Nepal has had plethora of
non-governmental organizations and their working has been questioned fairly
& unfairly at times. WWF Nepal is one of the few organization working in
Nepal with high impact & intact reputation. I had read and heard about the wonderful
work The Generation Green (TGG) program of WWF Nepal had been doing, I was
thrilled to have been selected to attend the training on leadership with
emphasis on Tiger Conservation; Leadership, a trait many of us think we
have, some of us really have and one definitely we all wish we had.
I started my pre-training preparation with a
book by John Maxwell entitled The Five Levels of leadership and few videos on YouTube.
There is clearly a lot of room for quality Nepalese content in this area.
I arrived at Hetauda City
at 16:00 on 19 June with couple of my friends and checked in the hotel Seema at
17:00 pm. The light rain that greeted us, the sight of e-mayuri and trees on
either sides of the road felt like a warm welcome from the city, a fine background
to the intense learning that was to follow.
We got notified that the
program would start from 18:30 the same day and the team of We Inspire Nepal
(WIN) would be giving us the training. This was an exciting news as I had been
familiar with work of some of the members of WIN & heard volumes about
Saunak Bhatta. I had heard instances of their radical approach in trainings, I
didn’t know what to expect, yet I was delighted by the prospect of listening to
young team of WIN, whose emphasis I knew would not be just conducting training
for trainings sake but to make a real impact in the lives, personality of the
participants. We have a bad air of cynicism in our society for youth
innovations, WIN is one of the team that is proving people wrong day in day out. Many of trainings I took in recent times had
been a bit one dimensional and I was even close to death-by-slides in some. This
promised to be different and it was.
The training kicked off
with a brief overview about the program. Participants introduced themselves. I
introduced myself and shared my excitement, I was looking forward to learning,
specially, discourses on Leadership from Nepalese trainers with our own organic
take and perspectives. I have to praise the organizers for assembling that
unique group of participants which included students from universities and
youths working for conservation actions at local level. As an activists who
roams around papers more than beings, for me, the informal talks I had with
field activists is one of the highlight of the training, they shared their
experience, the psyche that drives local people among many more interesting
anecdotes.
This was followed by a
pair activity called Putali ra paat (Butterfly – Leaf). The session was
wonderfully facilitated by Samikshya Neupane
, Trainer WIN, her voice couldn’t have been clearer and her energy any
higher . Each one of us, in turns, guided our eye-closed-partner (putali)
through the crowded room, acting as Paat.
After the activity,
people were asked to share their learnings, take on the activity. I saw it as a
metaphor of two activists from different origins, nature and properties
exploring the unexplored territory for common good. It was exciting to hear varied
interpretation of fellow participants for the same activity. People saw
different metaphors in it, it felt like a window into their thought process.
This was followed by a
stirring talk by Mr. Ram Prit Yadav ,
he shared us the roots of wildlife conservation action in Nepal, present
status, challenges overcame and the hurdles that remain. His talk was as thorough
as it was motivating. He was a walking example proving that age is just a
number, he looked as energetic & passionate as any of us youth present in
the program.
After dinner, amidst the
participants four separate families were created and first family meeting was
held instantaneously. It started by sharing about oneself among the members of
family. It is so amazing what people share when the mood is set right. We were
practically strangers yet what people shared was not only their general story
which they lay out for the whole world to see but their real personal opinions,
incidents, dreams and secrets even. It was probably one of the moments when I
strongly bonded with participants.
The next day began with
light physical exercise at 7, on the roof of the hotel. This training was
really different than any of I ever attended with respect to focus on the
mental and physical dimensions of individuals. The use of dance/music, jumping,
shouting were masterfully used as a tool of facilitation. Those activities
really lifted the energy, involvement and flow of the program.
After tea, we had yet
another session of reflection, people shared their learnings, takeaways,
friends they made etc. This was followed by the discussion on the projects that
could be carried out within the period of one month. The ideas were laid out on
the floor, the ideas were numerous, some routine, some innovative, group
members commented on the idea itself, the way the idea could be better executed,
the impact maximized and sustained
This was followed by
intense session by Saunak Bhatta where he shared insightful, readily executable
tools, ideas and suggestion for effective communication, rapport building &
public speaking. He also introduced us to the power of introduction, showed us
how he does it and then made each and every one of us introduce ourselves in a
new way, in a loud voice with confidence. From now on, I definitely will be
introducing myself more creatively.
This was followed by the
a session by Santosh Pandey where he shared how to start a campaign, he dwelled
on some of his past campaigns as case studies and highlighted on the points of
utmost importance like the extent to which the campaign is to be taken, the
tools to be used, ethical boundaries, time factor etc.
This learning filled
session was then followed by session on death hypnosis by Saunak Bhatta. I was
moved earlier by a couple of hypnosis already conducted by Samikshya and Saunak
himself but this death hypnosis was another level. It made me pin point my
regrets and will be important for me now, in constructing my tomorrow more
lucidly. It triggered different emotions in other participants, some couldn’t
control their emotions and let their tears burst, I can only guess what they
went through.
It was kind of poetic
that this intense session was followed by painting session where we were free
to add any color to any shape, in any manner, over our own canvas. It was fun
even for people like me who aren’t particularly good at painting. It is at
occasions like this, I come to admire abstract paintings even more.
Post dinner, cultural
night was staged, we had open floor for performances. Beautiful songs were
performed, Dohori sung, legs pulled, all in good humor. The timing of this
cultural program couldn’t have been better.
Day 3, the final day,
many strange faces had become names by now. The session began at 9 with the
reflection of Day 2. This was followed by further discussion, planning &
writing of the plan, which would provide concreteness to our projects to be
carried out for Global Tigers Day, July 29.
Shika Gurung, Campaigns
and marketing officer, TGG, WWF Nepal then shared us the actions TGG team had
taken over the years, their objectives, missions and future plans. The
dedication & passion of TGG, WWF Nepal team was aptly mirrored in the
presentation & talk by Shika. People like her are the unsung heroes who
have powered us to maintain if not improve the status of endangered species
even through this decade of political transition.
The last activity of the
program was a treasure hunt, as the name suggests, it is a game among the
groups, to decode the clues and then perform the tasks assigned. The task were
the real tests of everything we had learned, heard, discussed over the last two
days. The tasks at times felt insane, irrational but all were heart pumping and
I cannot stop smiling as I recall those tasks. Some of them were painting
colors in faces, adding a tiger tail and walking like a tiger in the street
lanes, another included going on a school bus and informing children about
tiger conservation. However the pick of the task was the last one, where we
were made to debate for and against tiger conservation. It was a heated debate,
the reasoning was sound, all the running, chasing of the clues had lifted us to
whole different level of energy, (kudos to the trainers for precise placement
of the activity) and that energy flowed through our voices. It was a proof of
all the things WIN Team had taught works.
I felt a different kind
of high. I felt whole lot more confident. I felt transformed.
There are certain people,
who perceive the wave length of people, We Inspire Nepal (WIN) is definitely
one of them, and they resonated with our wavelength, then increased the energy
gradually, finally fine tuning our presence, confidence and energy level. They
arguably are the best team working in this domain and without a doubt a serious
force to be reckoned with and given that all of them are around their mid-twenties,
they can only get better.
It was departure time
already and as I looked back with gratitude, I could see, the room filled with transformed
Leaders like me.
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