Mrinal Kanti Tripura, an indigenous Tripura from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, is the director of the Maleya Foundation, a member of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Network on Climate Change and Biodiversity (BIPNet), and a steering committee member of the Eastern Himalayan Network on Climate Change (EHNCC).

Mrinal holds an MA in Applied Conflict Transformation Studies from Pannasastra University, Cambodia, and was a Fellow of the United Nations Indigenous Fellowship Programme. Mrinal networks extensively with other CSOs through the Maleya Foundation and BIPNet to engage in national policy dialogues, advocate for indigenous peoples’ rights, and build capacity for a 2nd tier of youth leadership in Bangladesh and beyond. He plays a key role in networking indigenous organizations worldwide and recently started an Academe-Civil Society-Community partnership programme with several renowned universities from Asia and Europe to advance the civil society movement for peacebuilding.