The COVID-19 pandemic is now a worldwide social, economic, and political crisis, but not everyone is affected in the same way, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Arnab Chakraborty, and Sourav Bag write.
The severity of COVID-19’s effect differs by race/ethnicity, age, and gender, and reports suggest that some women have been hit more than the others, with those who are also poor or disadvantaged in other ways experiencing the worst outcomes.
So how do the intersectional identities of women determine their experience of COVID-19, and how can qualitative researchers now continue to engage with research participants in remote communities to know if they are coping well? International travel restrictions prevent us from flying, and the lockdown in India rules out field visits, but there are other ways to do this.
Rapid Phone Appraisal (RPA) is a tool that allows researchers to investigate, from the perspective of intersectionality, how women are coping with the impacts of COVID-19 on their food security. In implementing RPA, we chose Chakadoba, one of the most remote villages in India, 44 kilometres from Bankura town, a district headquarters in West Bengal. We used the tool to ask women about their experience of COVID-19 and its impact on their lives and livelihoods.
The results of the study are still coming in, but a look at its methods can explain the usefulness of RPA to researchers who cannot visit their ‘field’ but still need data.
Rapid appraisals have a long history of application in social science research, and the RPA draws on participatory rural appraisal (PRA) –a range of approaches, methods and tools used by field researchers to encourage local communities to analyse and assess diverse local conditions. Development researcher Robert Chambers drew on his 1980 concept of Rapid Rural Appraisal to popularise PRA in the early 1990s.
Source: Agriculture World
Founded in 1983, PRADAN has been at the forefront of innovations in rural development and has played a significant role in the design and implementation improvement of major rural development programmes. Given the deep deprivation in rural pockets, particularly among tribal and vulnerable groups, we promote sustainable livelihoods, integrated with work on issues of Gender, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Climate Change, Skilling and Governance. We currently work across 8 states, reaching out to 2.8 million households in collaboration with more than 100 NGO partners. PRADAN is an equal opportunity organisation. To learn more, please visit us at: www.pradan.net.
As an Executive (Communications), the incumbent is supposed to be a knowledgeable, self-motivated and passionate individual with a creative bent of mind. The major focus area would be to promote and help flourish the practice of reflective writing and process documentation. The role involves content generation, curation, presentation and publication of articles for internal forums and external agencies including mainstream media. The person will also be responsible for organising training events for the same. Creating and implementing the media strategy to showcase PRADAN’s successes and challenges will be another key aspect of the position.
The qualifying degree is a minimum of 16 years of education (A Master’s degree in English literature, or any other social science stream).
A degree or diploma in Mass Communication from a reputed institute is preferred
Nature of Engagement: Regular position with a probation period of six months.
Remuneration: Based on qualification and experience the CTC would be in the range of INR 8 to 10 lakhs per annum. The CTC includes basic pay and other allowances. Apart from this, provision of deferred benefits such as PF, Gratuity, NPS, Insurance (Term life insurance, hospitalization insurance for self and dependents and accident insurance policy) are provided.
Place of posting: In PRADAN locations (possibly district town or state capital)
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Those shortlisted will be invited to a selection process in Noida, tentatively in the first week of September 2024.
PRADAN is an equal opportunity employer. Women candidates are encouraged to apply.
Interested candidates with the relevant background and fulfilling the eligibility criteria are visit our website https://www.pradan.net/join-us/#careers and fill the ‘Application for Executive (Communications)’.Applications close by August 31, 2024.