BUILDING LEADERSHIP

Details

• 1977 - 1989 with various Companies, marketing engineering products and Computers. The last 3 years of this period were spent with Computer Point (a retail store), as Training Manager.

•  1989 - 1997 at various educational institutions (Rajghat Besant School - Benares, Welham Boy's School - Dehradun, Sanjeevan Vidyalaya - Panchgani), setting up Learning Resources Centers, and A Rural Center for Educational Studies & Development Programs, as a Project Manager. The work involved organising activities for children and adults in the outdoors, trekking, workshops with teachers in the areas of Value Education, Communication Skills, and Personal development through the outdoors.

• July 1996 - visited UK to attend an International Conference on Development Training beyond 2000. Trained at Brathay Hall Trust and Outward Bound, in technical skills and Facilitation techniques, working along with their Trainers on Corporate and Youth training courses.

• April 1997 to 2000 - Established my own Campsite at Panchgani (Maharashtra), working with groups from the Corporate and Education sector.

• 2000 - Started the Play for Peace program in India, after visiting their presentation at the AEE conference in Nov 1999.

• Trained at Project Adventure Inc., USA in the fine art of Facilitating Experiential Learning Programs.

• April 2000 – Established Challenge Opportunities as a Consultancy in Experiential Education and Adventure Programming to Corporations, Educational institutions and NGOs working with children.

• September 2002 – Appointed as Director - Global Field Operations for “Play for Peace”. Play for Peace is a not-for-profit organisation (registered in Chicago) that works with youth and children growing up in communities that are in conflict. My responsibility included traveling to USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, Middle East, and South Africa to offer training and support in Experiential Methodologies and gaming skills in the context of the Play for Peace model.

• 2003 - 2019: Presently at Pune, and I continue to work with Organisations, Schools Teachers & Children, and Communities, using the Experiential methodology.

• Co-facilitated Outdoor Management Programs for Corporations in the US and UK. Many of my colleagues from USA & UK have been here in India to work with me on my programs.

• I am consultant for India as part of a group of Global facilitators (Virtual TEAMWORKS) working with MNCs all over the world.

Other things – education related

• Guest Lecturer at The North Eastern University of Illinois in Chicago to speak to students of Experiential Education.

• I have been through an intense training program to enable the application of Non-Violent Communication to support resolving issues between people in organisations and communities. Conducted a workshop for teachers of the Chicago Teacher Center on applying NVC in the classroom.

• Have conducted workshops at the International and regional conferences of the Association for Experiential Education, USA. Topics included “Using Indian classical music to build teams”, “Peace building in communities”, “Role of the teacher in the Upanishads and Experiential education”.

• Took on a teaching assignment at a school (2008-09) applying experiential methodology in the classroom. Taught EVS to the 5th and Geography to 7th graders. The approach was designed around the value of discovery and exploration. Processes included peer teaching, project based learning, culminating in producing a tangible tool that would be useful to them and their school community.

• WIPRO used to run a program called Applying thought in Schools, designed to expand the teaching community’s perspective on how different tools could be used in the classroom. Ran a 2 day module on how experiences could be used as a powerful tool to build community, sensitivity and understanding in the classroom. About a 100 urban school teachers went through this program over 2 years.

• Coordinated a Youth Leadership program for the Global Youth Leadership Institute in Costa Rica (July 09). I am also on their Global Advisory Board.

• Started a 1-Year Diploma in Experiential Education and Practice (DEEP) in July 2011 designed for Teachers and Outdoor Educators, with the support of The Kaveri Group of Institutes, Pune. The course offers 150 hrs contact time between July and March. The design includes 4 days in the wilderness, introducing them to aspects of Adventure and Outdoor education. Extended the program to Bangalore in 2015 & 2018, Delhi in 2016 and Mumbai in 2017. There are more than 400 DEEPers adding value to the field of Experiential Education in India.

• Started a 4-day intense program - A Certificate in Experiential Education and Practice (CEEP) for teachers and educators. Designed to offer a quick-view in to the field of Experiential Education, we have run 12 such programs across larger cities of India such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. The intent was to take some of the guiding principles of Experiential and Adventure Education as shared by educators such as John Dewey, Kurt Hahn, Simon Priest, Laurie Frank, Karl Rohnke and other contemporary practitioners to educators in India. Over the 5 years that this program has been active, about 300 participants have been through it. Some of the 4-day programs were designed around these themes:

• Curriculum: What principles can we apply while designing workbooks for teachers who do not know why or how reflection is an important part of the learning process? How do we design activities around subject matter?

• Ropes Courses: How to present the ropes-course as a challenge to groups – and design the experience to be inter-dependent, rather than an individual exercise. Aspects of physical and emotional safety to be considered by instructors while working with groups.

• Facilitation skills: Making experiences more meaningful. Aspects of processing – why, When and How? Asking questions. Levels of Processing: Group, inter and intra-personal.

• Activities: Using various props – Ropes, Tapes, Strings, balloons, planks and blocks. Build and Do activities. Thematic design. Prop-less gaming. Designing activities with outcomes in mind.

• Large Groups: How to design for, and manage and keep large groups involved and engaged through activities and gaming.

Passions, interests and desires

• Carpentry. Woodcarving. Of all the kinesthetic things I do, I find this the hardest. Every chip is a spatial struggle! Only the hope of creating a masterpiece keeps me chipping away.

• I think the visual medium is a powerful tool. It affects me very deeply, and I use a lot of clips from popular movies and TED talks to get a point across.

• To see a community of practicing Trainers and educators more savvy with experiential skills, creating more exciting classrooms and experiences for their audiences.