V20 - SEDS Vision 2020
This weekend has been a future strategy conference for SEDS. Organised by the board, it's aim is to look at the current direction of SEDS, to acknowledge all that has been achieved, and to develop strategy ideas to take SEDS forward from the year 2020, when Manil is hoping to retire as CEO of the organisation.
Preparation for this weekend has been going on for a few days now, and throughout the whole weekend the amount of work done by Manil, Manni, and the female fieldworkers plus the regular domestic staff has been incredible. They have cleaned and cooked and brought tea and coffee, and done an amazing job of looking after so many people - all without the aid of sophisticated technology and using labour-intensive food preparation and cleaning techniques.
People started arriving on Saturday morning, and as well as SEDS board members who we have heard about from Manil, there were invited guests as well to broaden the minds and imaginations available to think strategy. Romila and Vidhi were both students at Bhoomi college in Bangalore, studying organic farming methods. Romila, in her 30s, has studied marine science in the past and worked as a scuba diving instructor. Vidhi, in her 20s, has previously worked as a teacher, and she was really interested to come with me and see the school here. I took them for a visit, and as I chatted a bit with Vidhi about my ideas for the school and for fundraising for the education fund, she sounded really enthusiastic about helping to make the Ananda Vidyalayam school's part in the program into educational projects for the children. I thought this sounded like a really excellent idea, as it draws more value from the one program.
The V20 conference itself started with a video of the work of SEDS that was created for the 30th anniversary several years ago. We had a discussion about how much has changed again since then, and it gave all of the people new to SEDS a great chance to get to know the organisation.
We had some different brainstorming sessions during the day, and I had the chance to present a brief summary of my program design, which I have called Primary school Partnership Program (PPP). This is a fundraising scheme which exchanges cultural learning materials for fundraising, within a model that is based on foundations of relationships, reciprocity, and sustainability. I received some really great feedback for my idea from several people, and I was invited to submit a project proposal to the board of directors.
After the first day finished, I finished writing up my project proposal for PPP ready for the next day. I wasn't really sure how to do this, and after doing my best to just present it logically, I then Googled how to write a project proposal and used the advice I found to make it more professional.
The evening was a bit of a social occasion, with some drinks and a lot of talking and laughter. Everyone was so friendly, and apparently they all found us friendly as well, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere where everyone felt welcome.
In the morning, there was an option of going out for a very early drive to Sanipalli watershed area, but as I have been so often and I'd had a late night, I didn't go this time. Alex didn't get much choice though - the trip was meant to have taken place the previous evening, and Alex volunteered himself as the person who could show them where to go and how to get there. When discussions continued on too long and enthusiastically, and the trip was postponed until 6.30am the next day, I finally felt quite grateful for Alex's self-promotion!
Day 2 of the conference began with Alex giving a presentation about his idea for what he calls eco-tourism, although I think the concept might be better described as sustainable cultural tourism. Although the establishment of such programs would require a lot of investment, and would not be without their negative effects, it is definitely an idea that could be made to work if the right people could get involved to drive the program. Alex's presentation was good, and a key thing that was put across in both the presentation and the discussion afterwards - which I was able to also help with a little bit - was to make people see how valuable this area could be for tourism. Many local people here, because they live here and work here and see it as ordinary and without mass development and specific tourist attractions, think that no tourists would want to come. They don't realise that this is precisely why many tourists would want to come. With Alex's presentation, and both of us defending and clarifying the idea and offering different perspectives, people at the meeting were able to see a great potential for offering tourist services in the future on a locally-controlled social enterprise basis.
We broke into more discussion groups for the rest of the morning, and then got together for a final summing up at the end, which included me being able to recruit some people to help with specific elements of my program idea.
The board had a brief meeting afterwards, and I used this time to talk with the people who I hoped would be involved with my plan and to make sure that they understood my idea and had an opportunity to contribute any perspectives or ideas that they felt were relevant.
Before lunch I was able to discuss my idea in detail with the chairman of the board, who confirmed he was happy for me to submit my proposal. He also said that he was keen for me to produce a model that would be replicable for countries other than Australia, and also for use with Indian elite schools.
I was feeling very positive about my idea by now, and even Manil seemed enthusiastic about it too!
After lunch, the conference attendees started drifting away to get back to the city ready for Monday. All except one board member left, and as this person had brought Romila and Vidhi the Bhoomi students, plus another person called Priya, with him, then they were stuck here until he felt recovered enough to drive (he may have been a little too social the night before 😉).
There is a pool at the SEDS farm, which has been empty and grubby whenever I've seen it. But apparently the hostel boys who live here had cleaned it up the other day, and it was partly filled. Manil sent me to ask the boys to turn on the water to fill it some more, and suggested we all go swimming. So Romila, Vidhi, and Priya; Rashna and Rashna's Alex, student Alex, and myself all got changed into different clothes to go in the pool. Some people were able to borrow some actual swimming clothes, and those of us who couldn't just found some shorts and tshirts to wear.
