Are good intentions enough to create social impact? In today’s episode, Itishree Behera reflects on her year as part of a social change fellowship during which she was placed at a school in rural Uttar Pradesh. She shares how she joined the programme so focused on changing the way things were done at the school that she failed to consider the perspectives of one of its most important stakeholders—the teachers. This idea that she knew what the school needed better than the people working there eventually led to the failure of her project.
Itishree Behera is a student of applied psychology and is passionate about applying theory to practice. She has worked as an adolescent counsellor and is interested in adolescent health and behaviour. In 2018, as part of the India Fellow Social Leadership Program, she served as a career counsellor with the Milaan Foundation at their school in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district. Currently, she works in the space of education and student counselling with the nonprofit ThinkZone in her home state of Odisha.
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The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org