Sylvester Nzene, 2008 iLEAP International Fellow (CAMEROON)

Because of my participation in the iLEAP International Fellowship, I have developed an understanding of the importance of conscious reflection on attitudes, identity, beliefs and experiences of other people. Also my sensitivity for the concern of people from different socio-cultural backgrounds has been broadened, which is a major step forward. I now believe that it is great to live an easy life of joy and satisfaction and worthwhile sharing with my community back home in Cameroon.  I can do this by continuing to live this way for the rest of my life and encouraging people, both in my organization and the community at large. The general view of community growth, therefore, shall be when people submerge their individuality into collective realities. I have equally gained a better mastering of the process of organizational development with co-creative leadership module focusing sustainability.

It is my hope to restructure the philosophy of our organization, especially concerning the leadership, management and sustainability. The iLEAP process and concept of its training program, which is geared towards community formation and sustainable development, has equipped me with the tools that I will use for a new approach. I have raised my awareness of the value of environmentally sustainable resource, management systems and acquired the practical skills involved in maintaining such systems. Also my appreciation for the value of equal participation in planning and working in the community has been raised.

Further more, the acquisition of community organizing skills and the understanding of systems helpful in community organizing efforts will be a push towards the realization of my dream, our dream. The acquisition of knowledge and the ability to analyze of information about the existing economic, socio-cultural and political situation of different societies shall be an added advantage in the realization of my future plan. Finally a raised appreciation for indigenous knowledge and exposure to the operation of iLEAP’s network will have a long-term effect in my human resource development efforts.  All of these points together, will help me to be more capable of creating a positive impact on the development policy of our organization and our target communities.

Shammi David, 2008 iLEAP International Fellow (INDIA)

This training has improved my skills and sharpened my thoughts on education and how best I can help the students of adivasi tribal/indigenous groups and other poor children to continue their studies.  As such I plan to develop an informal curriculum for the tribal students whom we are facilitating for their formal education apart from convincing the students and their respective families on the importance of formal education, and helping them to continue the process. The girl children will be given priority in these programmatic involvements. The analytical comparative insights between the US and my country, have given me a new direction in my social involvements. This means basically to promote and facilitate a ‘ pro-poor and pro-environment agro-productive system’ that primarily focus on the family / community ‘food security’. I understand now facilitating such a process as the ‘pinnacle’ of a sustained development process. Such an intervention, of course involves a lot of re-education with the grass-root communities in the Indian context, and a lot of pragmatic facilitations.

There is a saying in India. “Mother is the first Teacher and Home is the first school”. So, what ever I have learned, whatever capacities I possess, I am vowed to apply them at the grass-roots level, beginning with each and every deserving families.

Ram Raj Pokhrel, 2008 iLEAP International Fellow (NEPAL)

Rural leaders are undoubtedly the foundation to evoke and empower proper vision into overall development of their community. This means that they should be well informed of the best practices and approaches in problem solving and management. To bring about a change, there should be much thought to it. The iLEAP Fellowship program, which focuses on personal capacity and skill building training programs and is based on rigorous interaction among people from similar community backgrounds, can certainly help rural leaders in gaining insight into their problems. Furthermore, the Fellowship provides a strong platform to develop lateral thinking skills and help to improvise/devise upon efficient and applicable approaches in problem solving. The iLEAP International Fellowship program helps rural leaders to have a better understanding of civil society. The program is focused towards professional skill building and creative problem solving skills and there is a great dynamism in the program as it is designed to foster critical and authentic dialogue between organizations from urban and rural backgrounds. In addition service learning, as another key aspect of the program, provides a detailed view of the urban organization's working system, approach, strategy, program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This gives a complete cyclic view in organizational development management and definitely helps the participant as well as the sending organization in adopting optimal practices and approaches in organizational management. Finally, the most important thing for the rural leaders is to understand and adopt the most scientific and informed approaches and I believe that the Fellowship definitely entertains this concern. This learning should then be best judged to assess feasibility and sustainability in their communities.