Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA)
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie is a premier training institution for the civil services in India. It is an attached office of the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.
It conducts a common Foundation Course for entrants to the All India Services; Indian Foreign Service; Group ‘A’ services of the Union and the Royal Bhutan Service followed by professional training for the regular recruits of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and members of the Royal Bhutan Service. The Academy also conducts in-service and Mid-Career Training Programs (MCTPs) for members of the IAS and Induction Training Program for officers promoted to the IAS from State Civil Services.
For four consecutive years, starting from 2019, Ekjut has been invited to facilitate sessions on participatory approaches as part of their curriculum on ‘field study and research program’. Following four plenary sessions that elaborates the background of participation, parallel hand-on sessions in groups of 14-16 are conducted for the officer trainees by Ekjut team in Mussoorie.
The Antara Foundation (TAF – The Antara Foundation | Leading Indian NGO | Non Profits in India for maternal and child health)
ANTARA is a national CSO working primarily on improving health through service side intervention in Indian states. Its work in Rajasthan, known as AAA (ASHA, AWW and ANM) approach is known for improving the capacity of frontline health service providers in their efforts to improve health of women and children. Through collaboration with government and support agencies, the learning from Rajasthan (2015-2019) is being scaled up in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
The organization felt that their connect with the rural population through community mobilization could improve the effect of their intervention as experienced in Rajasthan if Ekjut’s work on PLA was integrated into their program.
Ekjut currently is extending support to Antara to integrate PLA in the program that is being rolled out in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. Our Collaboration includes –
A) Designing MNH focused PLA for the geography (starting from 1 block and then scale based on the experience)
B) Training core Antara Team and project team on concept, process and methodology of PLA
C) Training implementation team to conduct PLA meetings while ensuring quality and coverage
D) Providing inputs in designing an evaluation
E) Extending support in strategizing scale up through government collaboration.
Azim Premji University
The Master of Public Health program of Azim Premji University encompasses participation/ engagement of students and learning from communities as significant components of the pedagogical approach. With the idea of experiential learning in mind, when a new university was being set up in Bhopal, the management decided to hold a workshop on participatory methods in community health for public health faculty at the Azim Premji University. In this situation, Ekjut colleagues were invited to conduct sessions on community engagement methods and techniques in the spirit of ‘doing it yourself’ for the faculty that would enable better facilitation and learning for their Master students in the public health space.
This session for 2 days was held in Bengaluru in May of 2023.
The American India Foundation Trust (AIFT)
The American India Foundation Trust (AIFT), is committed to disrupting poverty, catalyzing social and economic change in India, and building a lasting bridge between the United States and India through high-impact interventions in education, livelihoods, public health, and leadership development, with a particular emphasis on empowering girls and women to achieve gender equity. Working closely with local communities, AIF partners with NGOs to develop and test innovative solutions and with governments to create and scale sustainable impact.
To engage the services of the NGO Partners, AIFT engaged Ekjut as a knowledge partner to facilitate and train AIF’s MANSI program through by providing technical support for capacity building on Nutrition for mothers and children – content development, training of the Master Trainers and evaluate the change in awareness/ knowledge levels of the trainers. With an initial in-person training of senior personnel from the partner organizations, team Ekjut provided online sessions for them over the course of one year.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
Guest lectures virtually for the class of Community Engagement for Health – TISS Mumbai- III Sem HE (2020-2022) batch (August 30, 2021 & September 6, 2021)
It offered a unique opportunity for students to gain insights into the intricacies and the impact of community engagement using the principles of Participatory Learning and Action on issues that affect mothers and children in rural and underserved communities.
The broader discussion points included Ekjut work, Impact and evidence, Scaling and Advocacy Strategies, which provided a firsthand experience for the students about working in the tribal region and created an enabling environment for them to think creatively in their future endeavors.
