Development Immersion Programme for Management Students

One hundred and Twenty students belongs to Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM), Madurai have underwent nine days Immersion programme in The Dhan Academy, Madurai.

Corporate Social Responsibility and philanthropy support is coming in a big way to address the development issues of the nation. Advancing development agenda at large scale with sustainable development focus involving young and socially concerned professionals is need of the hour. The conventional management education has very limited scope in exposing the management students to the realities of the present rural and slum societies. Greater sensitisation towards poverty and gender issues among management/business professional is needed to shape the CSR objectives towards sustainable development.

In this context, DHAN Foundation has designed “Development Immersion Programme (DIP)” for the MBA/Business students of Management Schools. It is being organised and conducted through its Development Management Education institute “The Dhan Academy” since 2011 for the students of Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM), Madurai. The programme has created impact on more than 1000 management students of TSM getting sensitised towards socio-economic and poverty issues if rural and slum societies. The design of the DIP was evolved as a 10-day programme in 2011, which had gone through changes over a period and now it is stabilised as 9-day programme.

The guiding principles of the DIP design are (i) practitioners to facilitate learning; (ii) experiential learning; (iii) field stay and practice, and (iv) application of theory for relevance building. The experience with TSM has led to design programmes for students of Engineering College, Architect students etc. The design has been customised in such a way to offer similar experience to the young recruits of NABARD and other banking institutions.

Purpose

• Sensitise management students on poverty and development issues in rural and urban areas through experiential learning.

• Create opportunities for the students to connect “SELF” with the broader development issues in the society and propose feasible management solutions

Modules

• 1. Poverty and Livelihoods Development: Status, Challenges and Prospects at grassroots
  Poverty is a complex phenomenon coupled with shocks and vulnerabilities. Poverty is a transitory process and is a condition need to be understood from different stakeholders’ perspective including poor communities. The classroom sessions with interactive process would kindle thought process of the students to appreciate and empathize the poor for their poverty condition.

• 2. Experiencing village life with poor to understand the dynamics of poverty and relevance of different livelihoods activities in promoting quality of life Poverty is due to interconnectivity of different development and socio-economic issues. Inter relatedness of society is a web in rural India, in which poor are trapped as debtors and they do not have power to move out of poverty. Despite they contribute for the prosperity of India. Understanding interrelatedness makes sense in connecting oneself with rural society by listening to the voices of poor and observing the suppressive situation of vulnerable sections in the rural society. The three-day ‘Village Stay’ would provide immense opportunities for students to experience affective learning and establish meaningful connection with rural society

• 3. Social development for human dignity and self-esteem
  Understanding complications of social issues related to health, education, social security, gender relations, etc with human rights perspective to realise that living with dignity and self-respect is a right of the poor. The classroom sessions would enhance the knowledge on social dimension of poverty.