When do you stop being a newbie?

Credit:
The Partially Examined Life

In a week’s time, I will be completing my first quarter as a Field Manger at Dimagi. Given the myriad of things that I do as an FM, sometimes I feel like an old hand. And then there are times, when I ask questions about the simplest of tasks, like how to load multimedia for a CommCare app on a Java phone. When will I see that milestone that says ‘You are now exiting newbie zone’?

In these three months, I have travelled to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Three states were for work. Gujarat trip was to meet friends and utilise the ‘work from anywhere’ policy. I planned that just after my maiden field visit. Did the newness wash away in waters of river Narmada?

On that first visit, I experienced the joy of helping an elderly field worker, learn how to type on a smartphone. The process of teaching has deepened my well of patience but, I am yet to be as engaging or creative a trainer as I could be.

Entrepreneurship School by SSP

You read about my romp in Katgaon earlier. Let us now talk about why was I walking amidst the bhindi plants.

So I was in the field to capture a woman talking about organic farming, which in turn, was a part of the field visit to record the progress of E-school program. The Entreprenuership School is run by Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP). This project is being supported by a corporate donor via Samhita. The visit was part of the reporting services provided by Samhita.

SSP has been working with rural women since many years. During their interactions, they saw that though women were able to get loans through micro-finance and cooperative societies etc., they are unable to run a business profitably because of lack of relevant information.