Shubhalaxmi Dalvi is a student of ISDM’s Post-Graduate Program in Development Management. During the rural immersion part of the program called ''Realising India'', she went to a remote village in Banswara District, Rajasthan and documented the story of a woman employed in the age-old craft of making bamboo baskets with nobody to inherit their history and legacy.

A middle-aged woman works with her husband with bare minimum resources and no shed to cover their heads in the October heat. You might think this is a scene from a period film or a story from decades ago, but this is *Kesari's reality in a remote village in Banswara District, Rajasthan.

Kesari belongs to the Bansphod (name derived from bamboo) community. She has been weaving bamboo baskets with her parents and later with her husband since she can remember. For the past 30-years, Kesari has been coming to the same place to work and sell the baskets she makes. As is the case in the handicraft business, income is not stable. While certain days end with earnings worth Rs 2000/-, sometimes products go unsold for days at a time.

With this income, Kesari and her husband are educating their son, in the hopes that he would have a better future than they had. The word Banswara comes from Raja Banksia who was famous for bamboo ''bans''. The region is losing its traditional art and its importance in modern times. Kesari shared that once, this land was known for its bamboo, but now the people whose livelihood depended on it can hardly make a living. "Humein market lagne par yaha se bhaga dete hai, bade dukan ke stall lagati hai sarkar par hamare liye kuch nahi hai" she said sadly. (They run us away from the spot whenever the market is set up, only the bigger stores get some space to set up their stalls. The government doesn’t do anything for us.)

With the spotlight on social purpose organisations (SPOs) to address enhanced vulnerabilities in the aftermath of the pandemic, talent becomes a paramount factor in its success. The Indian social impact sector attracts organisational talent with varied expertise and affiliations. An opportunity to make a difference and commitment to a cause that goes beyond individual needs and aspirations remains the common thread that unites social sector talent across organisations and roles.

Our recent conversations with Chief Operating Officers (CEOs) and Human Resource (HR) leads (also referred to as people function) of SPOs bring out four kinds of talent that are often attracted to the Indian social sector. They are as follows:

The Volunteers are individuals who associate themselves with SPOs because of their passion towards a cause. The trigger for engagement for such people comes from the apathy and vulnerability they have witnessed around them. As committed individuals, moved by the state of the society and the world, they often find it difficult to make peace with the status quo and are keen to make a difference. Volunteers often do not have a financial arrangement or relationship with the organisations where they contribute their time and energy. Such individuals may pursue parallel professional careers in other sectors of their expertise or interest.

The Fortitudinous are believers in the possibility of an equitable transformation and have found their personal and professional calling in making a difference to the world and society around them. They actively contribute towards making the world a better place for everyone. As individuals who have chosen to engage with the social sector since the beginning of their careers, their education and learning experiences are often influenced by such inclination. The fortitudinous have clarity from the early days of education that they want to work in the social sector and specifically build their expertise and experience through education and past employment. These personnel are accustomed to the possible challenges of the sector and the job, and remain equipped to handle them every day.

The Agnostics are employees who are job seekers and might not be passionate about the social sector specifically. They are agnostic to the cause of the SPO. Agnostics often work in departments that do not work with the beneficiaries directly, such as the administration or support functions.

The Switchers are employees who switch from corporate jobs to the social sector. These are people who want to switch to the social sector primarily for two reasons. Firstly, they may be seeking purpose and would be content to see the impact of their work on the change in the society. Secondly, they may be disillusioned and exhausted with the corporate sector and seek to engage with the social sector to find meaning in what they do professionally. Such talent brings diverse experience and skills that are extremely useful when contextualised to the needs and values of the sector.

To achieve effectiveness in social impact, SPOs need to nurture appropriate strategies to work with such a diverse workforce. Decoding the people management challenges and keeping all contributors motivated is crucial in the success journey of the SPOs.

¹Dr Aruna Pandey is the Director, ISDM Knowledge and Research Centre (ISDM-KRC)

²Dr Yogita Patra worked with ISDM between in the capacity of Research Manager, ISDM-KRC

The effectiveness of SPOs can be gauged based on the passionate collaboration, drive and accomplishment of the people working towards the cause. SPO leaders are impressed by the need to align organisational talent with three core ideas: purpose, ownership and grounded mastery. Let us understand these in detail.

