Documentation is necessary

[Kaushalya Sumedh Agre]

Hello, I am Kaushalya Agre working in Avani organization as a media person for Gender Equality project. My job is to document the work done under the Gender Equality Project. Today I am going to share with you my experience on documentation. I am very proud that I am doing documentation work for Avani Organization.

I think any person or organization, the good work they do, if the work reaches the society, it inspires other people. Taking that inspiration, some more people can come forward to do the same good work. This can make a strong group of people who work well together. The new people joining the organization can understand the previous work of the organization, the success of the organization, the problems faced by the organization which can give a direction to their work. And one of the most important advantages of documentation is that we can receive funding to continue our work, you also know about it.

For the last 28 years, Avani Sanstha has been working for the poor, needy, deprived sections of the society. This includes women and children. Till date these women and children are constantly struggling to get their rights. Documentation of this work is very important because if we just keep doing the work, where exactly are we? Do we need to make some changes in our work to reach where we want to go? Documentation is very important to know that the work you are doing is going in the right direction. And I have got the responsibility of documentation work under the project of gender equality of Avani organization. I have slowly build my documentation skills. So today I can document Avani's work and I focus on process and result, it gives a very good presentation of the work done. An example of this is the work Avani has done in the past 3 years under the Gender Equality Project, which has changed many children and we have published a book of stories on it in January 2022.

I had no idea how to start, what to do? Actually, I don't go to the community everyday but my colleagues work in the community every day, so I was forced to go to the community to write the story of that work because it is not possible for me to write the story unless I meet the person. After one or 2 meetings with that person I find out the changes in that person. Now when my colleagues go to facilitate salt and there are some changes, it is very important to document it.

The changes that emerge from SALT process are very trans-formative but not seen easily. so I go to the community with my colleagues and meet people who have applied salt activity, talk to them, so I can understand. I present my work in stories and blogs. Listening directly to the community is far richer and it is easy for me to put it together and most importantly, it makes the other person feel like reading the blog. And people appreciate that thing. This gives me a lot of enthusiasm to work.

Sometimes you face a lot of difficulties while working, what solutions have you planned for the issues faced during facilitation. By documenting all these things, how the issues were resolved, we can modify our work in the future. I have supported my team to write 10 blogs in past 9 months. I learn what the kind of work they do, different types of people they meet and the challenges they face. This is what my team members say about the blogs.

When we write a blog, we recollect each detail of the SALT visit, it leaves a great impact on our mind. Then I start relating it to my life. When I am straying, it helps me get my life back on track. Those stories which we have written are easier to recall, they are like a flashback!- Imran

Koushalya helps us in writing the blogs. This document is forever, even if I leave the organisation. - Jayshree

So documentation is considered necessary for every organization. Also, every person should document the work he has done so that he and other people get inspiration and enthusiasm from it. Thank you…!