Qualifications:
MA Development, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, 2017
PG Diploma in Child Rights Law, NLSIU, Bangalore, 2016
BA Criminology and Criminal Justice Administration, TNOU, Chennai, 2014
BA English Language and Literature, St. Berchmans College, Kottayam, 2014

Email: abel.job@dakshin.org

Profile:

Abel’s interest in working for the rights of socially deprived groups brought him to the field of social sciences. During his post-graduate studies, he worked on policies and programs like the Kudumbashree, the Juvenile Justice Act, and the Right to Education Act. He also looked at different school education models and tea plantation labour movements in India. Before joining Dakshin, he briefly worked on the education and livelihood of tsunami-affected tribal nomadic families in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. He also assisted a Fulbright scholar studying energy poverty and climate change in a few project-affected sites in Kerala.

As a Senior Programme Associate at Dakshin Foundation, Abel studies the customary governance systems on Minicoy Island, where he focuses on fisheries resource management, associated Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and the usage patterns of coastal and marine commons. He is interested in exploring cross-cultural interactions, state-non-state interactions, and internal and external drivers of transition in Minicoy Island. His work aims to learn from and strengthen existing systems of natural resource management, contributing to Dakshin’s broader efforts on fisheries co-management in Lakshadweep Islands. Abel sees this as a chance to learn and contribute to developing a rights-based fisheries management model for coastal ecosystems.

Publications:

Popular articles

• Abraham, A. J. and A. Sridhar. 2021. Plural islands of Lakshadweep: Insider-outsider narratives of Minicoy. Le thinnai Revi. https://medium.com/thinnairevi/plural-islands-of-lakshadweep-insider-outsider-narratives-of-minicoy-by-abel-job-abraham-and-de8b03715fd. (Accessed on April 20, 2023)
• Abraham, A. J. 2023. വിഭവ സംരക്ഷണത്തിൻ്റെ മിനിക്കോയ് മാതൃക. Keraleeyam (Accessed on June 20, 2023)
• Abraham, A. J. and Deepak, D. 2023. Samundar ka guru: An account of Kalumangothi’s life and wisdom on the ocean. Current Conservation, 17.2. (Accessed on October 11, 2023)

Book chapter

• Namboothri N., I. Khot and A. J. Abraham. 2022. Small islands, big lessons: Critical insights into sustainable fisheries from India’s coral atolls. In: Conservation through sustainable use: Lessons from India. (eds. Varghese A., M. A. Oommen, M. M. Paul and S. Nath). 1st edition. Pp. 27–40. London: Routledge India. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003343493 

Reports

• Dakshin Foundation. Island Sustainability Pathways: Towards Participatory Governance in the Lakshadweep Islands. Dakshin Foundation, 2021.
• Khot, I., M. Khan, P. Gawde, A. J. Abraham, A. Raj, R. Sen and N.Namboothri. 2023. Fish for the Future: Creating participatory and sustainable fisheries governance pathways in the Lakshadweep Islands — A 10-year report. Bengaluru: Dakshin Foundation. https://www.dakshin.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FFTF_Report_Dakshin2023.pdf 

Outreach

• Fish for the Future calendar series