It was a great way to cool off after the stifling heat of sitting in the conference earlier, and a perfect way to end a very positive-feeling weekend.
Preparation for this weekend has been going on for a few days now, and throughout the whole weekend the amount of work done by Manil, Manni, and the female fieldworkers plus the regular domestic staff has been incredible. They have cleaned and cooked and brought tea and coffee, and done an amazing job of looking after so many people - all without the aid of sophisticated technology and using labour-intensive food preparation and cleaning techniques.
People started arriving on Saturday morning, and as well as SEDS board members who we have heard about from Manil, there were invited guests as well to broaden the minds and imaginations available to think strategy. Romila and Vidhi were both students at Bhoomi college in Bangalore, studying organic farming methods. Romila, in her 30s, has studied marine science in the past and worked as a scuba diving instructor. Vidhi, in her 20s, has previously worked as a teacher, and she was really interested to come with me and see the school here. I took them for a visit, and as I chatted a bit with Vidhi about my ideas for the school and for fundraising for the education fund, she sounded really enthusiastic about helping to make the Ananda Vidyalayam school's part in the program into educational projects for the children. I thought this sounded like a really excellent idea, as it draws more value from the one program.
The V20 conference itself started with a video of the work of SEDS that was created for the 30th anniversary several years ago. We had a discussion about how much has changed again since then, and it gave all of the people new to SEDS a great chance to get to know the organisation.
We had some different brainstorming sessions during the day, and I had the chance to present a brief summary of my program design, which I have called Primary school Partnership Program (PPP). This is a fundraising scheme which exchanges cultural learning materials for fundraising, within a model that is based on foundations of relationships, reciprocity, and sustainability. I received some really great feedback for my idea from several people, and I was invited to submit a project proposal to the board of directors.
After the first day finished, I finished writing up my project proposal for PPP ready for the next day. I wasn't really sure how to do this, and after doing my best to just present it logically, I then Googled how to write a project proposal and used the advice I found to make it more professional.
The evening was a bit of a social occasion, with some drinks and a lot of talking and laughter. Everyone was so friendly, and apparently they all found us friendly as well, which made for a very relaxed atmosphere where everyone felt welcome.
In the morning, there was an option of going out for a very early drive to Sanipalli watershed area, but as I have been so often and I'd had a late night, I didn't go this time. Alex didn't get much choice though - the trip was meant to have taken place the previous evening, and Alex volunteered himself as the person who could show them where to go and how to get there. When discussions continued on too long and enthusiastically, and the trip was postponed until 6.30am the next day, I finally felt quite grateful for Alex's self-promotion!
Day 2 of the conference began with Alex giving a presentation about his idea for what he calls eco-tourism, although I think the concept might be better described as sustainable cultural tourism. Although the establishment of such programs would require a lot of investment, and would not be without their negative effects, it is definitely an idea that could be made to work if the right people could get involved to drive the program. Alex's presentation was good, and a key thing that was put across in both the presentation and the discussion afterwards - which I was able to also help with a little bit - was to make people see how valuable this area could be for tourism. Many local people here, because they live here and work here and see it as ordinary and without mass development and specific tourist attractions, think that no tourists would want to come. They don't realise that this is precisely why many tourists would want to come. With Alex's presentation, and both of us defending and clarifying the idea and offering different perspectives, people at the meeting were able to see a great potential for offering tourist services in the future on a locally-controlled social enterprise basis.
We broke into more discussion groups for the rest of the morning, and then got together for a final summing up at the end, which included me being able to recruit some people to help with specific elements of my program idea.
The board had a brief meeting afterwards, and I used this time to talk with the people who I hoped would be involved with my plan and to make sure that they understood my idea and had an opportunity to contribute any perspectives or ideas that they felt were relevant.
Before lunch I was able to discuss my idea in detail with the chairman of the board, who confirmed he was happy for me to submit my proposal. He also said that he was keen for me to produce a model that would be replicable for countries other than Australia, and also for use with Indian elite schools.
I was feeling very positive about my idea by now, and even Manil seemed enthusiastic about it too!
After lunch, the conference attendees started drifting away to get back to the city ready for Monday. All except one board member left, and as this person had brought Romila and Vidhi the Bhoomi students, plus another person called Priya, with him, then they were stuck here until he felt recovered enough to drive (he may have been a little too social the night before 😉).
There is a pool at the SEDS farm, which has been empty and grubby whenever I've seen it. But apparently the hostel boys who live here had cleaned it up the other day, and it was partly filled. Manil sent me to ask the boys to turn on the water to fill it some more, and suggested we all go swimming. So Romila, Vidhi, and Priya; Rashna and Rashna's Alex, student Alex, and myself all got changed into different clothes to go in the pool. Some people were able to borrow some actual swimming clothes, and those of us who couldn't just found some shorts and tshirts to wear.
It was a great way to cool off after the stifling heat of sitting in the conference earlier, and a perfect way to end a very positive-feeling weekend.
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