Mentorship Series: 30 minutes spent with Mr. Ujwal Thakar!
March has started with a bang for the entire team at Sanjhi Sikhiya, with exciting interactions with our mentors, meetings with the Secretary of the Education Department and the opportunity to showcase our work at a premier business school!
The PYLP team participated at the ISB Impact Forum on 7th March 2020 in Mohali, organised by the Net Impact Club of the institution. An opportunity for non-profits to showcase their work and participate in interesting panel discussions and networking circles, the day truly was an eye-opener for all of us. The program team and YLs were lucky to get the chance to meet and spend time with Mr. Ujwal Thakar, ex-CEO of Pratham and a pioneer and mentor to many organisations in the social sector, who was also a keynote speaker at the event. On his visit to the stall put up by PYLP, he interacted with our YLs, understanding the work they do on the field and what their experience has been in the journey of transforming Punjab. The YLs excitedly shared stories of what they have seen on the ground, fielding questions asked by sir who was keen to engage with the Young Leaders and prod them in the direction of sharing with him what their vision was for the work they do and for Punjab. The YLs were able to engage with sir to understand his experiences in education better, asking questions about Pratham and how to effectively collect and use data from the field, which will further help them in their cluster level intervention.
Not wanting to miss out on such a great opportunity, the team also presented to him the work being done by the Education Collective at the state level with the Department of Education, Punjab. An engaging conversation ensued, where we took him through our learnings and observations from the last few months and discussed in detail what our plans were with the department over the next year. He patiently sat through the entire presentation, asking difficult questions that helped us align our thoughts with the objective and goal of the entire program. In true Ujwal sir style, his questions guided us to think of the bigger picture of what we wanted to achieve, directing us to think of the scale at which we were working- the entire state of Punjab. What got created for us was a platform to share learnings and ideas with him, and the opportunity to get advice on our next steps.
Thank you sir, for not only graciously engaging with the entire team but also for sharing your learnings and insights, for asking us tough questions that helped keep the big picture at the center. The 30 odd minutes spent with you has truly helped us learn so much, and to think forward and keep marching on!
