Doing Being Doing Shalini Menon

I have never facilitated a group of people with disabilities. Mostly because I never thought I have what it takes and also the deep fear of failing. What if I suddenly realise I am not a great facilitator after all.

In Episode 2, Moses Chowdari, Executive Director of Enable India simplifies what it means to design learning spaces for people with disabilities and keeps it very very real. What struck me the most during the interview is there is no “special formula” - it is just what Enable India calls ‘celebrating the human spirit’.

Practitioners of experiential education, globally, are guided by the work of Kurt Hahn. Hahn suffered severe sunstroke in 1904 which left him permanently disabled and required a long period of recovery in darkened rooms. It is in this period, Hahn shaped his thinking and philosophy around the power of great outdoors and learning by doing.

We met Moses Chowdari, Executive Director, Enable India who is leading the organisation’s strategy and vision to enable not just people with disability but invest in an entire ecosystem that commits to equal opportunities.

Have you ever “second guessed” yourself when it comes to training people with disabilities? Do leave us your comments on our social media - linkedin and instagram.

In part 2, we continue our conversation with Gagan Sethi and engage with 5 questions that our listeners left us on social media. Join Doing Being Doing on linkedin and instagram for more conversations. In the previous episode, Gagan sets the context - he says he is an educator, a political one. It is key for educators to ask political questions and also understand the politics of their constituency. Through this conversation, we also unpack the politics and identity of the facilitator and how it also impacts our ability to ask the right question and steer conversations for reflections. He says a facilitator’s job is to create a space where people can have honest conversations first with themselves, and then with others.

Gagan Sethi, founder member, former Executive Director and Managing Trustee of Jan Vikas, a leading NGO based in Ahmedabad has a trail of accomplishments, distinguishing him as a grassroots activist and co-creator of quite a number of institutions - a few of which have gained national and international stature. Established in 1977 by Professor Contractor and Gagan Sethi, Jan Vikas has since expanded its institutional field manifold but most importantly positioned inclusive perspectives through a broad canvas of relationships, and collaborations. Many around Gagan Sethi would say that he excels in strategic thinking. He has a canny way of sensing political templates in institutional fields and interesting ways of analyzing organisational issues for interventions. His perspectives in organisational development, which appear to stem from insights rather than the run of the mill managerial versions - stand quite apart from the mainstream approaches.

In part 2 of Episode 11, Prerna tells us that while one need not be a lawyer to become a POSH trainer, you need to be well versed with the law.

There are ample resources available online that will help you interpret not just the law but also various case judgement that have helped shape our understanding of the law. For e.g., one can follow Live Law and Bar and Bench for regular updates on legal judgement related to sexual harassment.

With regards to certification, at the moment, there is no central body that provides certification on POSH. However, there are many organisations that provide certificate courses on POSH, including the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Institute of Legal and Management Studies.

Join us as we engage with the politics of being a POSH trainer - the unlimited possibilities, a fast growing community and the emotional readiness to walk this path.

In this episode, we are talking to Prerna Goel Chatterjee who has been working as a POSH Consultant and Advisor since 2015.

Her work includes strengthening organisations existing policy on prevention of sexual harassment at workplace in compliance with the law; help create a gender-neutral POSH policy; support organisations to comply with POSH requirements as mandated by the Act; provide support in setting up of Internal Committee; and conduct training for Internal Committee members as well as employee awareness sessions with a focus on implications on POSH in the new normal. Currently, she is also the Vice President of Maharashtra Anti Sexual Harassment Council, WICCI (Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

In this episode we will uncover who is a POSH Trainer, what do they do and how they upskill themselves