50 cm rain in a few hours in several locations. Reservoirs received huge water inflows, beyond their capacity. Thousands have been displaced. Some deaths too. People did not have food for 48 hours and more. Across two Telugu states, including Hyderabad, and Vijayawada cities. Drainage systems are not adequate for these heavy rains. Natural water retention areas are less, lost in due course of time due to rapid urbanization. Climate change is accentuating the situation. Badly, significantly, and with accelerated pace.
Onto work since graduation from NIT Warangal in 1985. Starting work with RVR & JCOP College of Engineering as a Teacher, work journey included: IRMA; Dairy Board; IRMA; Girijan Coop; NTGCF/FES; OUTREACH; Akshara Livelihoods; Naandi Foundation; SERP (united AP); Independent Development-Livelihoods Management-Leadership Support; National Rural Livelihoods Mission NRLM (GoI, UNDP); APCNF/IGGAARL (RySS, APF). Intense experience in Government(s) at various levels and outside – communities, civil society, and support-philanthropy organizations.
Livelihoods-Poverty Reduction-Development of Poor, Vulnerable and Marginalized domain has taken most of the time, energy, experience, and expertise. While providing visioning, strategy, and planning, organization design/structuring/architecture, systems inputs as ‘lead’, learnt from an extensive spectrum of 100+ organizations – community at various levels, civil society cutting edge to international, state, national, support, philanthropy, and bilateral-multilateral. Projects, Programmes, and Missions included. Project designs, project implementation plans PIPs, community investment, community operational manuals COMs, frameworks for poverty reduction, and livelihood projects. Across several states, and at national level. Involved in Livelihoods assessments, scoping and way forward planning, apart from baseline, mid-term, impact assessments and end evaluations. As a practitioner-academic, facilitated learning and mentored: 100,000+ Livelihoods support, Development practitioners, community animators; 1,000+ organizations, enterprises; designed curriculums, courses, and served on academic committees; developed and tested short-term, long-term learning programmes in Livelihoods Management – 6-month, one-year, and two-year; facilitated short-term learning, management, and leadership programmes; led application of participatory processes in a variety of tribal, rural and urban contexts, farming-weaving-tribal communities.
In hindsight: apart from natural farming-living-livelihoods, the praxis contributions include: New Thinking and Practice in Livelihoods Domain – Integrated TRUE Livelihoods Framework, LEAP Processes, Portfolio, Communitization; Community Coordination Teams; Framework for implementation, NRLM, including working group report; Integrated community and natural products operations; Writeshop; Micro-macro, worms’ view – birds’ view; 7L; HFPLC.
Intelligence. Isn’t it more than IQ? To accept responsibilities to be useful to our communities, rather than me individually. Do we have this intelligence? Can we have higher ‘vibration’ than the earth? Generosity, gratitude, compassion, love et al cause very high vibrations. More than 4 times. Can we get the low vibration items out? Can we increase the sum total of ‘joy’ for all of us? Can we?
Yes, we can. If we coexist, if we let animators, facilitators, and collectives flow in tandem. In N? saahacharyayoga for 7L.
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