Andrew J. R. Fernandes

Andrew J. R. Fernandes is a Senior Development and Management Consultant with over four decades of experience (1985 to 2026), working at both the grassroots and senior managerial levels across India and abroad. His career has centred on transforming drought-affected and marginalised rural landscapes into agriculturally self-sufficient, climate-resilient communities. His core expertise spans sustainable agriculture and horticulture, soil and water conservation, rural watershed development, climate change adaptation, sustainable livelihoods, micro-enterprise development, holistic health, and gender inclusion.

He served for thirteen years with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Mumbai, as Manager of Development Activities and Head of the CRS Agriculture Program for Western and Central India, leading feasibility studies, evaluations and watershed development programmes across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Over the years he has guided numerous NGOs and development organisations in shaping their strategic and perspective plans, defining their vision, mission, goals and objectives, building the capacity of their teams, and strengthening their monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.

At the international level, he worked with a consortium of seven global Private Voluntary Organisations, including Catholic Relief Services, CARE International, World Vision International, Save the Children and Africare, on USAID and World Food Program funded rural watershed programmes in Malawi, Southern Africa, undertaken jointly with the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), Pune. He has also taught the Management of International NGOs course at the School of Public Service, DePaul University, Chicago, and has guided graduate students during field work in watershed villages in India. His advisory work extends to development programmes in Timor Leste and to numerous corporate, donor and faith-based development partnerships.

His academic foundation includes a Master of Science in Agriculture (Agronomy) and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur, and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Bhopal University. He was honoured by the Vice-Chancellor of JNKVV for academic excellence in his postgraduate programme.

For SLRD, Andrew brings rare depth in strategic planning, programme design, and impact assessment, combined with hands-on field credibility built over forty-one years. His guidance reinforces SLRD’s conservation-through-livelihood philosophy and strengthens its work in climate action, regenerative agriculture, rural livelihoods and community enterprise development across Madhya Pradesh, the North East and beyond.