{"id":1290,"date":"2019-05-03T10:26:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T10:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/2020\/12\/23\/grassroots-leadership-six-things-we-learned-from-sujata-khandekar\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:23:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T15:53:49","slug":"grassroots-leadership-six-things-we-learned-from-sujata-khandekar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/grassroots-leadership-six-things-we-learned-from-sujata-khandekar\/","title":{"rendered":"Grassroots leadership: Six things we learnt from Sujata Khandekar"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>Sujata Khandekar who led Community of Resource Organisations or <a href=\"http:\/\/coroindia.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CORO<\/a>, an organisation at the forefront of grassroots leadership and activism, talks about how the process of empowerment unfolds within marginalised communities, and what it takes to be truly participatory.<\/p><p>Here&rsquo;s what we learnt from her about building grassroots leadership.<\/p><div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>1. Make your programme relevant to the people | <em>2.5 mins<\/em><\/strong><\/div><p>People will not actively and emotionally participate in an intervention unless it has relevance to their lives and their strengths.<strong><br>\n<\/strong><\/p><div class=\"idron-article-in-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\" id=\"idron-691859039\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/what-is-idr-answers\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png\" alt=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-300x60.png 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-1024x205.png 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-150x30.png 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-768x154.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on the importance of relevance\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vVR4suiWpHo?start=12&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>2. Leave your assumptions at the door | <em>1 min<\/em><\/strong><\/div><p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px;\">The notion that &lsquo;poor people are lazy and don&rsquo;t want to change&rsquo; is not true. They want to change but don&rsquo;t always know how. They need information and hand-holding. One just needs to give them tools and words, and suggest that using them might offer some respite.<\/span><\/p><p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on 'assumptions'\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KBd8RwOrTDk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>3. Remember: Solidarity is the biggest asset of marginalised people | <em>45 secs<\/em><\/strong><\/div><p>People gather courage by coming together. Collective risk is both possible and incredibly powerful because nobody is fighting alone. Individuals alone cannot make a difference, but together, they can.<\/p><p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on solidarity\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YeCDYwqDmFc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>4. Give people from the community positions of power | <em>1.5 mins<\/em><\/strong><\/div><p>The initiative for change has to come from &lsquo;within&rsquo; &ndash; within a person, and within the community. And the mental shift from being a victim to being a changemaker is crucial in the social change process. Enhancing the inner strength of a person or a community is more important than external or material support.<\/p><p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on giving people positions of power\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vt9juXoYVOY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>5. Trigger a sense of identity | <em>2 mins<\/em><\/strong><\/div><p>People accept the discrimination that comes along with their identity of being Dalit, Adivasi, or a woman, as fate. The realisation that it&rsquo;s all human-made and hence can be changed empowers them.<\/p><div>\n<p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on triggering a sense of identity\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dp-EwrIt-6c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"second-level-subheading\"><strong>6. Understand and be aware of your privilege | <em>2 mins<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<p>One either hates people living in low-income communities or pities their conditions, but there&rsquo;s never a sense of equality or connectedness with them. But working with communities will impact the way you perceive the world. It will teach you about human life, human nature, social structures, and social change.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Sujata Khandekar on being aware of our privileges\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7QZrSvXu_k0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>You can read more of our conversation with Sujata <a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/website-admin\/idr-interviews-sujata-khandekar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"idron-troublemakers-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\" id=\"idron-2059952362\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"donate banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg\" alt=\"donate banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-300x60.jpg 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-1024x205.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-150x30.jpg 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-768x154.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sujata Khandekar who led Community of Resource Organisations or CORO, an organisation at the forefront of grassroots leadership and activism, talks about how the process of empowerment unfolds within marginalised&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,582,24],"tags":[3645],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-1290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecosystem-development","category-instagram","category-social-justice","tag-grassroots-leadership","contributor-prakriti-singh","states-india","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grassroots leadership: Six lessons from Sujata Khandekar | IDR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From leaving your assumptions, to checking your own privilege\u2014important lessons for anyone 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