Pooja Gianchandani

Biography

Pooja Gianchandani is part of GIZ's global programme on digital transformation, where she focuses on the impact of the digital economy on gig workers' skills and rights, particularly in developing nations.

Pooja leads the output concerning workers’ skills and rights within GIZ's Gig Economy Initiative.Her role involves leading efforts to empower gig workers by developing human-centered approaches, micro-learning courses, and tools that build their capabilities.

She has spent the last two years researching the needs and challenges faced by platform workers, with a particular focus on women, unemployed youth, and refugees. Currently, she is piloting new tools and formats to support workers in navigating the gig economy, developing the essential skills trio of digital, soft, and financial skills and taking sector-specific deep dives for cloudworkers, care workers, and clickworkers. Her work primarily benefits workers in countries in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

She is a strong advocate for recognizing the important role that women play in the gig economy. In Kenya, she is piloting a mentorship program for 150 women gig workers to foster self-reflection, skills development, and community-building.

Ms. Gianchandani's nearly two decades of experience have allowed her to make significant contributions to the global skills and TVET landscape. She has worked on edtech, skills innovation, and work-based learning, curated digital communities of practice, contributed to normative processes, and designed innovative programs aimed at promoting vocational skills as a global currency. Her cooperation projects with key institutions in South Asia, Europe & the UK, and North Africa have been particularly impactful.

Ms. Gianchandani holds a dual Master's in Social Work from the University of Delhi and is a German Chancellors Fellow and Alexander Von Humboldt Alumnus.