News

The Indo-German Development Cooperation Project on “Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation” in India aims at providing technical support at the national level, and in selected partner states for effective implementation of human-wildlife conflict mitigation measures. In this regard, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) and GIZ had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for intensifying the training efforts on this issue. IGNFA is the apex training institution in India for imparting probationary and in-service trainings to the Indian Forest Service Officers, who are responsible for managing the forest resources as well as human-wildlife conflict in India.

In this context, a three-day ‘Leadership Training Module’ was organised jointly by IGNFA, GIZ, and Dale Carnegie, from January 4-6th, 2023 at the IGNFA campus for the 67 Indian Forest Service Probationary Officers of the 2021-23 batch. The training was inaugurated by Mr. Bivash Ranjan, Additional Director General of Forest (Wildlife), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, along with Mr. Sushil Kumar Awasthi, Additional Director, IGNFA.

The training aimed at enabling the probationers in outlining the concept of competencies and competencies development, especially the non-technical competencies, assessing their own leadership competencies and reflecting on how others perceive them; contextualising this for enhancing their on-the-job effectiveness; demonstrating the measures to enhance their leadership effectiveness; aligning their values & leadership styles to their goals; making their competency-development plans; and appreciating the need for their continuous self-efforts for getting future ready vis-à-vis human-wildlife conflict mitigation and other emerging issues in India.

The training was implemented using participatory training methods by three trainers- Dr. Neeraj Khera from GIZ, Mr. Pankaj Ahlawat and Mr. Amit Sadana from Dale Carnegie, with inputs from the faculty members from IGNFA- Mr. M. Sudhagar, Course Director, and Ms. Nidhi Shrivastava, Director (Academics) and Mr. Mukul Trivedi, Senior Professor. The valedictory address on Jan 6th was delivered by Mr. Bharat Jyoti, Director, IGNFA, where he applauded the results from the training and expressed his desire to implement other trainings using participatory training methods as well.

The training was successful in facilitating the participants in achieving all their learning outcomes. There was a visible shift in the competencies of the group of participants in the training assessment conducted before and post training.

Implementation of a follow-up session after 3 months has also been planned, where the participants will be facilitated in demonstrating their competencies in a simulated situation on human-wildlife conflict and other issues.

Link to further materials

Contact
Neeraj Khera — Project Manager & Team Leader
Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Project

Key buzzwords
Dale Carnegie, Indian Forest Service, leadership, competencies