Aligning purpose

Founder-led organisations embed their mission deeply in the core of talent management practices, especially when founders play an active role in designing and shaping people practices in the organisation. In early days of the organisation, it is fruitful for the founders to scaffold the guardrails of the people function to align with the mission and the vision of change it seeks to accomplish. For scale and sustainability, however, acquiring, nurturing and retaining appropriate talent becomes a challenge and a necessity. In July 2021, online regional consultations held by ISDM with 56 leaders from the sector, representing 48 organisations, underscore the importance of integrating the core philosophy of the organisation in the next generation of leaders. In this context, setting up a structured people function was highlighted as one of the core challenges that organisations face today. It emerged that 82% of the leaders identified nurturing capacities of their existing talent as one of the key strategic priorities of the organisation in the next one year (ISDM, upcoming). This alignment of purpose is often enabled by a transformational leadership practice that inspires commitment and performance rather than transactional leadership that focuses only on outputs for inputs. Mitigating challenges related to acquiring the right talent at the right time at the right cost can be fulfilled by designing organisational culture and internal brand strategies that focus on nurturing learning, commitment to the cause and a sense of purpose which goes beyond individual motivations and aspirations and has the power to impact better outcomes for self and others.

Additionally, more than 51% organisations in the regional consultations stated the need to attract or hire diverse talent. Leadership in the Indian social impact sector is increasingly recognising the need to enable opportunities for individuals with diverse talent in the fields of law, technology and medicine to be able to contribute to the shared vision and missions of an equitable society for all. Nurturing a vibrant sector with organisations that have the capability to attract, hire and retain such diverse talent calls for appropriate investments from donors, non-profit leaders and ecosystem enablers in building capacities and talent readiness in existing SPOs (ISDM, upcoming).

Nurturing ownership

Individuals who join the social sector often come with a strong intrinsic motivation that ranges from the inherent need to be able to contribute to society to a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction that one draws from walking a path of universal human values (equity, compassion, justice) that bottom line the work of SPOs. Enabling a robust leadership culture of accountability and ownership in such committed actors empowers the organisation to nurture resilience in its systems, processes and practices. Often the maturity of talent management in organisational contexts is equated with levels of formalisation in policies and practices, yet talent transitions (promotions, shifts in roles, diversification of roles, etc.) and leadership succession planning in SPOs often does not receive the attention it deserves. Organisations, as a result, continue to remain individual-centric with strong implications for organisational growth potential, individual and collective motivations to continue contributing to the vision of the organisation as well as maturity of organisational structures and processes (ISDM, upcoming).

ISDM’s engagement with leaders from the social sector underlines the importance of designing structures and processes that enable effective talent and leadership transitions and a dynamic learning environment in organisations. Such practices nurture the capacity of organisations to respond to ambiguity and uncertainty effectively and are true measures of maturity of talent management. Enabling such effectiveness in management practices demands alignment between management values, structures and systems with the overall purpose and vision of the organisation. This alignment, when accomplished, creates a strong institutional foundation for the leadership to inspire ownership in talent, motivating them to commit to collective purpose over time and across functions.

Enabling a structural scaffolding that nurtures grounded mastery

SPOs take ‘forms’ that are driven by the ‘consciousness of the leadership’ and the ‘purpose of its existence.’ The people management function of an organisation should curate policies and processes to enable the alignment between the shared vision of change and talent strategies adopted to accomplish the set goals.

Structural scaffolding for intrapreneurs

Explicit outlining of the people policies related to hiring, learning and development, leave, expenses, grievance redressal, performance appraisals, compensation and acknowledgement enables the blueprint of a professional organisation. The people function of SPOs are constantly geared towards nurturing ‘intrapreneurs’ who are self-driven for the cause and are committed to a larger purpose of social transformation beyond the boundaries of individual or organisational performance. For such individuals, compensation is not the only component that motivates them and a vibrant, creative, learning and practice culture is critical.

Additionally, the organisation needs to invest in structural designs that eliminate drudgeries associated with daily responsibilities of the talent. Examples of such structural scaffolding could manifest in the form of a robust and agile knowledge management system that leverages technology and is integrated with programmatic design and review, automated systems for compliance reporting, technology-enabled real-time reporting with easy-to-use systems, etc. Young organisations like Make A Difference and Quest Alliance are increasingly investing in nurturing such structural shifts to enable creativity, agility and resilience in their organisation.

