Dhruv Prakash Shukla is a public policy and governance professional with 6+ years of experience working at the intersection of government systems strengthening, education reform, programme implementation, and data-driven decision-making. His work has focused on supporting state and district governments in designing, implementing, monitoring, and scaling large public-sector initiatives, particularly in foundational learning, institutional capacity building, and governance reforms across Uttar Pradesh.

Most recently, he served as a Consultant with Central Square Foundation under the Mentor Professional Development (MPD) initiative, supporting the Government of Uttar Pradesh’s NIPUN Bharat Mission. He led capacity-building efforts for Academic Resource Persons (ARPs), State Resource Group (SRG) members, DIET Mentors, and Samagra Shiksha quality teams, with a focus on Structured Pedagogy, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), NBMC, classroom transaction improvement, and field-based implementation research. He designed and analysed pre- and post-training assessments, conducted Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and generated evidence to inform policy and programme improvements. His work involved close collaboration with stakeholders across all levels of the system, from district officials and field cadres to senior state leadership, including ASPD, Director General, Additional Chief Secretary, and Principal Secretary.

Prior to this, as Program Lead at Mantra4Change, he supported the Education Department in driving NIPUN Bharat outcomes through programme analytics, implementation diagnostics, performance monitoring, policy reporting, and large-scale capacity building of BSAs and BEOs. He designed data systems and dashboards, developed implementation insights, and facilitated strategic decision-making for state leadership.

Earlier, he led district partnerships with ICDS and the Basic Education Department at Rocket Learning, mentored education leaders under Mission Prerna through Foster and Forge Foundation, and served as a Gandhi Fellow under the Aspirational Districts Programme.

His expertise spans public policy, governance advisory, programme design, advocacy, research and evaluation, capacity building, stakeholder management, implementation science, human-centred programme design, and data analytics. He brings a cross-functional approach that combines policy thinking, evidence generation, programme execution, and systems-level problem-solving to strengthen public institutions and improve citizen outcomes at scale.