Team

Shobha Singareddy,
Director

Shobha’s passion is to serve rural poor communities, helping them help themselves out of poverty with dignity. Shobha has been working with SOPAR-Bala Vikasa since she moved from India to Canada in 2004. Right after her studies in 1998 Shobha volunteered for, and later joined Bala Vikasa in India, where she served as program officer until 2003. Shobha earned a certificate in women and leadership from Coady University in 2002 in Nova Scotia, and holds a Masters Degree in Science from University of Madras, India.

Giselle Robelin,
Program Officer

Today a mother of three sons and grandmother of six grandchildren, my life journey as an advocate of social justice and activist as a world citizen began at 5 years old, when I personally witnessed the suffering of human beings under colonial power.

I completed a degree in education in England, a post graduate degree in andragogy at UQO and a diploma in international development at UBC. I served indigenous communities in Canada and other parts of the world since 1994, retiring from the Indigenous Certification Board of Canada as acting executive Director and Director of programs in October 2021, when SOPAR hired me as a part time program officer. I am honoured to be part of SOPAR-Bala Vikasa’s international family, and to continue being of service among so many people in Canada and in India, all committed to “be the change they want to see in the world.

Linda brassard 
PROGRAM  officer

The first part of her professional path is in the administrative field. She worked for CCIC (Canada Council for International Cooperation), IDRC (International Development Research Centre), the Canadian Commission for UNESCO,  the Canada Council and the Government of Alberta (in Edmonton).

In 2002, she graduated with her Bachelor in Business Administration with the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO). She then joined the federal public service in the human resource field and specialized as a learning advisor with each step of the training process: needs analysis, design of courses with experts, facilitation, development of facilitator and participant guides, and the evaluation of training. She’s also certified with the assessment tool EQ-i 2.0 which measures emotional intelligence. She particularly appreciates this tool for its accuracy, efficiency and the potential it offers for personal development.

In 2016, she retired from the federal government but continued with a few contracts and some volunteer work. She now combines active retirement with working at SOPAR. During her free time, she enjoys outdoors activities such a hiking, biking, cross country skying and canoeing, and also traveling.