Orientation
Orientation is an intensive program designed to prepare Indicorps fellows to start the journey towards effective leadership and towards becoming agents of change in the Indian context. It is NOT designed to provide you with technical training on specific development issues.
The month-long program includes practical training for approaching communities, an introduction to Indicorps’ distinctive participatory development approach, an educational speaker series, fieldwork experience, team-building, and a strong experiential emphasis on what it means to live your message. The highly structured, super-intense orientation program is a chance for fellows to address their own identity, test their personal boundaries, and empower themselves to take on the world.
Academic training during orientation may covers issues such as history of India, governance, health, education, liberalization, globalization, and the economics of development. In the absence of effective "as-a-second-language teachers," Indicorps will encourage independent study and activity based language learning to build basic competencies in reading, writing, and a project-specific vocabulary.
Guest speakers that have helped train our fellows through relatively informal interactive sessions during past orientation programs have included: Anna Hazare, Sudarshan Iyengar, Nirmala Deshpande, Harsh Mander, Sushma Iyengar, Verghese Kurien, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, Tarun Das, Balakrishna Doshi, George Fernandes, and Ishwarbhai Patel.
Orientation also actively fosters a group dynamic that allows participants to build their own peer community, interactively explore their own identity, and collectively understand their relationship with India.
Indicorps seeks to create an open environment that encourages reflection, individual transparency and accountability, and a collective sense of pride and passion for service. By design, orientation is a difficult, but rewarding experience that prepares fellows for the mental and physical challenges they are likely to encounter during their projects. Orientation also helps to build a secure community where fellows and staff can share vulnerabilities, discuss difficulties, and propose solutions throughout the fellowship year. Indicorps has found that its orientation enables fellows to be maximally effective in their respective projects.
A typical day at the Orientation Program:
6:00 am Morning session
6:30-7:15 Cleaning/kitchen duty
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Community Activity followed by reflection/discussion
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Language Class (1-2 hours)
4:00 pm Session related to India’s development, service, or leadership
6:00 pm Team-building activity
7:00 pm Dinner
8:00 pm Discussion or reflection
Indicorps will issue each fellow a compact disc (CD) on developmental topics as background material that may be of use at the project site.
In recent years, the Indicorps orientation has also included:
a) a competitive “Amazing Race”–like activity to help fellows build confidence in their language skills, their ability to use local transportation, and manage everyday tasks in India.
b) a 5-day trek through remote tribal villages in northern Maharashtra, which included overnight stays in local villagers’ homes, activities with village children, and participation in routine village life.
c) a 3-day trip with Magic Bus, a local NGO, where the fellows worked together to plan and implement a recreational camping trip for underprivileged children (none of whom spoke English.)
d) flood relief work in Ramapir No Tekro (across from the Gandhi Ashram)
Please note that the orientation is a 24-hours-a-day/7-days-per-week commitment. Phone access is extremely limited and Internet facilities will likely NOT be available at the orientation site. Please be prepared for a physically hectic and mentally rigorous schedule for the duration of orientation (think “bootcamp” :)).
