Climate, Data & Storytelling Mixer — by Youth Ki Awaaz & Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Why data-driven, culturally rooted storytelling matters
This dialogue will bring together 20–25 climate researchers, funders, and storytellers to explore how integrating data-driven insights with an understanding of the cultural context and lived realities of people bearing the brunt of climate change can shape compelling climate narratives that resonate and inspire meaningful climate action.
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s public opinion research including the annual nationally representative Climate Change in the Indian Mind survey can serve as a starting point towards understanding public perceptions of climate change.
Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA) is redefining civic engagement in India on climate change through its citizen media platform that is engaging millions of youth to tell critical climate stories. Their programs engage Urban Local Bodies to integrate youth voices in climate decision making and build climate resilience. They are also building a climate data hub rooted in civic participation and community storytelling.
This event will bring these two worlds together—data and narrative—to spark new collaborations and insights.
Key Discussants:
Dia Mirza: Dia Mirza is an award-winning Actor, Green Entrepreneur, Founder of One India Stories, UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador & United Nations Secretary-General's Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals. Dia has tirelessly leveraged her global platform to address diverse issues, including pollution, climate change, wildlife conservation, and gender rights. Her name in the BBC's 100 Women List in 2023 highlights her dual impact in the realms of entertainment and activism. Her journey as a constantly evolving actor, human being, and a powerful voice for sustainability has made her a trailblazer and a role model for many.
Satyam Vyas: is the Founder and CEO of Arthan and Climate Asia, two pioneering platforms catalysing talent, storytelling, and systems change across Asia’s social impact and climate sectors. At Climate Asia, he is spearheading efforts to mainstream locally-led, data-driven climate adaptation and gender equity through strategic partnerships and grassroots capacity-building. At Arthan, he leads one of the region’s largest talent ecosystems for mission-driven organisations. Satyam brings a unique ability to bridge philanthropy, government and frontline actors, crafting narratives that elevate lived experience and climate data into actionable, scalable impact. His work has shaped large-scale partnerships across philanthropy, government, and multilaterals, unlocking investments in climate resilience and social equity across the Global South.
Mallika Talwar: Mallika serves as the Deputy Director of Partnerships – US & India for the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. She supports the program’s efforts to build the capacity of partner organizations for strategic and data-driven communications and advocacy. In this role, she has supported a diversity of organizations including museums, grassroots organizations, advocacy groups, and others to communicate effectively on climate change. Prior to working at YPCCC, Mallika worked as a Senior Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace USA, leading an international campaign to end environmental and human rights abuses in global fisheries supply chains.
Diego Casaes: Diego Casaes is a Program Director in CECG (Climate Emergency Collaboration Group), a philanthropic collaboration working on enhancing multilateral cooperation for climate and development. He is a 2025 Skoll Foundation Fellow and a TEDx Speaker, as well as a board member for several organizations in Brazil. He has over a decade of experience in advocacy, campaigns, and in international environmental negotiations, particularly supporting environmental, grassroots, and Indigenous Peoples. Before joining CECG, he was a Senior Director at the global campaigning organization Avaaz.
Anshul Tewari: Anshul Tewari is the Founder of Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA), India’s largest citizen media platform with over 200,000 contributors and 20 million monthly readers, focused on amplifying youth voices for social change. He also founded the Centre for Public Insights, which leverages citizen-generated data to inform public discourse and decision-making. A 2025 Skoll World Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, and UN ITU Young Innovator, Anshul was also named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Media Influencer. He serves on the boards of Snap Inc.’s Global Safety Advisory Board, the Misinformation Combat Alliance, and the Internet Freedom Foundation.
Manjyot Kaur Ahluwalia, Regional Lead-Asia, The Global Methane Hub: Manjyot considers herself as a policy wonk with experience and interest in international climate policy, multi-stakeholder coalition building and corporate sustainability. Growing up in the City of Lakes, Bhopal, India that endured the gas tragedy in the 80’s, Manjyot was drawn to solving global environmental and climate problems with a deep recognition of the impacts to local communities and ecosystems. Manjyot is the Regional Lead for Asia at the Global Methane Hub--a pooled philanthropic fund that is catalyzing climate finance to address methane mitigation in the waste, agriculture and energy sectors, with the vision to address methane emissions globally by at least 35% by 2030--with almost 60 percent of its investment in the Global South countries spanning Asia, Africa and Latin America. In this role, Manjyot is responsible for driving and delivering the Hub’s methane mitigation strategy and projects across high impact sectors and geographies in Asia that bring direct socio-economic benefits to countries and communities.
Anusha Bharadwaj: Anusha Bharadwaj is Co-Executive Director of FAIR SHARE of Women Leaders, a global feminist collective advancing women’s representation and feminist leadership in the social impact sector. She is also the Founder and Strategic Advisor of VOICE-4, which has empowered over 300,000 marginalized adolescents in India through gender-transformative safe spaces and supports women’s journeys in social impact and leadership. An Ashoka Fellow and Echidna Global Scholar at the Brookings Institution, Anusha has been recognized as one of India’s Top 17 SDG Women Changemakers, received the Great Indian Women of the Year (2021), and the WEF Award for Exceptional Women of Excellence (2019). She has delivered a TEDx talk and frequently speaks on feminist education, youth leadership, and systemic change.