My first week of the internship project started with learning about Pradan, the area where I was posted and understanding the various interventions of Pradan. I had a lot of interaction with the staff of Pradan who took out time to address all my queries. This interaction gave a lot of insight into the problems faced by the villagers. The thing which I liked the most in these interactions was that they made me aware of certain aspects, where they were struggling and this made the interactions more interesting as it triggered my thought process to come up with solutions. I also got the opportunity to attend one of their regional meets to understand the progress they have made and their plans for the year ahead which made me feel important. I noticed in the first few days the dedication shown by each employee towards their work and the structured way in which they planned their activities. My stay was arranged with one of the staff and an efficient logistics was put in place to make my visits to the office and fields comfortable.
In the 2nd week, I started my village stay where I stayed with a joint family. The objective was to undertake the survey to find out the services required and also to understand the rural life and the hardships one faces. The experience I had during my stay is something I’ll remember forever. Apart from changing my lifestyle to suit the village life, I was able to shed some of my stereotypes. Here as part of my survey, I interacted with the SHG groups and undertook a door to door survey. As I did not speak Odiya, I had to depend on a ninth standard student to conduct my study and I had to schedule my activities based on his availability. I did an in depth analysis of the data which I obtained and prepared a good report. This work of mine was appreciated by my mentor and many from other teams. This gave me confidence and the morale boost to work even harder.
Following my village stay, I conducted a personnel interview of the people who would be involved in the consultancy farm to understand their core competencies. After this my mentor made it possible for me to meet few experts in the area of agriculture and explore the services which the consultancy farm should provide. Later, I was sent to Gumla in Jharkhand to understand the business of the poultry cooperative and Agri- Horticulture cooperative which were successfully running and had been set up with the assistance of Pradan. My objective was to study their business and come up with a business model for the consultancy farm, enlisting the activities it would undertake.
By this time it had already been 5 weeks and a sharing session with teams in other areas was arranged. This gave the opportunity to interact with interns from other institutes and understand their project and their approach. It also gave an opportunity to interact with people who were working with Pradan for more than a decade. One of the best parts of my internship was the interactions I had with the employees. On the field visits which my mentor accompanied me, we discussed the problems of the areas in depth. We explored some probable solutions and this made the interaction really interesting and fruitful. I had the opportunity to interact with 4 team coordinators apart from my mentor and these were some of the best interactions I had. It gave a lot of insight in doing my study.
During my internship period I also regularly visited the local markets and interacted with the local traders to understand some of the challenges in marketing. In the final weeks, I was completely immersed in my project and developed a good analysis. It was found that the entity is feasible. I was appreciated for my work and I was asked to stay connected with the organisation. As I did not find the normal career path taken by most of the people working with Pradan feasible, my mentor expressed his willingness to give me a good recommendation and asked me to stay in touch with the HR department to explore other options of engagement like an external consultant, domain expert, etc. I was really happy to get such an offer as I had an inclination to work in the development sector.
I enjoyed working with Pradan as the people were always receptive to my ideas and gave me the autonomy to explore and go deeper to understand the problems in depth. In the two months of my internship period, I got a chance to be part of a team which came together even after the working hours to enjoy a movie, a short trip or a dinner. I never felt alone staying in this remote place and always felt that I was part of the place. Such was the atmosphere created by the team, which made it possible for me to give my best. It was an experience I will cherish forever. Even as I write this experience I feel nostalgic about the field visits I made, travelling through the beautiful landscape, discussing some issues on my way with the colleagues I accompanied and reaching a remote location with lots of hope and enthusiasm to do something worthwhile.
(Photo: A visit to the Cashew fields to collect its fruit. Seen in the picture along with me in Tapu, 9th standard student who assisted me in the survey)
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