Alternative Energy Sector

Bask OD Workshop: Governance in Electricity, Equity in Energy Jaipur (February 2023)
In collaboration with Bask Research Foundation

In February 2023, the Barefoot Academy team was invited to conduct a 3-day workshop for the functionaries of the Bask Research Foundation, a pioneering organisation focussing on energy governance and just transition. Bask works at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and capacity-building with communities, civil, society, and the government of Rajasthan. Hence, the focus of the workshop was to develop a critical understanding of the energy sector in Rajasthan, as well as help participants gain clarity on their motivations for joining Bask and continuing in the sector in the future.

The workshop began with an activity that slowly led the participants into a self-reflective space where they could pause and get in touch with their feelings. Participants expressed how moved they were in hearing about each other’s struggles and motivations for working in a niche sector as part of a pioneering organisation. Afterwards, participants were introduced to the 3D (Dignity-Development-Democracy) framework to critically Bask’s work in the culture, geography and political economy of Rajasthan on the one hand, and the larger solar industry emerging across India on the other.

From there, participants role-played a public hearing with the Panchayat and the District Collector in the context of village land being acquired by an MNC for a large-scale solar project. After some heated exchanges, the participants were shocked at how intense and real the simulation became, just because they enacted the roles and perspectives of each stakeholder from their actual caste/class positions in society. They realised the myriad complexities and challenges that lay ahead of a pioneering organisation wanting to not only democratise access to clean energy for marginalised communities but also secure dignified livelihoods for them.

As an Organisational Development (OD) intervention, this workshop enabled the Bask team to reflect on their roles in the organisation as well as get in tune with the vision of the founders. Coming out of the workshop, participants felt more aligned in terms of their personal, and professional aspirations, in addition to expressing a desire to continue engaging with critical issues in the sector.