Hi, my name is Sunny. I am currently working as the Executive Intern for OBAT’s Executive Director, Immad Ahmed. It has been a great learning experience for me thus far and I am loving the new knowledge I am gaining about running a nonprofit. Since we are visiting several cities in Bangladesh, these days, I thought I would pen down my thoughts so I could share them with you.
The purpose of this trip was to train all our Project Officers, Staff and Think Tank members during February. We chalked up a schedule that included all the cities where OBAT’s offices were located. The training sessions would cover using google docs and sheets for information management as well as basic project management skills. They would be led by Mr. Immad Ahmed. Besides him and myself, our team included, Noor Hasan from OBAT Media Productions and Ms. Jameela Ali who is volunteering her time in the camps; she is visiting from the US. We are really happy that she has joined us and is helping out at our projects.
OBAT’s Think Tank members would also be receiving HCD (Human Centered Design) training and also training to conduct surveys in the camps in their cities. We plan to spend three days in each city. Our first stop would be in Syedpur:
Day 1 in Syedpur: After a long journey lasting eight hours, we arrived in Syedpur at 6 am on February 4th, 2017. Our training session for google docs started at 11 am. We were amazed that our staff had such a great thirst for knowledge and they learned with so much excitement and vigor. Immad Ahmed described the benefits and work value of Google Docs. The training was led by myself as Mr. Ahmed has already trained me extensively on this topic. He also gave HCD training to OBAT Think Tank members for three hours. The training was on redesigning the gift giving experience. While the training was going on, our team split in two groups. Ms. Ali and Noor Hasan went to visit the safe maternity program at Golahat and also visited our partner NGO, ISDCM’s office.
Day 2: After giving the training, we had to evaluate whether our staff was able to use what they had learnt, with ease. We conducted another session in which they themselves performed the tasks with a bit of guidance from us. After the training, we met with the OBAT Think Tank group and taught the students interviewing techniques for conducting the camp census survey.
Day 3: In the morning, our Think Tank group began their census survey in the camps. We divided them into two groups- one group conducted the survey in the morning and the second group conducted it in the evening. We also went to visit OBAT’s health clinic in Syedpur to observe and help develop their processes for maternal care. This way, we could extend help to more pregnant women with our current medical facilities. We also got an opportunity to visit some of the beneficiaries from our family assistance program in Syedpur.
With our work completed as planned, in Syedpur, we will be heading to Rangpur tomorrow morning.
Think Tank students conducting the survey in Golahat camp
Google docs training
Immad teaches sewing trainees how to measure profit and loss and market their products
Sunny, training over 70 students
Think Tank student talks to camp resident for survey