ICEVI West Asia

ICEVI and BPA conducted a 15 days Leadership Training Workshop from 15^th June to 30^th June, 2022 with the objectives of collectively discussing various issues pertaining to physical and mental health of women; developing basic soft skills such as communication, body language, etc. and understanding about contemporary technology; and sensitize participants about their basic rights as women and special rights as women with disabilities

20 women with visual impairment were from diverse backgrounds and so were their needs. However, the schedule was designed in a flexible manner so that need based changes could be made. The aim of the workshop was to make them ready to face the competition in the Global world. The focus of each session was to empower them so that they could fight against the discrimination based on gender and disability. Various sessions included importance of yoga, spoken English, learning basic computers, information technology, image building & grooming, health & hygiene, understanding various legislations on protection of their rights, effective communication and leadership.

They learnt the importance of good posture, soft skills and grooming for better acceptance in the society.  We saw a great transformation in our future leaders in terms of effective body language, voice projection, and communicating through technology. One of the participants said that, “We shared certain things here which we didn’t even share with our parents” and another participant of the workshop spontaneously responded that, “I learnt the things which no hostel could ever teach me”.

These responses show that the objective of the workshop is achieved. At the end of the workshop, participants suggested a few potential subjects for future Leadership Workshops. During the valedictory session, the participants said that they will motivate their friends and colleagues to register for future workshops. These are the following changes were observed in the participants at the end of the workshop:

• The participants became more interactive during the sessions. This made them active participants rather than passive listeners.
• Gradually, all the participants started to introduce themselves in interesting ways with confidence
• During interactive sessions their level of self-confidence was boosted
• Sessions on technology and assistive devices were successful in motivating participants to take challenging jobs and opt for independent living
• Initially few participants broke down in the session on stress management while sharing some displeasing experiences. However, they saw that others are also facing the similar issues and learned to manage their emotions
• They worked hard on their English communication and improvement was quite visible at end of workshop
• It was observed that they were aware about their dressing and can differentiate between formal and informal dressing
• Some of the participants had never danced in their life before. Here, they tried it for the first time and had an amazing experience.
• They had overcome their shyness by opening up and freely sharing their personal illness in the medical sessions.
• Majority of the participants had never entered in the kitchen and they were very excited in the cooking session where they learnt making chapatis s and other Indian basic recipes

Truly a very successful program ably coordinated by Kinnari Desai under the guidance of Nandini Rawal