Diary of a Rural Manager!

Parts  0 and 1  of the  Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here.  Creating systemic change always comes from moral leadership and self-discipline. Good discipline is a part of moral leadership that establishes structures, time management, task planning, and follow-up on action items. I am looking for a gradual change in thinking pattern, eventually decision-making, then vision, and then leadership. This week started with thought experiments and acting on micro-habitual changes. 1. Courageous Space: There is a concept of courageous space to be done in the pilot stage inside the cohort before rolling out in personal and professional space. The courageous pace gives me freedom to choose a specific issue, scrutinize a habit (self-discipline and exaggeration in my case), work on the habit in acts of courage, and ideally grow into competencies in the real world. I have set the following tasks for myself. Within Person: Delay in completing tasks d...

This will be the second post on skill development sector continuation of Youth Mobilization Process in Skill Development . Vocational orientation and counselling is the logical step post identification of youths in the mobilization process. This is the process in which training center match the youths’ initial vocational ideas with their skill sets, capacities, and interests. The counseling isn't a one-size fits all solution when it comes to skill development, livelihoods and career options. Understanding the the background of young job-seeker is of utmost importance to assist them in their search for meaningful careers. This is because for entry-level vocational courses, the candidates are a mixed group consisting of school dropouts, unemployed youth, and youth from socially and economically underprivileged background. The entry level job will be the first opportunity to test their caliber and earn decent livelihoods. Counselling helps in creating realistic aspiration and redu...

Part  0  of the Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here. Task: Watch Acumen Manifesto and Behind the Manifesto . And reflect on your work and the audacious vision that you are building toward. The Acumen Manifesto reflects an attempt to explain the goals of Moral leadership, as well as the qualities inherent in the change makers. The story of Kenyan women contained pearls of wisdom. It was an informal education on how inspirations come in life, society, and career. The bootcamp is a virtual community coming from the areas of public policy, entrepreneurship, rights-based work, and technology. There is a deep intellectual capability in understanding where things are going wrong, a bleeding heart for empathy, and courage in building a strategy for change. The diverse mindset present here will help me to understand how to facilitate systems change and create more inclusive social systems through the use of market forces. I am hoping to understand how each leader is ...

I was gifted a copy of The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham  from boss today. The Intelligent Investor was first published in 1949, and is a widely acclaimed book on value investing. The share market is in doldrums and people are exploring for the stocks and sectors that are likely to lead the next bull run. I have neither clue to lap up falling stocks nor money to check unproven models only on hope. Hence, this book is a prudent gift in the next level of personal development. I will be investing next few months in reading of 'The Intelligent Investor' accrued with Safal Niveshak blog , discussing share market with colleagues and  looking for  stock tips . I hope this will give me insights on value proposition and investments. Thanks Manab for such a timely gift.

The number one piece of advice a consultant at World Bank gave to the next generation of development professionals was to invest in skills development and continuously up-skill. Yet, the path of There’s no harm in sharing our failures. The only thing at stake is our egos. But too much embrace to failure suggests a thwarted glory. I pitched my candidacy as a social intrapreneur for 2020 cohort of Acumen India Fellows program . I got rejection in the last stage of flagship program during December 2019. I am learning each day how to be unburdened by historical failure and not becoming ecstatic with a minor success. Acumen India launched virtual bootcamp in January 2020 going beyond the flagship Program. I got selected today for inaugural Acumen Leadership Bootcamp in India. The Bootcamp will be a 6 – 8 week cohort based learning program, with a combination of individual / paired assignments and group calls. I will be summarizing my cumulative experiences at the end of course from the n...

Skill Development program for youth involves a large set of processes among which prominent are: Mobilization of Youths, Counseling and Identification of Youths, Identification of Training Institutes, Management of ongoing training institute, Monitoring and Management of training, Liaisoning with potential employers, Post Placement follow up etc. providing skill training to youth living in rural areas Mobilization of Youths: Mobilization phase generally focuses on getting people to enroll. The target groups for skilling are candidates in the age group 18 – 35 years from rural poor households. For Training Institutes (PIAs), an inability to mobilize properly results in a failure to meet targets. Process of Mobilization: 1. Identification of Potential area, Target Audience, Nature of job affinity of the youth and willingness for migration by candidates 2. Identification of Pro Active people (Sarpanch/ primary school headmaster/ SHG members/ PRI members/ GPLF & CRP associated...