Mukti Organizes First Training program for Kolkata Foundation “Shahoshini” Program

The Shahoshini program is a Kolkata Foundation initiative, currently implemented by Mukti under the joint guidance of a team from the Kolkata Foundation, Swayam, and Mukti. Mukti conducted a two-day training program on 3^rd and 4^th of February in association with “Swayam” for “Sahosini” team members. 33 Sahosini members participated in the session. Swati di and Triparna were the trainers from Swayam who conducted the training session.

The objective of these sessions was to develop peer bonding, objective setting and basic perspective building on Shahoshini’s responsibility.

 

Day 1:

The members were asked to pair up with another member of the group. The partners were then asked to exchange their personal stories with one another. However, the women were seen to be hesitant in sharing their personal stories in front of others, and hence, the peer bonding session didn’t go as well as expected. The session was not engaging for the participants.

In the second half, women shared their expectations regarding the Shahoshini project from their personal points of view. Many points were brought up by the participants, and they showed a lot of interest in learning learn the primary objectives of the project, the working methods, and the tools needed for fieldwork. They also wanted to know more about gender-based violence and discrimination, early child marriage, alcohol addiction, etc. The Swayam team considered all the feedback for finalizing the primary objective of the project. 

Day 2

 Swayam conducted a group exercise to illustrate the diversity in the group to the members. The Shahoshini team may have appeared to be a homogenous group, but through this exercise, the women started identifying the diversity of the personal experiences, thoughts, and values of the members. This session was really interesting and engaging for all the participants. At the end of this activity, the women understood the importance of performing this exercise.

As a second exercise, an outcome statement (objective setting) was developed based on the previous day’s feedback regarding the expectations from the project.

The 3rd exercise of the day was “problem identification and prioritization”. It was done through group discussion. All group members actively participated and made a list of different issues faced by the women in local areas. They presented the issues with proper justification with the support of team Swayam. After listing all the issues, they were prioritized through a vote. Finally, the group themselves identified, with support from the facilitators, the required pillars to achieve the desired outcome of creating a discrimination-free society for women. The program ended with sharing of feedback.