Interview with Dharmavaram Sudhakar

Dharmavaram Sudhakar

1. Introduction about your job / career, define your career? 
Ans: Basically I am a professional social worker working for development sector since last 20 years

• Currently I am working for GMR Group in their CSR arm as the Program Leader, looking after the community services for the thrust areas viz. Education, Health, Livelihoods
• My career in development sector is quite unique as I had worked for tribal development, urban development, women empowerment, livelihoods, public health, research and CSR in different intervals and executed varied interventions

2. Qualification required for this job?
Ans: MSW and above (Any other, Pl. specify)
I did my PG in Social work and also done Graduation in Law as a value edition

3. Personal qualities / skills required for this job?
Ans:  Basically it requires proper attitude viz. commitment, professional competence, empathy, and dedication to support the needy / clientele

• In GMR group the employees led by a series of values and believe and constant trainings to have continuous learning.
• The career in development /CSR sector needs the skills viz. Facilitation, negotiation, advocacy, enabling, training, communication, conflict resolution, research skills & Multi stakeholders relationship management

4. Best aspects of this job?
Ans:  Serving the communities and win-win situation in CSR front & attaining sustainable development with ethical business.

5. Challenging aspects of this job?
Ans: Continuous conflicts may arise sometimes with project affected communities, driving them towards development stride it & building ownership

6. Your achievements?
Ans: Its several fronts in entire career; some of them could be :

• Nurturing the Best practices and scaling (replicating) in Nutrition sector for entire Andhra Pradesh
• Promoting livelihoods mandate in urban sector for 4 districts in Andhra Pradesh
• Wining the hearts of  around  50000 project affected communities in East Godavari district as part of present portfolio in GMRVF

7. Your secret of success in your career?
Ans:  Basically its commitment and dedication to work for the profession & attempting for sustainable interventions & much more thing is continuous learning.

8. Give us some interesting accounts of your academic /education days?
Ans:  I received gold medal in SSC, stood III rank in MSW (University)

9. How did you plan your career?
Ans:  It’s a continuous effort to work in different portfolios with varied hierarchies in the sectors viz. Tribal, Urban, Rural development and community organization

10.   Describe your experience of your first day at work in your first job?
Ans: Its’ a wonderful one in tribal area to have observation of habitats of Tribal folks and learning their skills to combat the issues

11. Your major achievements have been in ……………. which opportunities steered you on that path?
Ans: Its’ Community engagement and training them in several fronts; the opportunities to work with APUSP, CARE India and GMR has  been provided me to equip with much more strengths and imparted capacities

12.  Being a leader / social worker yourself what do you think you possess as a leader/social worker that sets you apart from other leaders?
Ans:  Its’ nothing but the empathy and providing enabling environment.

13. How as a leader / social worker, do you go about developing yourself today?
Ans:   Knowledge must imparted as wisdom and wisdom would drive us to get more results by means of proper activity planning and vision to achieve results / outcomes.

14. What keeps you so passionate about working in social work?
Ans: It’s basically a self help process and its nitty-gritty’s viz. making communities self reliant, self sustenance, with self regulating systems, made me more passion to continue in the field of social work.

15. What are your current ambitions for the next phase in your life /career?
Ans: I want to prove myself as a best professional in CSR sector and integrate with other aspects like, corporate relations, corporate communications, & support sustained ethical business practice.

16. Your reading. How this does helps you in your personal and professional life?
Ans:  Its’ a way of observing several aspects in the field and in personal front. I do read so of the Management books and keep updating in my professional approaches viz. CSR, Development sector, and people’s management. I also possessive towards improving my wisdom in spiritual aspects which also helps me to develop my knowledge and work style; currently I am pursuing PhD in Climate science which is related to fishers community and impacting their overall life.

17. What are your interest / hobbies?
Ans: My interests are reading spiritual and technical books related to my job / career.  I am a student of Sri Vishista Advita and psychology and always intents to update my knowledge; basically my hobbies are reading books and watching TV occasionally.

18. A family bonding experience ……………….?
Ans:  Though I hails from a Joint family, later I am living in a nuclear setting ; though I relates myself a good family member I am not a strong person in the possessiveness which got triggered in my after 42 years of my life.

19. Tips for aspiring professional social workers?
Ans: Need to have / improve or cultivate the following traits (irrespective of innate instincts)

• Commitment
• Dedication to field and
• Regular persuasion
• Technical updation
• Self imposed discipline, communication, togetherness would support a lot
• Advocacy, Mentoring and enabling skills are much needed

20. Bitter experience in your career?
Ans   When management won’t understand our stands and our strategies it gives us more agony which may hamper us in to bitter experience.

21. How do you relate with other professions and professionals?
Ans: Now a days the role of social workers is much related and needed coordinated effort with other professions and professionals based on the project we are working; sometimes we may have work with several other professionals based on the need and project rollout.

22. What is your opinion about the need for social workers association?
Ans:  It’s very much needed but formulate the objectives on broad base. Ensure no egos, internal politics etc; if thy work in a positive / professional ways and means it would be useful for several fora and different clientele.

23. Not all social workers are documenting their experiences in their profession, can you please throw some light on it.
Ans: Now a day’s every organization / project must have the documentation / reporting and recording systems must be placed. Knowledge management is key to success and it would relates to next generations to continue, review and reserve for best possible opportunities for the future

24. What are the most challenging aspects of your job/career?
Ans:  They are :

• Stakeholders management
• Conflict resolution
• Crisis management
• Technical updation and dissemination through trainings etc

25. How do you balance career and other aspects of your life?
Ans:   It’s a way of commitment and sometimes sacrifices of personal life are needed which may be essential for the professional life to flourish.

26. What advice do you have for someone contemplating a career in social work in a professional position similar to your current position?
Ans:   it’s a continuous perseverance in the management aspects and inclined to learn and lead the teams to achieve the goals / objectives said in the project design.

27. What are the most rewarding aspects of your job?
Ans:  I was the best regional officer in the APUSP project funded by DFID,  and I was praised for best Replication officer for replicating the nutrition protocols first time in India and scaling to entire Andhra region being a national member (while I was working with CARE India for their INHP Project)

28. How did you first become interested in your current professional position?
Ans:  It’s a part of development sector later I rolled out to CSR field and nurtured and learnt similar projects and dealt with Standard operating procedures etc.

Thanks & regards,
Dharmavaram Sudhakar

Interviewed by:
Dr. Sreenivasa Reddy D
Associate Editor
Careers in Social Work