[ALUMNI-INFO TEXT="
If there is one inspiration to draw from Master in Public Administration (MPA) 2019 alumni Vinod Kumar Pandey’s story, it’s this: memories from our childhood have the power to shape ideas. Dig deep into what mattered to you while growing up and you just may find the things that ignite your passion and give you a purpose in life.
For Vinod, this memory is linked to his 12-year-old self and the loss of an older cousin brother who worked as a migrant labourer. “My cousin went to work as a daily wage labourer to the state of Punjab from Bihar in India. In order to send more money home, he lived in poor conditions. This resulted in his death. Over the years, I saw many young boys from my state migrating to larger Indian cities without any proper information about jobs or the living conditions. I always wanted to find a way to improve things for them.”"][/ALUMNI-INFO]
Even as he was looking to do something about migrant labourers, Vinod quit his hotel management job with a prestigious hotel chain and started to work in the development sector. He worked with small not-for-profits or NGOs in the field in agriculture, livelihood and water management and then went on to work with large non-profits like Caritas India and Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India. “I worked as team lead for Corporate Social Responsibility projects of companies like Oracle, Accenture at CAF,” explains Vinod.
It was in late 2016, during one of his travels, that Vinod saw a queue at beverage outlet at the Bengaluru airport that sold tea. “This beverage shop is called Chai Point. When I saw the queue, it struck me how important such places are because they always attract customers. This is how the idea of setting up a Rozgar Dhaba as a not-for-profit came to me.”
Rozgar Dhaba is a ‘tea stall’ in rural pockets in the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which sells tea and acts as a centre of exchange of information on livelihoods and employment opportunities. Rozgar means employment and Dhaba means a place to eat or drink. Rozgar Dhaba outlets collect and display information from employers for local jobs and details of job seekers in the area. It also displays information on agriculture produce and government schemes. “Rozgar Dhaba works as a catalyst for information. Customers at the stall are charged only for tea. Information is free,” explains Vinod. Every Rozgar Dhaba, in addition to sharing and gathering information, sells five varieties of tea, offers photocopying services and Internet connectivity, and facilitates workshops on gender equality and government schemes. Currently, there are three Rozgar Dhabas running, with the first one opening doors in January 2018, the year Vinod headed to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) for his MPA.
People chatting at one of the Rozgar Dhaba outlets
As a member of the winning team that represented LKYSPP at the Open Seventeen Challenge—a Geneva Tsinghua Initiative to help young global innovators—Vinod is confident that he will set up at least 100 more Dhabas in the next five years.
Vinod at a Rozgar Dhaba outlet in India
Though Vinod runs a not-for-profit, he decided to enrol in the MPA program to understand how administrative systems work in different countries. “I wanted to learn how development connects NGOs to governments and people. In the not-for-profit sector, we work on grants. When the grant is over, our activities stop. Public policy, however, is about engaging the most important players, which is the government and the people, to ensure sustainability of development programs,” he says
Vinod chose LKYSPP because it has experienced faculty, offers a chance to study with change-makers from different parts of the world and is based in Singapore. The last factor was the key since Vinod’s non-profit was in early launch phase when he moved to Singapore in 2018. “Being able to visit India often from Singapore allowed me to work on my NGO. Besides, a good team, and technology helped me to manage the dual role,” he explains.
Learning from every part of Singapore. Vinod in a red t-shirt in the centre.
A year at LKYSPP has helped Vinod sharpen his Rozgar Dhaba idea. “MPA helped me bring academic rigor to the idea of Rozgar Dhaba. As a result, I have now presented this concept on academic platforms as a solution to the issue of migration and unemployment.” He also acknowledges the impact of professor Ashish Lall’s class on Economic Analysis, “which helped me to understand the importance of a model like Rozgar Dhaba especially in times of economic crisis, unemployment and low GDP” and professor Naomi Aoki’s Decentralization, Governance and Sustainable Development course which “helped me in understanding local governance and the need to link Rozgar Dhabas to Panchayats (village level government in India)”.
Vinod (second from right) with prof Naomi Aaoki at LKYSPP
[ALUMNI-QUOTES TEXT="While at LKYSPP, in September 2018, Vinod added Girls2Schools, a program for young girls who drop out of schools in villages because they must work at home. “The Girls2Schools program is essentially about creating self-help groups for teenage girls and give them space to get skill training and tech-literacy at the Rozgar Dhaba,” explains Vinod.
Vinod believes a huge benefit of studying at LKYSPP for those in the Asian not-for-profit scene, is that the school helps you build a large network with people from different countries and learn about policies from other Asian countries. “I met so many like-minded people from Myanmar, Bhutan, and Singapore. It was exciting to know that they all thought the idea of Rozgar Dhaba and Girls2Schools is easily replicable in other Asian countries,” explains Vinod."][/ALUMNI-QUOTES]
In order to realise his dream―to reach 10 million people in the next five years and to make Rozgar Dhabas a part of government policy at village level (as resource centre for livelihood information)―Vinod hopes that the LKYSPP India alumni will help by suggesting areas where new Rozgar Dhabas can be set up. “I also hope they help in connecting us to donors for support them too.”
If you are an early stage NGO founder Vinod has this advice for you: Don’t be in a rush to scale and make sure you build an empowered team.
Finally, if you are headed to LKYSPP, Vinod urges you to remember to “expand your learning zones. There is a lot to learn outside the class. Take as many electives as possible even if you just get to audit…Every class is worth attending.”