IIM Ahmedabad to organise leadership programme for visually challenged women professionals

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) will be holding a leadership programme for visually challenged women professionals from April 25 to 27, 2023. The programme, 'leadership and strategic thinking for social sector' aims to give the participants an in-depth view of the diverse aspects of leadership in the social sector along with ways to enhance pedagogical innovation and towards building inclusive classrooms at IIMA.

The programme had 25 participants from various organisations in Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The event will include subjects ranging from strategic thinking for the social sector to governance and compliance issues in NGOs and financial literacy: issues challenges and opportunities to managing negotiations to leading self in the social sector among others.

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Keeping in mind the special requirements of the participants, IIMA faculty members will be making modifications in the course content and teaching to keep the teaching-learning process simple, student-friendly, and effective.

Speaking at the opening session of the special training programme, IIM Ahmedabad director Bharat Bhasker, said: “IIMA has taken an impressive lead in addressing social issues, particularly around inclusivity and disability. Through this programme, we are taking a crucial step to understand and mitigate the challenges faced by visually challenged women who aspire to take on leadership positions, an area where there is a significant under-representation. Overall, this initiative highlights IIMA's progressive vision and we are confident that the programme will go a long way in helping us contribute significantly to the creation of a more inclusive and equitable society.”

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Speaking about the objective and details of the programme, IIM professor Rajesh Chandwani said: “This programme stems from our observations from a one-day interactive workshop we had conducted last year with a group of visually challenged women. Based on our understanding, we have created this course, where we will not only help the participants get an in-depth view of the diverse aspects of leadership in the social sector but we will also learn ways to enhance our pedagogical innovation and towards building inclusive classrooms. We plan to engage in meaningful interactions with the participants during the program and develop policy briefs on these aspects.”