Embedding career trajectories in unique learning designs

People practices in organisations have the opportunity to embed career trajectories of its talent into unique lateral and core learning opportunities for individual and team growth. This calls for a robust internal-facing learning and development program in SPOs with opportunities to ground themselves in core mastery critical to performance of work as well as embodying values and purpose inspired by the exposure and commitment to the cause. Organisations like PRADAN recognised the need for such internal facing learning strategies for its personnel early on and are today known for their holistic and robust executive training and learning program that enables a solid foundation for all ‘PRADANites.’ Most leaders echo that exposure to the field with an opportunity to build and nurture relationships with the communities ‘where change actually happens’ is critical to inspiring commitment and alignment with the purpose and vision of the organisation. Organisations like ATECF and SeSta shared learning from the field as a key design element towards inspiring motivation, learning and value alignment in personnel. It is important to note that such strategies have emerged relevant across different archetypes of organisations, be it philanthropic initiatives and funding organisations like ATECF, Edelgive Foundation or non-governmental organisations that work directly with communities like PRADAN, SeSta and Sneha (ISDM, upcoming).

Investing in ‘what matters’

While traditionally organisations were encouraged to develop and nurture people management structures, processes and systems due to challenges of size, complexity, compliance or branding, SPOs today are increasingly recognising the need to invest in people early on. Interestingly, 72% of the organisations that were part of the regional consultations on talent management stated having clearly articulated talent management structures and plans, while 53% organisations reported the presence of a dedicated individual or team that manages talent-related matters in the organisation. Many SPOs such as Jai Vakeel Foundation and Ummeed had an operational people function early on with absolute clarity to create innovative methods towards hiring, nurturing and retaining talent. Only 14% of organisations stated that the people function was handled by the founder/CEO with support from external consultants. Leaders spoke of limited opportunity for consultants to embed themselves in the organisational context and culture as one of the key reasons for their lack of preference for a third party to design the people management function of their organisation (ISDM, upcoming).

Expanding the boundaries of talent

Organisations like CDC in Madhya Pradesh and Community Initiatives in Manipur speak of the importance of the context while designing and investing and people practices. In rural, far-flung contexts, finding professional talent with specialisation in community-related work is often a challenge. Investments in capacity enhancement of the organisation such that its people could perform better thus ensuring organisational effectiveness is critical. The nature of such investments, however, should be customised to the context of the place, programmatic need and the context of the organisation. Leaders of CDC and Community Initiative highlight the importance of understanding where the organisation pegs its boundaries of talent. Both organisations spoke of including community representatives and family members of the project participants in their formal boundaries of talent.

Initiatives like CDC, Community Initiative, Sneha, Ummeed, among others, underline the need for the Indian social sector to recognise and build deep appreciation for the fluidity in the way organisations define ‘talent.’ Hence, investments in people and organisational talent need to allow for this fluidity in definition of talent and adaptability in design of people practices that account for the context and culture of the place, consciousness of the organisational leadership and purpose and programmatic need of the organisation. In other words, in order to nurture resilient and effective organisations in the Indian social sector, it is imperative for the funders, leaders and ecosystem enablers to re-imagine and re-design their perspective and approach to talent management to the context and indigeneity of the Indian development ecosystem.

References

Pandey, A., Shushant, L., Rana, S. (upcoming). Regional Consultation Report on Talent Management in Indian Social Sector. Indian School of Development Management

Pandey, A., Kaur, J., Jain, I., Menon, S. (upcoming). Management Challenges in Social Purpose Organisations – Perspectives from India. Indian School of Development Management

ISDM. February 2022. Agenda 2030: What Matters – Panel discussion on Talent Matters. Indian School of Development Management. Accessed from: ISDM Target 2030 : What Matters - YouTube

by JahnviAndharia | Published: 10 March, 2021

The COVID 19 outbreak last year became a major disruption for colleges and universities across the country. From the sudden closure of classes during the early months of the year on account of the lockdown imposed by the central government in its initial response to the pandemic, to the gradual movement to Zoom and online classes, the past academic year has posed many challenges. These include overcoming hurdles of remote learning and pioneering pedagogic practices to ensure continued learning for its students as well as ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing[1] of its students, faculty and staff off-campus as well as on-campus.

ISDM’s former Programme Director, Post Graduate Programme-Development Management, JahnviAndharia’s blog recounts the institution’s journey in overcoming challenges of remote learning and pioneering pedagogic practices to ensure continued learning for its students.

