Dr. Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah is the Secretary General of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, a global network dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. Born in Sri Lanka and a national of Australia, Danny lived and worked in the UK for the 15 years before relocating to South Africa with CIVICUS.
Before joining CIVICUS, Danny was the first non-British Director General of the Royal Commonwealth Society, a 140-year-old education charity promoting international understanding across the Commonwealth. His previous posts include Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, an inter-governmental organization, and Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, the UK's largest independent think tank.
In 2012, Danny was named a WEF Young Global Leader and is also involved in the WEF Global Agenda Council on Civil Society. He has been a consultant to several international organizations, has been invited to give evidence to committees of both houses of the UK Parliament, the Council of Europe and the UN General Assembly, and is a trustee of five charities, including the Baring Foundation and Ockenden International.
Danny is a recognised expert in several areas, including civil society, international migration and economic development and has published numerous reports, academic articles and policy papers. Danny appears in the media frequently, commenting on a variety of topics. He holds a first class degree from the University of Sydney, and an MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
