a meeting, a field trip and a grand opening

I realize now that I have been in Bhilai for over four months (my, how time flies!) and haven't written a single entry about work. This my attempt to summarize what has happened in the past 4 months...

So, what do I do? Well, the formal definition...as an AIF fellow placed in Bhilai, my goal is to build the capacity of the regional NGO, BMSS, and help them reach the goal of training and placing 1000 underpriviledged dropout youth in jobs within the service sector in the next 2 years.

What I think this really means that I am supposed to act as their second official employee (the other employee is my mentor's nephew. No, not the 18 year old...although he is the official "email checker...") and help with the day to day of the training center-- mobilization of the youth in villages and slums (aka going door to door and convincing highschool dropouts to get off their butts and come to our center and make something of their lives, all in Hindi, mind you), talking with Business mentors to find job , practicing spoken English with the kids and being the official photographer of the center.

Sounds simple, right? Wrong.

Let me start from the beginning and try to keep this entry under a million words. Basically, my NGO (BMSS) is the regional implementing partner on a livelihood project. They are working with CAP Foundation (based in Hyderabad) and are funded by AIF (kind of my second NGO, sort of confusing, I know). So, these three NGO's are supposedly working together to run this project aimed at helping the urban poor in Bhilai and the village folk in Raipur (the "big city" aka the capital of Chhattisgargh) get jobs and start livelihoods.

What seems like a fairly straightforward project is actually a poorly constructed project with conflict built directly into it (this we found out recently as I am also helping AIF out on a project looking at employability training centers across India and trying to figure out how to revamp their current funding strategy). BMSS and CAP Foundation DO NOT get along. CAP views itself as superior because it has many training centers all over the country and BMSS views itself as a knowing everything and anything about the area because they have been around for 25 years. The project was designed in this way so CAP foundation could teach BMSS about the livelihood sector and how to run a successful employability training center. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of setbacks because of all this drama and often I am viewed as the "mediator, from AIF." My mentor is also a very interesting character in that she doesn't feel like BMSS needs to do anything until CAP does their part completely...which is just ridiculous because in this project both NGO's have to equally support their weight (BMSS is in charge of mobilization and CAP in charge of training and placing students, you can't have one without the other). Also, we are here for the kids, right? After realizing that getting involved with internal politics wouldn't lead to anything (which was an interesting process itself), I have been taking a much more proactive (and slightly pushy) approach to helping out...

After many months and over a two dozen attempts, I was finally able to organize a meeting between BMSS (aka the only official employee, Shailesh) and Sanjay (the coordinator from CAP, who I may or may not have a slight crush on...yes, this is a conflict of interest). The meeting went suprisingly well...I even made an agenda and am currently preparing minutes of the meeting...I hope we can continue to this down the road so we can coordinate the many different parts of the project (mobilization, training, job placement) and make it more efficient, organized and timely (but at the same time realizing that this is India).

Around the same time, Sanjay organized a picnic for the students to a nearby Temple and park. I convinced him to wait till I came back from midpoint and the two of us, along with the rest of the faculty, accompanied about half of the students a field trip. Highlights included: a potluck lunch with freshly prepared food from a handful of really nice mothers, an impromptu dance party in the middle of the street and the 499 pictures I took...

And just a few days back, Shailesh and I were riding around Bhilai on his motorcycle searching for job availabities (note, this isn't part of BMSS's role...but you just can't stop Shailesh) and we happened to stop by a new hotel that was being built. Unfortunately, after speaking with the manager, we were told that all the positions had been filled. After some small talk, the manager realized that I was from America and immediately invited me to a grand opening party next week as a guest of honor.

Oh my! How the tables have turned. In one week, a meeting, a field trip and a grand opening...the ups and downs at the employability training center, eh?