Voices of Wellbeing | Rajni BakshiVoices of Wellbeing | Rajni Bakshi

“Nonviolence is love in action”

Rajni Bakshi is a Mumbai-based author, speaker and founder of ‘Ahimsa Conversations’, an online platform for exploring the possibilities of nonviolence.

As speaker at The Wellbeing Summit of Social Change, she joins us to share the importance of nonviolent action for social change.

In this interview, she shares her belief that by making space for open dialogue and taking time to understand movements, we can collectively sustain more conscious and humane models of development.

Voices of Wellbeing | Mallika Dutt Voices of Wellbeing | Mallika Dutt

“Without the earth, we are nothing”

Mallika Dutt, founder, activist, social change leader and speaker at The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change, joins us to share how her process of healing in community, as well as being open to exploring many other healing modalities, led her to understand the importance of inner work.

Listen to Mallika’s story to find out why her work is now centered around inspiring leaders to remember their innate interconnectedness and transform their impact. In a world of division and isolation, she invites us to see our shared wellbeing with people and planet.

How can we embrace collaboration and cultivate a world where we can flourish and thrive together?

Madhavika Bajoria

AVPN

Singapore

Madhavika Bajoria joined AVPN in October 2021. Maddy brings significant experience in multi-sectoral partnerships, program management, and advocacy to advance knowledge and implementation in public health nutrition, gender equality and social protection. She previously served as the Global Policy & Engagement Manager and India Program Manager at Swiss-based think-tank Sight and Life. In this role, she led the creation of India’s first-ever platform, IMPAct4Nutrition, to engage the private sector in the government’s National Nutrition Mission. She was the architect of the platform’s growth to 200 companies actively investing in improving workplace nutrition for 10 million employees. IMPAct4Nutrition was awarded AVPN’s prestigious Constellations award in 2021. She also helped the Government of India gain multi-stakeholder buy-in for the implementation of large-scale staple food fortification, which is significantly reducing the burden of malnutrition in the country. Globally, she drove the introduction and scale-up of prenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation in 10+ low & middle-income countries and successfully led efforts to change WHO’s policies in support of maternal nutrition. Driven by a commitment to translating science into practice and policy, Maddy has presented at various international and regional fora and co-authored several publications on large-scale policy change and public-private partnerships. She has also worked with J-PAL, CARE and the ILO on catalyzing partnerships and policy change in a variety of sectors. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University, a BA in International Relations & Economics from Bryn Mawr College and a General Course diploma in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

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Failure Files x The Wellbeing ProjectFailure Files x The Wellbeing Project

Failure is a part of life, especially for those working on complex issues for social change. Yet, very few people talk about failure, the deep impact it has on individuals as well as those around them, and the life lessons that come from failing.
To break this silence, The Wellbeing Project is partnering with India Development Review (IDR).

The partnership with IDR will bring forth stories at the intersection of failure and well-being through IDR’s Failure Files, a multimedia initiative that seeks to normalise conversations around failure in the pursuit of social change.

We invite you to tune into the Failure Files podcast, to hear the inspiring stories of people who have failed forward. Listen to social entrepreneurs, a Dalit rights activist, and an Olympic gold medallist tell us about their failures, how it impacted both individual and collective well-being, and what the road to recovery and resilience looks like.

EPISODE 1

Having a dream is not enough | Vishal Talreja, Suchetha Bhat

In Part I of this conversation with IDR, Dream a Dream’s co-founder Vishal Talreja and CEO Suchetha Bhat share the story of the organisation’s implosion, Vishal’s burnout, and how owning up to failure was the first step in figuring out the way to build back up.

LISTEN ON – APPLE | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE

EPISODE 2

The road to recovery | Suchetha Bhat, Vishal Talreja

In Part II of this conversation, Dream a Dream CEO Suchetha Bhat and co-founder Vishal Talreja talk about what it took to rebuild an organisation in crisis, and how that led to discovering a new kind of leadership—one that the world needs more of.

LISTEN ON – APPLE | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE

EPISODE 3

Preparing for a marathon, not a sprint | Thenmozhi Soundararajan

What does self-care mean for those who are fighting systems of oppression and discrimination that are set up against them? On this episode, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and executive director of Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights organisation, talks about how systems of oppression affect well-being, what healing looks like for individuals and communities, and why failure is an opportunity to build power.

LISTEN ON – APPLE | SPOTIFY

ABOUT INDIA DEVELOPMENT REVIEW ABOUT INDIA DEVELOPMENT REVIEW

India Development Review (IDR) is Asia’s largest online media platform covering social change. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems.

