Shailesh Nagar (PFM 1995-97) has around 24 years of experience in the development sector spanning thematic areas of natural resource management, climate change, rural livelihoods, local governance, gender, child rights, and health. Shailesh spent the first decade of his professional life managing and implementing large-scale NRM projects across different states. Later he immersed himself in utilizing his ground experience in advising/ consulting on programme design, implementation support, Monitoring & Evaluation, and conducting research. Besides PFM from IIFM, Shailesh has an MPhil in Environment, Society and Development from the University of Cambridge. He is currently leading NRM vertical in NRMC (a subsidiary of Intellecap).
FB: https://www.facebook.com/nagars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailesh75/
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. I believe that your context shapes your understanding of the world, views and attitudes and therefore everyone probably is limited by their contexts. To expand, you have to explore different contexts, go out, do things, fail, succeed and continue. IIFM was MY door to the larger world and to expand myself. I still remember the moment when I was walking from the main gate of IIFM to its Administrative building in March 1995. It was during that desolate walk around rocky outgrowth and upcoming trees that I decided that this is the place I would like to be.
At the time of placements at IIFM, I was not very particular about what job I would choose, so when I got selected for Foundation for Ecological Security (at that time it was National Tree Growers’ Cooperative Federation), I was happy. I had specifically asked the organization to place me in Munsiari, Uttarakhand where our senior (K Ramnarayan) was already working. In fact, it was Ram’s placement talk, which inspired me to join there.
FES’ work in Munsiari, though, was not a piece of cake. In fact, it was the opposite of that. We were working with Van Panchayats and Tree Growers’ Cooperative in Gori river valley from the originating glacier to where the river joins another. It took me time to adjust to the place and work. I was managing work on social, economic and ecological aspects in a particular sub-valley directly working with communities. The work required daily grind of walking up and down the mountain slopes for work around community mobilization and governance, soil & water conservation, afforestation, conflict resolution, livelihood activities etc.
After working with FES in different geographies at different levels, I opted for further studies and got enrolled at the Cambridge University for doing my MPhil. My time at Cambridge was probably the best time where I could reflect on my experience and get more clarity and a better perspective on different aspects of my work. My MPhil culminated in a thesis on Biofuel policy in India which was later published as a book chapter. I think people who are in their mid-careers should go for such a break, if they can. After my MPhil, I joined NRMC at a time when there were only three employees. Through its ups and downs (well mostly up), I have seen and contributed to the growth of the organization where it is today.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/ learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. Many milestones that I can remember –
- Walking 16 km off-road alone in the dead of night in mountains with a 35 kg load, an umbrella in one hand and a torch in another taught me the limits to which I can go physically.
- Establishing a project on the ground from the start and helping it grow taught me that ups and downs are part of the process and success would require contributions from each member of the team. I truly believe in the Ubuntu saying the “I am because of who we all are”.
- Getting a Chevening scholarship to study at Cambridge taught me perseverance. I was unsuccessful for two years but in the third year, I got two full scholarships (Shell-Chevening and Commonwealth).
- Contributing to making my organization a top private sector organization in NRM domain.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. The most satisfying part is that I am working across various domains of a sector where my heart is, where I can travel to unknown locations, meet with people from different strata and geographies, try and understand the world around me, contribute to society and also get paid for doing that. A perfect IKIGAI for me. Also, during my journey from IIFM till now, I have dabbled in aspects like designing of projects, grass-root implementation and support, research and evaluations and policy work across the development sector. I have met, argued and made friendship with people who hold similar or antagonistic views to mine. I have experienced success as well as failures in the projects that I did. All this has been the cause of my satisfaction. Also, all of this has provided me with a unique perspective that helps me to understand empathetically.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. While I would give credit for where I am and shaping my thinking to all the faculty members who taught me, I would especially like to mention Prof. Krishna Kumar and Prof. C S Rathore with whom I did my OTs (now called Internship) and I think those experiences and interactions shaped my professional thinking to a greater degree.
While there is a role for specialization and now a day’s ultra-specialization, I am more of a multi-sectoral person. I believe that future needs will require people with broad thinking and multiple skill-sets. People who can think from different perspectives and can wear different hats depending on the requirement. The future challenges are going to be more complex and therefore my advice is to be open to life-long learning, have the humility to accept not knowing everything and doing your best in the field your heart lies. Go for IKIGAI.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. There are numerous memories associated with IIFM. The first memory that I have is of umpteen cobra snakelets on the sitting place adjacent to the Library. Another is of a month-long fieldwork to Kerala for which I and my batchmate Nelson travelled from Bhopal to Trivandrum on the floor of the train coach without reservation. During that fieldwork, we also participated in the annual forest sports meet and our football team (which we fought to get included in the contingent) got trounced by some 10-15 goals in the first match. Before IIFM, I had not played formal cricket, but in my first formal cricket match (between faculty and students at IIFM), I opened and was not out for the match. I started opening in any formal match after that. Another is the Holi cocktail dhamaal with seniors first in the moat and later in front of Silver Fir which would continue till late in the night.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, and alumni. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. I think it was an amazing combination of field (we used to have one field component and two organizational trainings) and classroom teaching which provided the best exposure to the sector that I was about to embark on. We always (at least during my time and till sometime later) were thinking the course in terms of Management or Forestry, but I think it was the unique combination of it which made me what I am both personally and professionally.
Q. The best friends / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. There was such a great bonding within our batch, with our immediate seniors and our immediate juniors that it is difficult to pick best friends. But yes, as a Silver Firian, I feel closer to Suneel Padale, Devesh Sharma and Rohit Jindal. During placements, parties were the norm and on one such night, a few of my batchmates got stung by scorpions. They were moved to a hospital for normal treatment. One of them who was on saline, asked the nurse to remove the saline and replace it with a bottle of Old Monk. I am sure such incidences happen now a days as well at IIFM.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. There are two aspects of work that I deal with on daily basis. Execution and Business Development. The execution part is the projects/ assignments that we already have that require my involvement either as a lead or as an expert. Business development requires more reading, networking, ideation, strategizing, internal meetings etc. Usually, there are periods when one or the other takes more time but overall its half the time for each aspect.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add?
A. I am kind of an explorer, so would like to get involved in new things, travel, read, etc. Covid has impacted my travelling a bit. Normally, weekends are time to be spent with family, watching movies, going to relatives and eating out.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors.
A. Favorites change with time and mood. But what comes first to my mind are the following:
- Books – Raag Darbari, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Thinking in Systems, India After Gandhi, Tale of dueling neurosurgeons, and many more.
- Movies – Guide, Andaz Apna Apna, Matrix, and Sholay and many more from all kinds of cinema.
- Authors – Shrilal Shukla, Amitav Ghosh, Ram Guha, Daniel Kahnemann etc.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. I would surely like to engage in whatever way I can to help IIFM. For students, I am open to discussing their career choices and in whatever way I can help them to bring clarity in their thinking. IIFM alumni group holds a lot of promise, especially in the current scenario. IIFMites coming together to develop ideas, organizations, processes etc is something I think we can do together.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. One of the major aspects of IIFM that strikes me now is the strength of the batch. We were 21 students in our batch and similar numbers for seniors and juniors. The increase in batch strength and related requirements in infrastructure has probably led to construction at IIFM which I do not think is in line with the architecture IIFM was once proud of. However, this strength also increases the number of IIFMites in the sector, more so now when discourse around sustainability is picking up steam.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. PFM 95-97 – Suneel Padale, Amita Bhaduri, Mukul Trivedi.