In September 2020, nearly six months after the complete closure of schools and colleges in response to the COVID 19 outbreak, the central government relaxed several restrictions in the fourth phase of opening the economy and other services during the COVID 19 lockdown. Higher education institutions and office workspaces were expected to set up their own norms, in line with the central government’s guidelines if they wanted to restart their operations.

The present batch of the Post Graduate Programme (Development Management) at ISDM consists of an enthusiastic bunch of youngsters who chose to continue with the programme knowing that it would run online until the time government regulations allowed campuses to become operational for students. By the end of September, some of the students were keen to come to campus and attend classes while others wanted to have clarity on the risks involved before they travelled thousands of kilometres to the campus in NOIDA.

This came as good news for ISDM. It was an opportunity for some of us to have our first in-person interactions with students. However, for a curriculum that thrives on relationship-based education, ISDM educators needed to enable spaces that permitted students to engage with the rigour and commitment that the pedagogy demands.

Reimagining a pedagogic model for Hybrid classes

Hybrid classes are a combination of in-person as well as online classes. While the senior leadership and operations team at ISDM decided to have the campus “COVID- ready” by the end of October and began working towards establishing safety protocols in keeping with the rules and norms laid out by government authorities, the most critical area was to cater to the reality that some students would choose to come to campus while some would remain ‘online.’ This meant that we had to plan for a HYBRID teaching arrangement. For educators at ISDM, this not only meant a shift in the logistics of how teaching and learning processes will take place but also re-imagine pedagogical practices for learning through hybrid models.

• Creating a simulated-learning environment

The first step in this direction was to employ technological tools to enable group-related activities.

The PGP DM programme at ISDM is the only one that involves Bricoleurs who bring together the learning experience of students, ensuring a process that encourages synthesis and making meaning from all that is imparted and absorbed. ‘Bricoleur’ comes from the French word ‘Bricolage’ which means to create something from a diverse range of things and at ISDM, Bricoleurs help interpret, integrate and co-learn the intertextuality of the theories and their applications to development.

In addition, faculty members were encouraged to experiment with these new tools as well as methods of learning through technology. These included enabling discussions with faculty members and guest leacturers on-line as well as on-campus, carrying out group assignments using online discussion rooms and breakout sessions and the extensive use of case studies.

• Enabling a vibrant student community

Students were encouraged to develop peer groups and participate in extracurricular activities organised by the Students’ Affairs Community. These involved organising online creative forums known asBaithaksinvolving students, faculty and staff members to enable active engagement on current issues such as the ongoing farmer protests and linking them to the curriculum in Development Management.

• Conducting HOT (Honest Open Two-way) conversations

HOT conversation is a democratic forum at ISDM which has long set the culture of ISDM and the learning environment wherein the whole ISDM community comes together to discuss issues of governance, pedagogy, learning environment and culture. The HOT conversations were made online wherein the student body or any member of the ISDM team could call for an organisational meeting to discuss burning issues. Proactive involvement of ISDM leadership in discussing some of the core issues related to pandemic in these hot conversations like student engagement, campus affairs, learning experience, and overall format of the hybrid learning model.

• Enabling Feedback Loops

Anonymous feedback loops were established by ISDM to record feedback on the curriculum, pedagogy and learning methods for students, faculty as well as the staff to continue improving the new system.

The simulated learning environment through online platforms for theIntervention Designterm, a critical segment that serves as a unique and enriching opportunity to test and hone their knowledge and skills in a real context over a few weeks. Student groups are allotted a specific district in the country and the exercise involves them understanding the district, identifying a critical problem, and applying systems thinking to simulate intervention design. Interactions with organisational leaders and practitioners from the districts of study of the students were carried out through a combination of phone and online tools offered by Google and Zoom.

While the pedagogic shifts set the tone for the HYBRID model of education at ISDM, ISDM leadership actively engaged in enabling a smooth transition to a COVID safe campus for all students and ISDM team members who preferred being on campus during this time.

How to design a COVID-19 Free Campus

This began with putting a lot of thought into arranging the seating, managing common spaces and utilities to ensure the maintenance of adequate physical distancing. All necessary measures such as regular sanitisation of workspaces, placement of hand sanitizers at several points in the campus, and temperature checks at entry points and random checks during the day, were planned in keeping with the rules and norms laid out by the state government. In keeping with the norms, students were given the option to come to campus or continue the online classes. Those who came in signed a declaration in keeping with guidelines laid down by the state health authorities.

