Working with multiple partners in the ‘Making periods normal’ program can be challenging. A team will only be successful if all involved enjoy collaborating and share their knowledge for the shared goal.
Supporting individuals in becoming a team
Last week a team of Women on Wings experts worked in Bihar with 20 individuals that work with five different organizations, all involved in the ‘Making periods normal’ program. Experts Carolijn Michels and José van Aken were invited by Adrienne Jonquière-Breure, Program Manager Sanitary Pads at Women on Wings, to facilitate a two day workshop which would help the 20 individuals understand that working as one team will be more effective and will make the sanitary pads program more successful.
Getting to know the audience
Carolijn: “In order to get a good picture of the participants José and I first attended the second day of the ‘Making Periods Normal ’coordination meeting which was led and supported by Simavi and Women on Wings representing the Dutch partners involved. The Indian alliance was represented by Sewa Bharat, Restless Development, Dharma Life, Pratham and BVHA. The latter being the host of the venue in Patna, Bihar. This was really useful and we made some adjustments to our workshop for the next days.”
Collaborate and sharing knowledge
José: “The ultimate goal of the workshop was to create more trust and commitment amongst the partners so they would be more willing to collaborate and share knowledge during the remaining of the program. The first day we focused on personal and team behavior. By doing some interactive exercises they experienced that a team will be successful and achieve its goals if all members of the team work together. Especially the ‘card game‘ was a real eye opener for everybody and…. great fun! The purpose of the second day was to find out their individual team goals and how they could link them to achieve the common goal of the ‘Making periods normal’ program.”
Making periods normal program
This program is a partnership between Women on Wings and Dutch organizations Simavi and Rutgers, with financial support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. In India this program is executed with the before mentioned Indian partners.
