Introduction: Entering Educo and a New Phase of Life (2021)

I came to know Dr. Vasudeva Sharma when I joined Educo India in 2021. The year 2021 was important for India as it was marked by

the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive, the landmark repeal of contentious farm laws after massive protests, significant political events like the Bengal elections and cabinet reshuffle, and increased global engagement through UN Security Council membership, alongside Olympics success and economic focus on self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) amidst the pandemic’s recovery. It was also important for me and a turning point in

my life like any other development professional, as I had decided to leave Delhi after spending almost a decade. When I received the offer from Educo, I left Railway Children India after serving a 30-day notice period and joined Educo.

In Educo, I was given the responsibilities of managing three partnerships – in Karnataka, Odisha, and the Night School Program in Mumbai. My induction at Educo was very systematically planned and executed by the People and Culture function of Educo. As part of my introduction to local partner organisations, I came to know about Dr. Vasudeva Sharma and Child Rights Trust (CRT) from my line manager. My line manager said that Dr. Vasudeva Sharma is the Trustee and Executive Director of CRT, and till August 2021 I had only been hearing about him. I finally met him during my program support visit, which was planned from 16th–20th August 2021.

My First Meeting with Dr. Sharma (August 2021) and Journey to Ballari

On 16th August 2021, when I arrived at the Child Rights Trust office, there was an introductory meeting with the CRT team, and during this meeting I had a very long conversation with Dr. Vasudeva Sharma. During this conversation, we discussed the plan for a field visit to Ballary district, which happens to be the field area of CRT, and on the same day in the evening I travelled with him along with two teams by train to Ballary. Though all our tickets were booked in the same train, due to last-minute upgradation of seats and berths, we had to travel in different compartments. Just before boarding the train, Vasu sir gave me two folded blankets—one for me and another for my line manager—and said, “You guys are travelling in an AC Coach and I know you are not carrying a blanket; please keep it, it will protect you from the cold.” He also added that due to COVID protocol, blankets were not available in AC coaches. During that time, I came to know about his caring and very sensitive attitude towards his colleagues.

Field Visit to Kampli and Kuragodu

On 17th August 2021 early morning, we reached Ballary and our field visit had been planned to Kampli and Kuragodu with the Field Facilitator to different gram panchayats to understand how Child  Rights  Gram  Panchayats

function in Karnataka. As part of the visits, meetings had been planned with Gram Panchayat members, government officers/frontline workers, NGO workers, and with children’s clubs. During the field visit, Dr. Vasudeva Sharma divided his team equally into two vehicles, and while going he himself travelled with my line manager.  While returning from the visit, he reshuffled the entire team and joined the car in which I was travelling. I was a mute spectator to the entire process. Later, I realized that he was consciously doing this so that all his team members feel they are important to him and to ensure he spends his time equally among his team members. At the same time, he also ensured he paid equal importance to me and my line manager. Generally, people pay attention considering hierarchical position and powers, but Dr. Sharma is different; he treats people equally irrespective of their power and position, which makes him different from the rest.

Deep Conversations and Insights on Child Participation

During my return journey from Kampli field to the hotel, we discussed a number of social and development issues apart from child participation that India is grappling with today. During my brief conversation, I could imagine the command and control that Dr. Sharma has on different social issues. His understanding of child participation in government and governance is unfathomable. During this discussion, I learned about his passion for seeing children at all levels of decision-making, starting from the family to policy making. That may be the reason he wanted to build the agency of children through his work so that their voices are heard and their concerns addressed through adoption of child-friendly policies and legislation. He challenged the often-spoken adage in society that “children are the future” and argued that children are the present and that each child is unique and so are their needs and demands̤̤ This shows his vision for building a children-led society where children play an important role in decision-making and governance.