We launched our program Labor to Leadership this year, in partnership with SRIJAN. This program was conceptualised recognising that women are most often regarded as labourers in agriculture. Their leadership remains low and unrecognized. They stay limited to production and find it difficult to take roles related to marketing the agricultural products from their communities. Farmer collectives present an opportunity. As they take up market interventions, they build remunerative business, they are recognized as leaders. They also inspire other women to participate and take up leadership.
SRIJAN has promoted women FPCs and wishes to build business and organizational effectiveness. It also wishes to challenge dependence on SRIJAN staff and enhance leadership of women to these institutions. The program labor to leadership is offered in this context.
The first batch of Labor to Leadership started in July 2023 and closed in May 2024. Niwari, Ken Betwa, Shipre and COFE Women Farmer Producer companies participated in this initiative. Over 70 women in various leadership joined the three workshops held over this period. We also worked with colleagues in SRIJAN through regular reviews and exchanges.
Our approach to leadership development is informed by the field of system psychodynamics. This approach asks one to understand how one’s actions or ones taking up of roles are furthering the task of the system. Our work is located in groups, with attention to learning from the unconscious dynamics, which are covert or difficult to surface but govern the life of the group.
The labor to leadership process seems to have clarified the purpose of the FPC, which has energized the leaders. The system they were part of, became more visible, its purpose became clearer, questions could be asked and assumptions tested. Leadership need not be a place of being alone. FPC task, in the mind of many BoDs, seems to have been to provide jobs to its shareholders. Some also considered it to be a messenger or contact for the promoter to the village. The workshops clarified that the task is to establish a bridge between shareholders and the market.
How does this initiative accelerate impact? It allowed for SRIJAN to see its relationship with the FPCs from the perspective of the FPC role holders. This offers insight for both SRIJAN and the FPC for changed actions that will help the system serve its task better.
Asha George and Vartika Jaini anchored this work. Rosemary Viswanath provided background support to our thinking and strategy on this initiative.
We find this work brings together some of our central concerns at Vriddhi and look forward to expanding it the coming year.
Our engagement with the organisation learning exercise with Gram Vikas moved towards conclusion in this year.
Organisational learning exercise helps one re-examines the narratives that it has of itself. Gram Vikas was interested in reframing that narrative by looking at evidence, listening to communities that had partnered and to diverse stakeholders. This was the intention behind the exercise titled –“Learning from the Past, Reading the Present, Preparing for the future”. It was also expected to build Gram Vikas’ credentials as a pioneering organisation in multiple intervention areas and amplify the streams of actions and results that serve as the foundation for Gram Vikas Decade V. Our engagement started in 2023 and continued towards the end of 2024.
Reflecting as Gram Vikas did over a 40+year time frame, allowed some distancing from its own involvement in the situation. So, the exercise purposively chose to look back in a way that allowed Gram Vikas to see its place in the context of what else was happening at that time. This meant one had to turn an open, inquiring mind to the context. GV wishes to have a legacy of promoting self-managed systems, bringing change at system level and change that is intergenerational. What could it learn from instances where this had taken place? It is a changed context and operating environment in Decade V. What do these experiences say about helpful stances and approaches that GV can benefit from taking today?
Three extensive studies were commissioned to generate evidence on changes that had been witnessed and listen to the role of Gram Vikas in this change. To help GV reflect and convene in order to draw up insights for the future strategy, a three day convening was organised, which we helped design and facilitate. The convening purpose was “What will it take to have 1000 water and natural resources secure Gram Panchayats in Odisha”. Our engagement with this initiative closed with a workshop with the Gram Vikas team to draw in these findings and insights into their Decade V strategy – particularly with respect to the Water Secure Gram Panchayat. A process of much learning!
This was the 7th year of our I am Kisan services to farmers in the Keonjhar/Mayurbhanj area in Odisha!
I am Kisan now is a market based advisory and linkage service. We provide a service that brings awareness to farmers of the prices in local markets and what they can expect to receive for their produce. They can use this to benchmark against what they are getting. We also help to link them to local traders should they wish.
The number of deals facilitated this year increased to 209 ( from 183 last year) with across 110 farmers. We worked with 32 local traders of different scale of operations for these deals.
Working through this period has given us clarity on our niche as the only market oriented advisory platform for vegetable farmers, focussed on farmers (and not service providers or aggregators). We will continue to work on this to find traction with farmers, including reworking our I am Kisan app, focussing it on price discovery.
The number 7 has many symbolisms in different cultures and traditions. Some associations are magical, some indicate difficulty!
I am Kisan was started as a digital platform for farmers to find curated information that reduced risk and improved decision making. We saw this application as a development partner for the progressive farmer in the tribal pockets of Odisha. While that vision remains, the last few years have been continuous learning on translating this into a product.
The context, we realise, does not really value this self reliance or ‘knowing’ of farmers for this decision making. We insist on farmers knowing the final price of sale. We ensure that farmers or their representative have directly negotiated with the traders. We are transparent in our commission charging and it is disclosed in writing to the farmers through offers that are sent to them.
Farmers are happy to delegate many of these tasks upward, being concerned only with the sale and them getting their money. Those providing services of aggregation, thus end up becoming traders. Accountability to farmers must exist in these systems. But it is not in terms of communication on price point – it is perhaps not practical or perhaps no one desires it enough!
Our experience of farmers reaching out to us and the change we see gives us confidence in the value of the idea of I am Kisan. It strengthens our committment to listen and learn. To change, adapt but most of all persevere – all important efforts in trying to listen and learn.
We had the opportunity to review of FMSF – a support organisation on finance and governance – to review its work over the past few years. FMSF was also keen to locate itself in the changing context of the non profit system. The review was done as part of a two member team in July 2023. This also provided an opportunity to visit partnerships that were over 20-25 years, a rarity in today’s transformation-in-a-box frameworks. It generated a lot of insights into the traditional not for profit sector – its challenges today but as importantly, what it can uniquely offer.
This overview is not complete till we also recount what did not work out. We were invited to submit a proposal for diversity training for the Forest Stewardship Council, Germany. We also responded to a request for proposals for BfDW to provide support to outcome and impact oriented program monitoring evaluation and learning for their partners. These exercises provide the opportunity to understand the operating context of these organisations and in thinking about what may be useful for them, also build our understanding of what is required.
Vriddhi was set up to accelerate impact. Work over the last few years has given us more clarity on what goes into accelerating impact. Accelerating impact does not imply going faster. It means reassessing one’s understanding of the context, reorienting oneself to that which gives meaning, working with the system’s desire to develop while overcoming other fears and anxieties. It means Listening to one’s experience and Learning from it
Our initiatives this year capture this spirit of listening and learning. We seem to have found our space of working on the institutional edge with the community and their institutions.
We look forward to partnerships and conversations!
