Michael Matheke-Fischer

Michael Matheke-Fischer is RMF’s Director of Programs in India. Originally from Washington DC, he moved to India in 2006 to work on sustainable development throughout the country following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who ran a surgical field hospital during World War 2 in Arrunachal Pradesh. Originally based in Delhi, he has worked in some of the most remote and most difficult areas of the country, including sustainable livelihood initiatives with tribal populations along the border with Myanmar in India’s northeast and training timber smugglers in North Kashmir to become mountain guides. He attended the University of Maryland and studied Government and Politics, and has become a bit of an expert wading through bureaucracy in India. He particularly enjoys exploring rural communities throughout the country and guides ski and mountain expeditions in Kashmir in his free time.