Dhananjayan Sivaguru "Danny" Sriskandarajah (born December 1975) is a Sri Lankan-born British-Australian activist who is the Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation. Until December 2023, he was Chief Executive of Oxfam GB. Prior to that, Sriskandarajah was the Secretary General of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations. He was the first non-British and youngest person to head the Royal Commonwealth Society, a large

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

(NGO) devoted to Commonwealth affairs, based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Sriskandarajah is the author of the book ''Power to the People'', published in 2024.

Early life and education

Danny Sriskandarajah was born in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, the son of Sri Lankan Tamil parents who first moved to Australia as doctoral students.(28 October 1997)
"Migrants' son is Australia's first Asian Rhodes Scholar"
'' The Straits Times''. Sriskandarajah was educated at James Ruse Agricultural High School in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia, graduating in 1993. He was the school captain and well mentored by Art Herger. Sriskandarajah then attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and Social Science in 1998. During 1995 and 1996, he resided at Wesley College, a residential college within, but separate from, the university. After becoming the first Asian Australian to win a Rhodes scholarship in 1998, Sriskandarajah then matriculated to Magdalen College, a constituent college of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, to read for an M.Phil. and then a D.Phil. in international development. His research focused on inequalities and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Career

Sriskandarajah held various posts from 2004 to 2009, including Deputy Director of the left-leaning think tank, the

Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a Progressivism, progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Lord Hollick and John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, Lord Eatwell, and is an independen ...

. He was Director General of the Royal Commonwealth Society, from 2009 to 2012, the youngest ever person and the first non-Briton to head this 140-year-old organisation. In 2012, he was named a Young Global Leader by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

. He was the Secretary General of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisations from January 2013 to December 2018. He was the fourth person to hold this position, following Miklos Marschall (Hungary),

Kumi Naidoo Kumi Naidoo (born 1965) is a South African Human rights activism, human rights and Climate justice, climate justice activist. He is the current President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a joint diplomatic and civil socie ...

(South Africa) and Ingrid Srinath (India). In July 2018, Sriskandarajah was announced as a member of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, co-chaired by Jack Ma and Melinda Gates. He was previously a member of the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Finance from 2015 to 2016. Sriskandarajah was Chief Executive of Oxfam GB from January 2019 to December 2023. He was appointed Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation in January 2024. Sriskandarajah is a supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations. He is the author of the 2024 book ''Power to the People'' (subtitled "Use Your Voice, Change the World"), published by Headline. ''Power to the People'' was described by Zoe Williams of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as "upbeat, empowering, alive with the possibilities of civic action and vibrant with examples from the past, including Save the Children's founder, Eglantyne Jebb, and Rosa Parks."

Personal life

On 16 August 2003, Sriskandarajah married

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

ian barrister Suzanne Julia Lambert in

, West Indies.

References

External links

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Interview with Danny Skiskandarajah"Danny Sriskandarajah"
GG2 Power List
"Power To The People"
18 July 2024.
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
at PEW Literary.
"Power To The People"
– Sriskandarajah in conversation with Dame Julia Unwin at The Conduit, London, 17 July 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sriskandarajah, Dhananjayan 1975 births 21st-century Sri Lankan male writers Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Australian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Australian Rhodes Scholars English-language writers from Sri Lanka Living people People educated at James Ruse Agricultural High School Sri Lankan Hindus Sri Lankan Tamil activists Sri Lankan Tamil people University of Sydney alumni