Majlis, the ISDM classroom on the 6th floor which held 78 students in the previous year, could easily hold benches and chairs for 37 students. The modular furniture was just perfect to ensure that each student's seating could be arranged at a safe distance. Two high- quality ceiling cameras helped to ensure that the entire classroom could be covered both from the front end as well as the rear end. The teams worked towards synchronising three critical elements - the sound system, the cameras, and the projector and went through two rounds of test runs to ensure that everything worked well.

While only eight out of the 37 students decided to come to campus at the beginning of term 3, the academic team set up a roster to come to campus on different days, while two of the Programme Associates came daily.

Notwithstanding the technical challenges that came up initially, the direct connection with students physically present in class was energising for both the academic team as well as for the students themselves. The chatter during breaks, small group conversations in the ‘physical classroom’ that continued after the zoom class ended were fun. A coffee tea vending machine was installed so that students wouldn't have to go out and expose themselves during break time and the library was set up with a special chamber to sanitise all the returned books or books used by students for reference reading.

The academic team also set up a COVID response committee with students as its members to work out what would be required to help all those who came on campus to practice all the regulations and protocols. Posters with the right messages for the lifts, common spaces were designed and put up.

ISDM also drafted a set ofguidelinesandprotocolsto be followed by staff, faculty and students present on campus.

This was followed by extensive engagement and development of standardised protocols on virtual learning and teaching, for students and faculty respectively.

Way forward:

We all know that we have to brace ourselves for a long haul as we navigate through the pandemic. The past year has laid the groundwork for what seems to be the norm for some part of 2021 and is likely to continue in some form in the post-COVID future. However, as an organisation ISDM seeks to build possibilities for a better world through development management and leadership. Reopening the campus is a step in that direction where students and staff together support one another to create a safe, health space that creates a supportive resilient community of practitioners.

[1]ISDM is a member of the Higher Education Initiative (HEI) of the 'The Wellbeing Project'and is involved in contributing towards building institutional and pedagogical prototypes of how higher education initiatives can cultivate a culture that is more human-centered and grounded in foundational values of equity and compassion. The learning pedagogy at ISDM seeks to unlock the extraordinary potential of collaborative learning and innovation to address the complex challenges that the Indian social sector is engaging with. Read more here:https://www.isdm.org.in/wellbeing-heis.

This piece talks about the need of the development sector institutions in today’s world and how my journey till now,as a student in this sector,has made me realise that there are many people like me but are unaware of such opportunities.

I am an engineer by accident who always used to observe the inequalities happening around, be it in college life or two years of corporate experience. There always used to be a sense of helplessness within me of not being able to work with the people for overall empowerment. The limited education options after HSC examinations and economic burden of education loan from the engineering led to a life which made no sense to me. My hands were in shackles owing to it. This was one of the reasons which made me complete my engineering and work for two years with hardly in purpose in life.

After two years of corporate life, it was a discerning moment for me where I wanted to live a life which aligns with my values and purpose. It was very clear for me, I have observed tonnes of problems happening around me. If I am able to gain educational expertise in the social sector and channelise my inner potential in addressing at least one of such challengesin a professional way then I’ll be taking one step towards my purpose.

And that’s when an institution like the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) happened to me. That leap of faith of quitting the job and joining this one-year programme has transformed my life so far. I was fortunate enough tocome to know about such a course from one of my friends. ISDM made this decision simpler by enabling the scholarship and also the employment opportunities college provides after the programme. To be fair, I couldn’t have taken this step if there were no placement opportunities after the programme, as I have to be responsible for my family and self.

My family and friends back home are totally clueless aboutthe existence of such development institutions. I am assertive that there are so many active youth citizenswith concerns about various social issues that are happening in the country and wish to be a part of social change. But our traditional education system has never allowed them to come out of the monotonous purposeless monetary lifecycle. Provided a platform like ISDM where I am able to take a step towards my purpose with a sense of security of my future, our country would see many social change makers in the coming years.

Let me just highlight the safe-space created by the ISDM. The co-founders and the whole team of ISDM consider students as an integral part of the institute. ISDM has created a space where there is no fear of judgement, everyone respects the lived experiences from where the students have come from, and most importantly it constantly reminds me to what values I stand for, helping me to reflect it in daily life. ISDM follows the principle of zero-hierarchy. One example that I can give is of the staff spaces. There are no permanent rooms allocated for staff. If any student wishes to sit in any room and do her/ his own work, has the total liberty to do so and the faculty or the staff may have to sit in any other room. Most of the activities carried out are in groups comprising of diverse backgrounds with respect to age, work experience, gender, education. This has helped me to understand from the dissonance arising out of the multiple perspectives and act from the cognitive coherence by respecting and taking inputs from each perspective.

