Five day Residential Training of Citizen Leaders on Leadership and Group Process

(7th March - 11th March 2008)

A five day residential training of citizen leaders was held in the premises of SSK, Lucknow. Citizen leaders of Mirzapur and Sitapur participated in the training programme. The objective of the training was:

• To develop understanding on the importance of group and group processes

• To develop leadership skill

• To develop an insight on community action

On day first of the training, following themes and issues were covered: Role of Citizen leaders in development, Leader and leadership Style, What is group and its Importance (discussed in relation to federation of citizen leaders). An energizer was used to divide the participants into four groups. The groups were then assigned to prepare presentation on the above themes.

On day second a recap of the learning’s of the previous day was made through four different presentations. The issues covered on this day were as follows: Major processes operating within group (discussed in relation to federation of citizen leaders), Participation in group, Communication in group and how to organize community level meetings, Conflict resolution in group, Decision Making in group. Various group work was undertaken during the session in order to promote greater understanding among the participants about the topics covered and to ensure equal participation of the participants. Various field based examples relevant to the lives of the participants were used to explain the issues. This enabled the participants to share their experiences with the group and thus made the whole process participatory. Open sessions were held at the end of each session where the participants shared their doubts and queries.

On third day of the training after the recap session the participants were divided into two groups and were asked to make presentation on the following topics- what is hindering growth in the villages and role of monitoring committee in village development. The groups then made presentation on the above themes and then the resource persons team discussed – relevance of community based monitoring. The themes covered during the day included: Steps of community based monitoring, Role of facilitator i.e. citizen leader  in community based monitoring. At the end of the day a film was also shown to the participants on Jan Sunwai ( Social Audit). The participants were then briefed about their proposed visit to Kanpur.

On day fourth, the participants left for Kanpur to visit – Shramik Bharti, where they met the members of Jagrit Mahila Samuh (a federation of 160 SHGs), registered under society registration act, 1860. The federation is working in all the 33 gram panchayats of Maitha Block and is working on various developmental issues. Through an interactive session the citizen leaders learnt how the federation was working, what is the prime objective of the federation, its role in the development of village etc.

Jagrit Mahila Samoh is registered under Society Registration Act, 1860. Apart from being involved into savings the federation has taken several initiatives to promote equality and sustainable growth in the villages. The federation has played key role in mainstreaming the marginalized section of the society. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the federation are as follows: enhancing livelihood security, protecting the rights of the marginalized, acted as a pressure group, has promoted the use of vermi-compost in the villages, has introduced the concept of insurance of the farm animals etc. The federation has formed five committees to carry out their tasks effectively. The names of the committees are as follows: education committee, health committee, block committee, bank committee and agriculture committee.

On day 5 of the training the session started with a quick recap of the learning’s of the Kanpur visit. The participants were divided into two groups. After an internal discussion within the group members, the groups shared the learning’s of the exposure visit. After the presentation the participants were again divided into four small groups and were asked to make presentation of what they learnt during the course of the training. Major issues incorporated in back home planning exercise by the participants included: awareness generation in the village, forming groups through which they can take initiatives to ensure development of the villages, to ensure the participation of the people in open meetings of the gram sabha and to take steps to work together as a group and as well as a pressure group.

Resource Persons Team: Ms Shalini, Ms Minal and Mr Sudhir

Team