Amlesh, a field team member and program mobilizer in Head Held High’s East Cluster, talks about a key aspect of his work on the ground…
“I have been mobilizing for the Make India Capable program since 2019 – so it’s been about 1.5 years now with Head Held High. I have 14 years of prior experience in the social sector – largely with child protection and welfare organizations. Since I started working with Head Held High, I have been on the ground in various parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal.
My approach in mobilizing is to first win the trust and confidence of families by sitting down to talk to them first. I ask them about their lives, their daily challenges and needs. Slowly, they open up and start talking. Mobilizing for a batch takes time and persistence and is not always easy. Sometimes there’s a language barrier and then it becomes hard to communicate the benefits of the program. Other times the community may not be very receptive because of certain negative perception they have of organizations such as ours. Mobilizers have to work to overcome all of these barriers. On the positive side, I believe that HHH has a great program and very good trainers. I see children come out of the program with more self-confidence and new skills – they are really changed by the program. I also like that all of us on the ground try to support each other whenever we can. It’s real teamwork every day.”