Adding on, addressing the current scenario, government - the largest social purpose organisation is doing its part to tackle the various challenges the country is facing but that’s not enough. Students graduating out of development institutions can become big change-maker and a catalyst in the development sector, working at a parallel level or with the government. Today, there is a dearth of such development leaders. CSR and social purpose organisations tend to hire people who do not have formal education from the development sector. These organisations need meta-skills which involves advocacy-enquiry, engaging with the community, reasoning and other characteristics along with the technical expertise. Development sector institutions help us in building the necessary meta-skills. Without the meta-skills, one can be a development manager but not the leader.

To conclude, becoming a civil servant is not the only criteria to serve the country. There are several social issues which need to be addressed and the government can’t alone solve these situations. Youth who cares and dream of a just and equitable society can be a part of this change. There are opportunities available and need to be brought in the mainstream at the earliest.

About the Author

Sujith Ail, currently pursuing PGP in Development Leadership at Indian School of Development Management

Sujith worked in a media publishing house for two years and joined ISDM to channelize his intention of working with the communities for overall inclusiveness and equal rights. He was involved in various social activities in school and college where he was an active member of NSS.

Apply for ISDM`s One Year PG Programme in development Leadership.

Shruthi Published: 16 November, 2023

Encountering Awe-Inspiring Women

Passing through the lush greenery, we have reached the skill training centre in Chittaura block in Bahraich district (U.P.). After attending the orientation program conducted by NRLM, my friend and I went to a nearby village for fieldwork. Tajkhudai village has a significant and equal population of both Hindus and Muslims living in their respective mohallas near to each other. As the road was blocked due to the Eid procession, we had to take a detour – which meant passing through the heart of the Muslim based community. The news flashed in my mind which I heard three days back: a communal riot had happened in another village, Khaira bazaar when Hindus had Chatt pooja ceremonies. Our driver was driving so carefully through the roads, being mindful of the domestic goats seated in the middle of the path. Even a slight disturbance and we could be in trouble. I could feel the communal tension as we were driving through the narrow lanes.

We reached the house where all the women were supposed to gather and have a meeting. The meeting went on for three hours and the work done by ICRP women was outstanding. The women who have risen from ashes were standing there and raising their voices against oppression and patriarchy, which was awe-inspiring. They were tremendously courageous in bringing women from the village together and empowering them. There were a couple of women who were pulled out of the meeting by their family members. All the while, the Eid procession with huge celebrations was going on intermittently.

The women who have risen from ashes were standing there and raising their voices against oppression and patriarchy.

After the skill training got completed, I was saying my goodbyes to all of them. A woman came out of the crowd. I said namaste, and as she was approaching me, she was trying to touch my hands but was reluctant. So, I slowly moved towards her. She softly said, "Aap madam bade sheher se ho. Mein gobar ka kaamkarti hu toh mein aapko choo nahi sakti… ( You madam have come from a big city. I work with cow-dung, so I cannot touch you…)."

And she backed away. I stood there frozen.

The people I was working with were calling out my name asking me to get into the jeep. I had to turn towards the vehicle, and when I looked back hoping to see her, she was not there.

"How am I any different from her?", My conscience said.

"Is it just sheer luck that I am born with all the prerogatives, and she is not. How can one's life get decided based on luck? How unfair is that? And I quibble sitting here in the mid of all my privilege that life is unfair." Tears rolled down my cheeks.

The helplessness I have seen in her eyes still haunts me. I wish I could hug her. I wish I could tell her that we both are no different.

Understanding The Real Joy Of Being Together

Exhausted by my travel, I entered a house where I was supposed to stay. It had two tiny dimly- lit rooms. There were 10 people living under one roof. I felt apprehensive. In the back of my mind, I decided that I am gonna book a hotel room and leave by the night.

Sunita Yadav, whom we were working with in Bahraich is a woman of zeal, dedicates herself entirely for her social work on various issues along with having her own NGO. She has an inspiring life story of courage and determination. She has adopted five kids and has two kids of her own.