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Nikhil Chopra’s participation in the Summit involves a residency period and a 2-day long performance, during which the artist will engage in both everyday actions, and the creation of a monumental drawing and atmospheric mise en scene.

Location: Aldama Fabre
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Date: June 2 – 3
Time: 10am – 10am CET. 24 hour performance

On the second day, the performance will incorporate Bilbao’s citizens and Summit attendees around a celebration of community and art. The paintings, drawings and other objects created along these actions are a residual component of the performance. Bending gender, shape and identity, India’s best known performance artist uses personal history to question nationhood and existentialism.

Born in Kolkata and based in Goa, Nikhil Chopra’s art focuses on performance. The body becomes a tool and canvas for art. He is best known for durational performances in which he takes on the persona of different characters, inspired by personal familial history and national, regional and colonial histories.

Nikhil Chopra has performed and exhibited his art before a global audience since the mid 2000s. His art has featured in gallery and institutional shows, art fairs, and other major art events worldwide. In the live performance “Lands, Waters, and Skies” (2019), the artist worked in the galleries of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for nine consecutive days, adopting various personae and critically engaging with the museum’s collection and its organizational principles.

ESPAÑOL

La participación de Nikhil Chopra en la Cumbre implica un periodo de residencia y una actuación de dos días de duración, durante la cual el artista realizará tanto acciones cotidianas como la creación de un dibujo monumental y una puesta en escena atmosférica.

En el segundo día, la presentación incorporará a los ciudadanos de Bilbao y a los asistentes a la Cumbre en torno a una celebración de la comunidad y el arte.Las pinturas, dibujos y otros objetos creados a lo largo de estas acciones son un componente residual de la actuación. Doblando el género, la forma y la identidad, el artista de performance más conocido de la India utiliza la historia personal para cuestionar la nación y el existencialismo.

Nacido en Calcuta y establecido en Goa, el arte de Nikhil Chopra se centra en la representación. El cuerpo se convierte en una herramienta y un lienzo para el arte. Es conocido por sus actuaciones de larga duración en las que adopta la personalidad de distintos personajes, inspirados en su historia familiar y en la nacional, regional y colonial.

Nikhil Chopra ha actuado y expuesto su arte ante un público mundial desde mediados de la década de 2000. Su arte ha aparecido en galerías y exposiciones institucionales, ferias de arte y otros importantes eventos artísticos en todo el mundo. En la obra en vivo “Lands, Waters, and Skies” (2019), el artista trabajó en las galerías del Museo Metropolitano de Arte durante nueve días consecutivos, adoptando varios personajes y comprometiéndose críticamente con la colección del museo y sus principios organizativos.

Filmed at the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and shown at The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change, Daniel’s Fog Dog follows the daily and nightly activities of a group of stray dogs that live in the school.

Location: Guggenheim Bilbao
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Date: June 1 – June 3

Time: 11am – 7pm

The building was designed by pioneering Bangladeshi architect Muzharul Islam (1923-2012) and is characterized by the organic relationship between its interior and the surrounding green urban spaces. The dogs’ daily existence connects with many presences and signs – students and guardians, birdcalls and car horns, broadcasts, and spiritual entities – which coexist more and less harmonically with one another. The film is an exploration of interdependencies and how our attitudes affect everyone else – as such, it is a vivid and compelling commentary on the interconnected nature of collective Wellbeing.

Born in Barcelona, Daniel Steegman lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. From drawing to film, passing through
sculpture, installation and landscape interventions, Daniel Steegmann Mangrane’s work questions our relationship to the environment and invites the viewer to be physically involved in his projections and displacements. His video pieces and installations engage with the imagination of the spectator and often traces the boundary where nature meets artifice.

Daniel’s recent solo shows include Dog Eye, Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, Germany (2020); A Leaf-Shaped Animal Draws The Hand, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2019); Ne voulais prendre ni forme, ni chair, ni matière, Institut d’Art Contemporain de Villeurbanne, Villeurbanne (2019). His work has been also featured at the group shows Liverpool Biennial (2021); Taipei Biennial (2020); Concrete Contemporary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2019).

ESPAÑOL

Filmada en el Instituto de Bellas Artes de Dhaka, Bangladés; Fog Dog de Daniel Steegmann Mangrané sigue las actividades diurnas y nocturnas de un grupo de perros callejeros que viven en la facultad.

El edificio fue diseñado por el pionero arquitecto bangladés Muzharul Islam (1923-2012) y se caracteriza por su orgánica relación entre su interior y los espacios verdes urbanos que lo rodean. La existencia diaria de los perros conecta con muchas presencias y señales (alumnos y guardianes, cantos de pájaros, bocinas de coches, emisiones y entidades espirituales) que coexisten más o menos armónicamente entre sí.

