Selected work

What I have built, and what it produced

Four streams of work, one question underneath all of them: how institutions, technology and communication shape public outcomes. Each entry names the problem, my role in it, and what came out the other side.

Stream 01

Government and public policy

Vatsla Srivastava at a Government of India event — At a Government of India institutional event

Policy communication for the Government of India

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting · Press Information Bureau · Young Professional

Context: Regulatory and technology policy — artificial intelligence, digital regulation, broadcasting, OTT, AVGC-XR and geospatial policy — needed to be made legible to a national public audience without losing accuracy or overstating the position of the government.
My role: Sole writer on a substantial body of published policy explainers for the Press Information Bureau, working directly with ministry subject matter across multiple regulatory domains.
Proof: Over forty explainers published. Several cited by the Prime Minister's Office. Combined readership in excess of 250,000.

Film policy, industry and international engagement

NFDC · Films Wing, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting · MIFF · IFFI · WAVES

Context: India's flagship film and media events depend on coordinated engagement across government, domestic industry and the diplomatic corps — a stakeholder map that spans three very different institutional cultures.
My role: Stakeholder engagement and institutional communication across the Mumbai International Film Festival, the International Film Festival of India, and WAVES.
Proof: Engagement extended to 154 diplomatic missions alongside industry and institutional partners.

Stream 02

Technology, industry and regulation

Building a membership function from scratch

Advertising Standards Council of India · Senior Manager, Stakeholder Relations

Context: Self-regulation only works if the industry chooses to participate. ASCI needed a structured membership and stakeholder engagement function where none existed — the mechanism by which voluntary compliance is actually won.
My role: Built the function end to end. Pan-India growth strategy and regional outreach frameworks. Member segmentation and prospect pipelines. The full member lifecycle: welcome, orientation, engagement and testimonials. And the part that does not appear in any handover document — sustained direct conversations with prospective, hesitant, non-renewing and grievance-holding members, which is where institutional trust is either built or lost.
Proof: A working membership engine with operating systems still in use. A CMO Roundtable co-hosted with Google and Core AI. An institutional partnership with PHDCCI. Cross-departmental lead conversion and thought-leadership pipeline development.

Stream 03

Research and international development

Gender, violence and media systems in South Asia

UNESCO South Asia · MAAR Project · with Bournemouth University

Context: Reporting on gender-based violence across South Asian media lacked a regional evidence base and any shared editorial standard, leaving newsrooms to improvise on one of the most consequential subjects they cover.
My role: Led primary research across the region, conducting more than fifty interviews with journalists, editors, trainers and practitioners.
Proof: A national policy report on gender-based violence in media, developed for institutional and newsroom adoption. View the report.

Beyond Victims: a regional gender-and-media platform

CGAP South Asia · Project Manager

Context: Coverage of gender-based violence across Asia routinely reduced women to victimhood. No regional platform existed to push an alternative frame or to connect the journalists trying to.
My role: Designed and ran the Beyond Victims series end to end — editorial direction, contributor network, partnerships and delivery — leading a twelve-person team across fourteen countries.
Proof: A sustained regional programme supported by over ₹7 lakh in donor funding, with contributors and audiences across Asia. View the series.

Stream 04

Journalism and strategic communications

Reporting on institutions, media and public life

The Indian Express · Mirror Now · YourStory

Context: The training that everything since is built on: how public institutions actually operate, how decisions get made inside them, and how to explain that to people who do not work there.
My role: Reporting across print, broadcast and digital newsrooms.
Proof: Published journalism across national outlets, and a working method — source-building, verification, plain explanation — that carries directly into policy work.

Advisory and civil society engagement

180 Degrees Consulting, SOAS · RSF and NWMI engagement · Global Media Monitoring Project

My role: Consultant with 180 Degrees Consulting at SOAS. Engagement with Reporters Without Borders and the Network of Women in Media, India. Contributor to the Global Media Monitoring Project.
Proof: Advisory and research work spanning press freedom, women's representation in media, and organisational strategy for mission-driven institutions.

Also

Current work in internet governance

My leadership, representation and convening work across the Asia-Pacific internet governance ecosystem sits on its own page. See internet governance →