The whole bunch of kids in the house ran to me as I entered the room, randomly wishing me for my birthday with super glee on their faces. I felt so happy. I thought I would stay for the night and would leave the next morning.

The youngest kid of the lot, Ruhi, 21 months old is showered with enormous love and pampered by everyone. Her mother Renu, 25, lives in the home as well. One of the children Munni, pursuing her graduation wants to become an IAS officer and another kid Mouni, studying in 6th class wants to become a doctor. Their dreams are as big as their hearts.

 

I felt content with a wide smile on my face I felt home.

It was lunchtime, and the movie 'Mohabbatein' was airing on TV. As Renu was feeding me morsels of food, we made every satirical joke possible whenever a romantic scene came up. Then, we all slept together in a line watching a horror show. Munni used to take care of my food timings and oil my hair saying, "You don't take care of yourself at all didi. Let me do it." The care and affection among these kids for each other is heartwarming.They as a family stand by each other, make sacrifices for each other despite all the adversities they have.

As I lean back on the wall and watch this family sharing pure laughter and happiness, it made me realise what Love is and how Inseparable it is. It took just a split second to capture the frame of this scene which has etched in my heart as a beautiful painting. I felt content with a wide smile on my face. It was a perfect ending for my birthday. I felt home.

Next three days were the most unforgettable days of my life. Every day we had meals together watching every possible saas-bahu serial and make fun of it. We watched a bunch of flop movies together; we played games together. Every night we slept together, and I hadn't had such peaceful sleep in a very long time. There was a small pooja room where we used to light a diya in the evening.

The other day after completion of my work, Renu and I went out. After a long walk, we got into an open rickshaw, and as we were passing by a stall, Renu blurted, "Wait up here, I would bring Makai ke lava for you to eat, you will like it." I did not know what it is so I said not to bring. The rickshaw driver voiced, "Madam, zindagi bas ek hi baar milti hain.. kha lijiye." (Madam, we live only once, have it.)

Though it was a pretty cheesy line, it brought a smile on my face, and I told her to bring it. And indeed, they were really delicious.

The happiness on the kids' faces when I got home bringing gifts for them was priceless; three days were over just like that. Living with these lovely people became a memorable experience of my lifetime. As I was leaving home thanking everyone, Munni hugged me and softly said, "Di, stop saying thank you so often. You are a part of our family now."

These kids taught me: Happiness is in unconditional love. Joy is in being together. I feel rich leaving their home with all their sheer unconditional love. I feel richer being a part of their family. It was an absolute joy watching them and most importantly, living with them.

 

Living with these lovely people became a memorable experience of my lifetime.

So here it is, I take pride in saying this is my clan, my beautiful clan!

About the Author:

Shruthi is a student of 2nd batch of PGP in Development Leadership at ISDM

Source: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/01/bahraich-ke-kisse-my-stories/

Published: 15 January, 2024

It’s been more than two months of learning and unlearning at the Indian School of Development Management now. It has been a journey of realising and exploring about my self and my perspective of a society which has eventually shaped my actions and which has begun to change.

I wish I could have experienced this space before I started working in the social sector. All this while, I was working in the sector without even realising what development meant to me. Maybe I never bothered to think about it, or perhaps, I was reluctant to question myself because I knew I didn’t have the answers. I still don’t have complete answers – but yes, I am comfortable questioning myself, my beliefs and the choices I make. For me, not having answers is a more peaceful space now – as I see it as an opportunity to learn, grow and contribute better.

I still remember the project I was working on as a core team member with four other members and a mentor in one of the organisations that work with female commercial sex workers (referred to as didis in this piece) in one of the red-light districts of the city. The vision was to provide alternate life choices for our didis and help them break free from the shackles of subjugation, and live a life of dignity and respect.

I came up with fancy financial projections in Excel and PowerPoint presentations to sell it to different donors. The idea was compelling, and we also got our initial funding from a donor, which could sustain the project for another year. And we started a project in the catering domain with two didis who signed up to own the project.

We started off well. However, after a few months, the business started to fall drastically, and the didis found it difficult to make profits. It became a money-burning project. Even then, we decided that money was not a concern and we simply wanted our didis to build their skills in entrepreneurship and develop certain key values that would help them to excel in the life choices they made. But we could never decide on the set of values that would be necessary for them to become successful entrepreneurs.

