Alumni Feature | Bethamehi Joy Syiem, Master’s in Public Policy ‘21

A passionate and determined person, Bethamehi Joy Syiem hails from the hill station of Shillong, Meghalaya. She graduated with a B.A. in History from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi where she was also awarded for academic proficiency. Her passion for social impact cultivated right from college when she coordinated an education project, Vidya Jyoti in the GTB Nagar slum of North Delhi. Simultaneously, a policy research project on child wellbeing in Meghalaya cemented her interest in the field of public policy. After joining the Master’s in Public Policy at NLSIU, Bethamehi honed critical skills needed for understanding mechanisms by which policy patterns and trends impact social change. Along similar lines, her fieldwork in rural Rajasthan with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) gave her insight into social accountability and the importance of leveraging peoples’ movements for change. In Rajasthan, she conducted a social audit to assess the implementation of the Building and Other Construction Workers Act along with the team at MKSS. Bethamehi’s interest in the law and policy landscape would widen with an internship with Oxfam India’s ‘Gender Justice’ team where she engaged in research and analysis on the monitoring of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. She also contributed to the development of a manual on the laws around ‘Crimes against Women’ for the Bihar Police Department with IFMR-LEAD (Leveraging Evidence for Access and Development), Krea University. With Women Power Connect (WPC), the largest advocacy body for women in India, she was involved in finalizing a training module on Child Marriage Laws in India. Also motivated about contributing and making a difference in her home state, she is currently involved with the Dellimai Warnongbri Foundation (DWF) in Meghalaya as a Research Analyst, working on a comprehensive review of key policies of the Government of Meghalaya. Most recently, she was involved in capacity building and training by facilitating workshops on critical thinking and analysis with a Shillong-based media house, The North-East Today (TNT). At NLSIU, she has also recently been elected as the Vice-Chairperson to the MPP Student Council for the academic year 2020-21.