Prasant Muduli’s understanding of vulnerability was shaped early in life. He lost his father at the age of four and grew up witnessing how a family’s future can be profoundly influenced by the presence or absence; of support systems, relationships, and opportunities. Those experiences taught him that people do not experience poverty in isolation. Livelihood insecurity, exclusion, weak institutions, and limited opportunities often intersect and reinforce one another.

This understanding deepened during the 1999 Odisha Super Cyclone. As communities struggled not only with the loss of homes and livelihoods but also with securing food and rebuilding everyday life, he witnessed how a crisis can expose existing vulnerabilities and push families further into uncertainty. The experience left a lasting conviction: resilience is not built by responding to one problem at a time. It is built when people have strong community institutions, diversified opportunities, and support systems that enable them to withstand shocks and rebuild their lives.

For more than two decades since, Prasant has worked alongside tribal and marginalized communities across Eastern India, particularly women, youth, smallholder farmers, migrant and ultra-poor families. As the Founder and Executive Director of NYDHEE, he has guided the organization to address interconnected vulnerabilities through community-led approaches that strengthen livelihoods, nurture local leadership, improve access to public systems, and create conditions where people, institutions, and ecosystems become resilient together.