We failed to harness their commitment as role-models. Thus, we could not get more of them to join this movement of change. We had envisioned the project to be ‘owned’ by didis – but all the decisions were made by us and only a few of the meetings included voices from the didis. Soon, it became a model where they were simply employed as salaried employees – and there was very little space for them to actively participate in decision making.

Now when I look back at those decisions, I can clearly see that we missed out on realising our values. Maybe the team itself did not have a coherence in values. We never spoke about our values as a design team. We had assumed that didis would be undergoing value-based training – but there were no clear discussions on what those values would be. In fact, it now sounds strange to me that we agreed to something which would involve the team deciding what values the didis should espouse.

Also, the project lacked a most critical component – an effective manager. Amongst the two different leaders appointed at various points of time, one of them had a different full-time job – so clearly, this was not the top priority. We were all leading it as per the convenience of our so-called ‘expertise’.

Here at ISDM, I am realising that how important it is to root your vision in the values you believe in. No one else can decide for your values except your own self. I now realise that I did not recognise my gender biases when I assumed that ‘managing the kitchen’ was a skill that all women would know, whether they be in the commercial or the domestic sector. How inappropriate was it for me to assume that our didis would be good at cooking and managing the kitchen! Maybe it was just a judgemental assumption I made for my own convenience. I think the picture would have been different had we asked the didis about what they believed – what their dreams were and what they would have wanted in life, if they hadn’t been forced into sex work.

The project was put on hold this year after a mutual decision acknowledging the fact that we weren’t ready to take it forward. It also conceded that the whole ‘kitchen and cooking’ idea needed an overhaul and that the concept itself would have to be re-imagined.

Personally speaking, I have set out on a new journey of learning and exploring of what it means to an be authentic ‘development professional’. Perhaps, a year later, I will be able to make a considerable and value-based contribution to the lives of the didis more significantly by taking a more inclusive, just and equitable approach.

Published: 26 January, 2024

From a very early age, we are taught to break problems apart to study and decipher the world around us. The conventional thinking on complexity and chaos steers our minds towards parts and elements involved in the system and fosters a loss of rumination concerning linkages and influences within and between the components, and the system. It is understandably difficult when we consider that the interactions within and outside the system are constantly changing. Systems thinking is a discipline that can be used to throw light on the invisible factors governing the behavior of a system. The lectures on systems thinking and the case studies we have been working on at ISDM reinforced the importance of having this in place while approaching a development issue. Systems thinking succors in the deconstruction of a complex system and identifying the web of interdependence and adaptivity of the components and the system on the whole. The approach gives a conceptual framework to think about issues in a holistic and collaborative manner.

As development professionals, irrespective of whether the interventions are at the local level or macro level, it is important to understand a wide range of social, economic, political, ecological, and even physiological systems. Even a small action can have a butterfly effect where effect of consequences could be irreversible. For instance, there might be a tribal community who have been victims of land acquisition for a long time. There might be issues with regards to the privatization of lands or encroachment of their area. This might be a trigger for them to fight for their rights demanding for justice, and the government, after trying all means possible, could consider giving them self autonomy. Now this might have seemed to address one of the problems, but say if that particular tribal community is patriarchal, then there would be their own communitarian laws, no voice for women, no representation of women on decision making or no rights guaranteed for them. This might lead to deprivation of basic human rights and also in turn upset the development of the future generations. Any intervention of the government at a later stage to address these issues might become onerous. Dietrich Dörner writes on effective problem solving: "If we want to solve problems effectively...we must keep in mind not only many features but also the influences among them. Complexity is the label we will give to the existence of many interdependent variables in a given system. The more variables and the greater their interdependence, the greater the system's complexity. Great complexity places high demands on a planner's capacity to gather information, integrate findings, and design effective actions. The links between the variables oblige us to attend to a great many features simultaneously, and that, concomitantly, makes it impossible for us to undertake only one action in a complex system". The concept of systems thinking allows us to constantly rethink and hone our development models and rejig the components within the supra or sub-system. By adopting a model that could separate direct and adaptive challenges, and deal with layers of perspectives involved in systems, one could cope with the complexities hindering developmental approaches. 

In today's world, most of the problems that we are confronted with are repercussions of our inability to grasp the nature of convoluted systems that are present. Systems thinking along with other learning disciplines of personal mastery, social emotional intelligence and collaboration helps us to have a broader perspective, to look at the underlying structures, patterns and events, rather than just the events themselves, and also helps us to identify how to change them effectively.