for the National AIDS Trust among others. She has worked across world regions, inspired by a deep-rooted responsibility and commitment to support people, the planet and business. In Brussels she worked for two years for a leading Business Association as Head of Stakeholder Engagement, supporting companies on embedding sustainability into corporate policies and strategies. By employing an approach that is responsive rather than reactive, she has been instrumental in efforts to facilitate positive change in global supply chains.

Since the pandemic, apart from supporting the Fair Labour Alliance (FLA) as its Director for Stakeholder Engagement, Anisha has supported the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) operations for Sri Lanka and the Maldives as its Senior Policy and Partnerships Advisor, as a trainer and technical expert on Business & Human Rights for the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights in Sweden, and as an international consultant for the International Organisation for Employers (IOE), the ILO and IFC.

Most recently Anisha was the Senior Programme Consultant - Sustainability & Human Rights for Control Risks, and seconded to Amazon Saudi Arabia as its ‘Risk Investigator’ and lead for Social Responsibility for KSA. She is skilled in implementing risk-based human rights due diligence strategies, monitoring regulatory developments, and assessing human rights risks and impacts. As a Development Communications expert she has excelled over the years in preparing briefings and research reports for presenting information to variety of audiences with proven ability to translate complex topics into compelling messages for a non-technical/generalist audience.

Anisha sits on the international board of directors of the Rainforest Alliance and is the Chair of a UK Charity focusing on Uganda – Ka Tutandike Trust UK. She holds a MA in International Relations, BA in Sociology, English and Economics, a Diploma in Journalism, and is an alumna of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship programme (ISEP).