La película es una exploración de las interdependencias y como las actitudes afectan a todos los demás; como tal es un comentario vívido y convincente sobre la naturaleza interconectada del bienestar colectivo.

Nacido en Barcelona, Daniel Steegman vive y trabaja en Río de Janeiro. Desde dibujar, hasta filmar, pasando a través de esculturas e instalación e intervenciones paisajísticas, el trabajo de Daniel Steegmann Mangrane cuestiona nuestra relación con el ambiente e invita al espectador a estar envuelto físicamente en sus proyecciones y desplazamientos. Sus piezas de video e instalaciones conectan con la imaginación del espectador y traza la barrera donde la naturaleza se encuentra con el artificio.

Entre sus obras en solitario más recientes se encuentran: Dog Eye, Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, Alemania (2020); A Leaf-Shaped Animal Draws The Hand, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milán (2019); Ne voulais prendre ni forme, ni chair, ni matière, Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo de Villeurbanne, Villeurbanne (2019). Sus obras también ha sido publicadas en exhibiciones grupales: Liverpool Biennial (2021); Taipei Biennial (2020); Concrete Contemporary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zúrich (2019).

“TO REALIZE IT’S OK NOT TO CONTINUE AND TO TAKE SOME TIME AND BREATHE BEFORE CARRYING ON.” “TO REALIZE IT’S OK NOT TO CONTINUE AND TO TAKE SOME TIME AND BREATHE BEFORE CARRYING ON.”

``IT'S YOU AND ONLY YOU THAT CAN MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY.`` ``IT'S YOU AND ONLY YOU THAT CAN MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY.``

By Alice Gatignol

Cecilia Flores-Oebanda is the president and executive director of Visayan Forum, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation based in the Philippines. Visayan Forum focuses on promoting the development, welfare and rights of marginalised people to end human trafficking. Cecilia and Visayan, now called Voice for the Free, have trained more than 1000 collaborators in the work against human trafficking and have helped more than 60,000 victims.

The story of Cecilia is one of the accumulation of trauma, ignored for years, followed by an epiphany, a renaissance. She was about 15 years old when she became a youth leader in a politically unstable Philippines, governed by a president considered a tyrant. However, Cecilia was determined to fight. At the heart of the fight, groups were organised to tell stories about liberation theology, and eventually Cecilia became one of three female commanders of the guerilla movement. In the middle of all this violence, the news landed: Cecilia was pregnant with her first child. “It is difficult to be pregnant when you are a guerilla fighter in the mountains,” she shares. When Cecilia gave birth, she was forced to give up her child. To make the situation harder, this was when she was informed of her mother passing away. Losing all hope, Cecilia hit rock bottom, and lost herself in the process.

Life on the battlefield carried on, and before she knew it, Cecilia was pregnant with her second child. She reminisces solemnly about the day on the battlefield when her loyal assistant tried to protect her 8-month pregnant body in a hole he dug with his bare hands, in the midst of gun fires and screams. “He was still calling my name when he died.” Seconds later, Cecilia and other men were captured and put into prison. There, she started her family, giving birth to her second child. The family spent four years in prison. Upon her liberation, Cecilia decided to definitely close this chapter of fighting and violence.

By then, her family was in Manila, and every Saturday, Cecilia attended meetings at the University to discuss current ongoings in provinces, and what needed to be done. There was a recurring theme that alarmed them all: the missing children from various regions, who were said to have come to work in Manila. However, nobody knew where they were. Many of them were victims of prostitution, many girls were sold, raped and used. Cecilia’s focus turned to child protection, and her battle became a peaceful one; one for equality, justice and safety.

The Wellbeing Project enabled Cecilia to reflect upon herself: her life, her purpose, her sacrifices, and those of others. As a participant of the Inner Development Program, Cecilia raised and released the trauma that had locked up inside herself throughout the years, to mourn the pain, to listen to her sufferings. “I finally got to process what was going on in my life, for all these years; I had been like a headless chicken who continued to run and run and run…”

“The Wellbeing Project provided me a safe space where I could pause and reflect — a space where I was able to heal the wounds I have incurred throughout my life as a freedom fighter, an activist, a friend, a daughter and as a mother. Choosing to become a freedom fighter and advocating against slavery and human trafficking was a choice which gave me heavy weight to carry and endure. Wellbeing helped me reach closure and move past the previous chapters of my life. It gave me a deeper sense of humanity and liberated me from guilt and unnecessary stress that I have been dealing with. I was able to process my brokenness, trauma, pain, and loss. My time with Wellbeing has been a gift of a lifetime and I’m extremely grateful.”