Ankita Chachra

Ankita Chachra is committed to building a future where all children and families thrive and flourish. She has over ten years of global experience working on her mission through partnerships with city agencies and the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors. She directs the Climate Program at Capita, an independent think tank with a mission to build a future where all young children and families flourish. Previously, Ankita worked at Van Leer Foundation as the Knowledge for Policy Director. She led a multi-functional team responsible for sharing tools, knowledge, and resources to advance early childhood policy that supports the healthy development of young children and the well-being of caregivers in cities.

Ankita found her passion for prioritizing the needs of children and caregivers in urban environments while leading the Streets for Kids Program at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), where her team published the guide on Designing Streets for Kids. She worked under Bloomberg’s Initiative for Global Road Safety, primarily in Latin America and Asia. Ankita was also part of the core team that developed the Global Street Design Guide, the first-ever worldwide guideline for designing city streets.

Trained as an architect and urban designer, Ankita’s previous experience includes working on residential, mixed-use, and transit-oriented urban planning projects in India, China, Malaysia, and the United States. Ankita completed her MS in Urban Design from Columbia University and her bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Sushant School of Art and Architecture.