Varsha Govindaraju

About Varsha

(updated 6/2016) In June 2015, Varsha Govindaraju graduated with her B.A. in Anthropology and Law, Societies and Justice (LSJ) with minors in Human Rights and Diversity from the University of Washington in Seattle. Growing up with immigrant Indian parents in Federal Way, a low- income neighborhood in Washington, Varsha is passionate about social justice and activism. Varsha had a head start through the Robinson Center, an early entrance program at the University of Washington that allows students to start college early. Throughout her undergraduate career, she has actively engaged in community education and activism through various university and community projects. As assistant director for the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Activists (SARVA), she worked with the campus community to create educational programs and to build a safer campus through bystander intervention and community support. In addition, she helped program large-scale events such as 5k runs and open-mic events for survivors to raise awareness of sexual assault and relationship violence. She also worked for Columbia Legal Services, a local public-interest firm serving low-income communities through legal education and legal support. Additionally, Varsha served as the Director of Diversity Efforts of the UW student government and manages SARVA along with eight other diversity commissions on campus, working to educate and advocate for equity and equal rights.
As a Luce Scholar, Varsha now works in the  Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia  on human trafficking, sexual abuse, and domestic violence prevention through rural and community based outreach.  She has also been involved with the JUST: Join Us for Social Transformation project. By observing anger management training for men, women’s support groups, and meetings for provincial level duty bearers, Varsha has learnt about grassroots outreach and violence prevention in a post conflict setting. Additionally, she has volunteered with the ASEAN Youth Ending Slavery Cambodia Chapter, hosting trainings for youth activists on project planning.