SPM Trust

About Us

SPM (Sustainable Prosperity Mission) Trust, is founded on the belief that it is possible to achieve a good quality of life, eradicate poverty in the third world and usher in sustainable development. It is not necessary to embrace modern polluting technologies to achieve economic growth. By effectively combining modern science, with traditional knowledge and wisdom it is possible to co-create a new world, which is environmentally sustainable, socially just and culturally enriching, a world which can secure and ensure a good quality of life to all inhabitants of this plant, human and non-human.

In pursuit of the above mission the SPM Trust is focused on two core areas of intervention:

Human Development
Sustainable Development

"The programme strategy of the Trust is to invest in training and capacity building"

Human Development: The Institute for Holistic Learning

SPM Trust has instituted the The Institute for Holistic Learning (IHL) to promote learning and development. IHL provides skill development and training based on the concept of “Holistic education”. Holistic Education seeks to engage all aspects of the learner, including mind, body, and spirit. It is based on philosophy that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections they can establish, each in their own way. Each person has a path to walk and story to create. This is embedded in their connections with their community, to the natural world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace.

Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning, gives attention to experiential learning, and places significance on "relationships and primary human values within the learning environment". Holistic learning advocates that each person also has a unique learning style which must be discovered and nurtured.

CLC

Conversations on Life and Career (CLC)

A Programme for Career Planning, Development, Work-Life Balance and Overall Personal Development.

To actualize the concept of Holistic Learning in a training programme, IHL offers a training programme called “Conversations on Life and Career” (CLC). This programme is based on the concept that a person’s profession plays a key role in growth and development of individuals. Depending on the socialization process, and the resulting perspective and personality a person has developed, s/he pursues varying life paths to fulfil his/her life needs. The choice of occupation and career is central to this process of need fulfilment. Since the process of socialization among rural youth, especially from deprived communities, is weak and inadequate to make an informed and meaningful choice with regards to occupation and career the CLC programme facilitates the process of enhancing the maturity of the individual by enabling them to reflect upon life experiences (both real and simulated) and also making then aware of the concept of ‘life cycle’ and the importance of this concept in career choice.

Through a process expression, reflection, analysis and synthesis of their own thoughts, feelings and experiences and youth are facilitated to develop a positive and balanced perspective which will help them to evolve a mature personality. This process leads youth to reflect upon on their own ideas and evolve their own process of making an informed and meaningful choice regarding occupation and career. The methodology adopted in this workshop is referred to as ARISE (Activating Reflection and Imagination through Stories and Exchange). CLC is administered in a workshop mode, and this provides an opportunity to participants to put themselves into various real-life situations that they may encounter as adults and respond to the situation and express their action/reaction through artistic forms such as dramatics and story-telling. The ARISE method is a psycho-social process, in which the peer group is very active. The ARISE method draws from the likes of Participatory Learning, Experiential Learning and Appreciative Inquiry methods.

LEAD

Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development: Leadership through Effectual Actions and Decisions (LEAD)

A Programme for Career Planning, Development, Work-Life Balance and Overall Personal Development.

The LEAD program is based on the theory of ‘effectuation’ developed by Prof. Saras Sarswathy (Paul M. Hammaker Professor in Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Jamuna Raghavan Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore).

Effectuation is a way of thinking that serves entrepreneurs in the processes of opportunity identification and new venture creation. Effectuation includes a set of decision-making principles expert entrepreneurs are observed to employ in situations of uncertainty. Situations of uncertainty are situations in which the future is unpredictable, goals are not clearly known and there is no independent environment that serves as the ultimate selection mechanism. The LEAD program is delivered through custom designed workshop for a given set of target audience. This program is also be made available to existing entrepreneurs who wish to adopt the ‘effectual’ way to thinking to grow their enterprises.

Skill Development

Skill Development for Sustainable Social and Economic Development

IHL works in the following sectors in skill development offering vocational training. Generally, the training programmes are based on the syllabus prescribed by the Sector Skill Councils (SSC) regulated by the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET):

Agriculture

Training courses offered in this sector include Organic Farming, Green House Cultivation, Water Conservation, Drip Irrigation, Horticulture and Agroforestry, including Bamboo Farming.

Bamboo Construction

Training courses offered in this sector include Bamboo selection and harvesting, treatment and preservation, design of bamboo structures and furniture, joinery techniques, finishing and polishing, packing and transportation, site-based project management.

In both the above sectors, SPM TRUST collaborates with ECOSYS a sustainable technology firm for incorporating training on its proprietary technologies in water conservation, drip irrigation, bamboo construction and organic farming, in the above training programmes.

Tourism and Hospitality

The focus of training in this sector is primarily in the areas of developing and managing rural agro-tourism and eco-tourism. The local youth are identified and skilled to evolve tourism experiences and package tours around unique natural, historical and cultural assets that are integral to their village community. Skill development and orientation includes aspects of effective communication, logistics planning and execution, customer service and story-telling. Integrating sustainable construction and homestead organic farming into developing unique homestay experiences is an important area for SPM Trust.

Leadership

Ramchandra (Ram) Kowligi

Chairman SPM Trust, Proprietor ECOSYS and Honorary Director, Institute for Holistic Learning.

Ram is the founder of SPM Trust and ECOSYS. Ram has 30 years of work experience spanning the Social Development and Corporate sectors. He is a skilled and passionate trainer. He has worked on various projects related to skill development, entrepreneurship development and livelihood promotion. He has worked with various types of organizations, such as Research and Academic Institutions, Government Organizations, Corporate Companies and NGOs. His core competencies include Conceptualization and Design of Programmes related to Education, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship, Implementation, Evaluation, Team Management to ensure delivery of Business Plans and Networking for Partnership Development. He holds a post-graduate in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He graduated in Computer Science (BSc) from University of Pune and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) for Pune University. Ram has worked with leading companies which includes Apollo Hospitals, Narayana Healthcare, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, Canara Bank, as well taught at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He has designed and executed many research projects and published reports and manuals on Administration of Training Institutes. He has managed skill development and placement projects directly and indirectly reaching out to more than 1 Lakh youth. At IHL, Ram leads the team of Faculty and Administrators, with inputs from the Advisory Council along with Subject Matter Experts to design and deliver the training programmes.

Amit Asnikar

Treasurer SPM Trust, Honorary Deputy Director, Institute for Holistic Learning

Amit is working in rural development sector in areas of livelihoods enhancement, skill development, employment generation and market creation for rural poor, for more than 17 years. My experience includes Business Development for Renewable energy-based domestic cooking devices and fuels in the rural markets. I am passionately working and striving for Enterprise Development in Rural Sector. Amit is Chemical Engineer and holds a master’s degree in environmental science and Post Graduate Diploma Marketing Management. Amit is an entrepreneur and owns and operates Gramunnati a social enterprise dedicated to fostering rural entrepreneurship.

Kamini Jha

Secretary SPM Trust, Deputy Director, Honorary Institute for Holistic Learning

Kamini is currently working as Manager Training at Apollo Medskills Limited, Delhi. She is a passionate trainer and has more than 10 years of professional experience. She holds a master’s degree in Biochemistry and MBA with specialization in Human Resource Management. She has been very active in the training and skill development sector and has served in the state of Bihar and Jharkhand in eastern India.

Contact

Location:

Registered Office: #66, 6th Main, 3rd Cross, Saraswathipuram Mysuru, Karnataka, India 570 009.

Email:

ramchandrakowligi@gmail.com

Call:

+91 90043 91619