How SRIJAN uses immersions as part of its recruitment process (PLA 57)

Immersions can have a huge impact on individual people. While this impact can be powerful and highly intense, it remains limited to those directly involved and to their immediate professional and personal contacts. This section moves us on from the individual perspective to explore how a range of organisations are using immersions for different purposes. This is the second of four articles in this section on staff selection, training and orientation.

Here, Raj Kumar with Haridarkee describe how SRIJAN (Self-Reliant Initiative through Joint Action) in India arranges an overnight stay in a village for its prospective employees as a way of assessing their commitment to working in a rural environment. Once appointed, a two-week stay in a village during their orientation helps to deepen their understanding of rural life.

Guest editors: Izzy Birch, Raffaella Catani with Robert Chambers.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory learning and action approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board.