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Agamishaala

Learn with a community of justice innovators

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Watch Highlights from Agamishaala 2021

What are we learning here?

When stuck in a situation, a question we end up asking is, are we looking at the problem correctly? Are we listening to all the data that is available to us? Not just our head, but also what our heart and body are sensing? Who else is looking at the problem like we are? How do I connect and better my self awareness and that of the system I seek to change?

Agamishaala is a space to enable such learnings.

Completely rooted in one’s own experience, what we learn at Shaala, are new ways to see the challenges we face. We practise ways to sense the field of justice we inhabit together, and listen for where true innovation can emerge. And use these learnings to shift the way we lead and advance ideas that serve justice.

Details regarding the next edition of Agamishaala will be shared soon. In case this is a process and space that interests you, do fill out the form below.

We have been documenting our learnings from Shaala on our Substack page 'Dekha Seekha' Click here to take a peek!

Agamishaala Members

Agamishaala has evolved, much like the cohorts through the years

Meet the August 2023 Cohort

Ajay Shah

Co-founder, XKDR Forum

Aayush Tainwala

Co-lead, PUCAR

Vandita Morarka

Founder/CEO, One Future Collective

Anish Andheria

President and CEO, Wildlife Conservation Trust

Rakshita Swamy

Founder and Director, SAFAR

Justice K Kannan (Retd)

Founder – Director, Madhyastham

Kailash Nadh

CTO, Zerodha

Ashok Pal Singh

Ex Civil Servant

Saurabh Karn

Lead-OpenNyAI, CEO – Sampatti Card

Dee

Restorative Practices Facilitator, Enfold

Vijay Sai Pratap

CEO & Co-founder, Gram Vaani

Ajitesh Priyadarshini

Co-ordinator for Government, SAMA

Varun Basu

VP – Growth & Partnerships, eGov Foundation

Syed Asif Iqbal

Product Head, Lawyered

Hariprasad Varma

Founder, Zensei Leadership Pvt. Ltd.

Vikas Mahendra

Co-founder, CORD/TERES

Sneha Vijayan

Co-founder, resolutio

Aditya Gujarathi

Research Associate, Centre for Social Justice

Vikram Hiresavi

Founder, Flockby; Trustee, Conservation India

Ajay Pandey

Professor and ED, Clinical Programmes and Co-Director, Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor

Meet the April 2023 Cohort

Praveen Kumar

Director, Law Foundation

Erica Arya

India Head, Tech4Dev

Siddharth Agarwal

Founder, Veditum

Lalita Devi

Senior Producer, Khabar Lahariya

Osama Manzar

Founder, Digital Empowerment Foundation

Lubhyathi Rangarajan

Researcher/Editor

Madhuri Dhariwal

Associate Director, Indus Action

Malay Mandal

Founder and CEO, ezyLegal

Hameeda Syed

Freelancer, Solutions Journalism

Pavithra Manivannan

Senior Research Associate, xKDR

Pravin Nikam

Founder and CEO, Samata Centre

Anant Kumar Asthana

Child Rights Lawyer, Advisor Delhi SLSA; Member, Core Group on Children, NHRC

Manna Biswas

Child Protection Officer, UNICEF

Prathamesh Kalamkar,

Lead Data Scientist, Thoughtworks

Sachi Maniar

Director, Ashiyana Foundation

Ayushi Singhal

Co-Lead, Digital Courts

Vinay Mahendra

Co-Founder, CORD/TERES

Sayonee Chatterjee

Director – Network Engagement, Youth Interventions, Gram Vaani

Nitesh Bharadwaj

Founder, Aadiwasi Janjagruti

Meet the 2022 Cohort

Shreya Munoth

Partner, Chakravarty Samson and Munoth

Bharat Chugh

Former Judge, Board member – Satya Pro-bono law

Smita Gupta,

Co-lead, OpenNyAI

Rohit Sharma

State Legal Co-ordinator, Jansahas

Shreya Sen

Co-founder, Zariya

Shreya Vajpei

Prime Mover – Prolawgue.com; Innovation Team, Khaitan & Co.

Nimisha Srivastava

Executive Director, Counsel to Secure Justice

Priyanka S

COO, Manupatra

Anshul Tewari

Founder, Youth Ki Awaaz

Mohit Mokal

Lead Case Manager, CAMP

Deeksha Gujral

Program Director, iProbono

Ashwini Obulesh

Managing Trustee, Dhwani Legal Trust

Darshana Mitra

Founder and Programme Director, Parichay

Sudhir Kochar

IAS

Rangin Tripathy

Professor of Law, National Law University Odisha

Namit Oberoy

Industry Analyst, Indian Legal tech

Keyur Konkani

Tribal Leader, Gujarat

Himanshu Panday

Co-founder and Research Lead, Dignity in Difference

Sarfaraz Sheikh

Director, Kotda Adivasi Sansthan

Mohit Raj

Co-Founder, Project Second Chance

Meet the 2021 Cohort

Abhay Jain

Co-Founder, Zenith: Society for Socio-Legal Empowerment

“What is my role in the process of change? How does it sustain beyond me?”
Avanti Durani

Assistant Director & Junior Fellow, IDFC Institute/Access to Justice

“How do you navigate for change in a relatively unchartered territory like police and judicial reforms? How do you go about building a vision and mission aligned future?”
Rahul Vohra

Creative Producer, Kabir Khan Films Pvt Ltd

“What can those in a position of ‘privilege’ do to shift the balance of power in the hands of the people?”
Santosh Poonia

Head, Legal Aid and Advocacy Cell – Aajeevika Bureau

“What does one do to enable one’s team to realise its full potential? How do you build a solution that is effective and accessible to all classes of citizens?”
Tammanna Aurora

Weaver, Agami

“What is it about certain issues that elevates them to a movement?How do you hold the space for something to emerge and then sustain it to make it happen?”
Anirudh Rastogi

Managing Partner, Ikigai Law

“What are the practises to be built today for an emerging future?”
Meghana Srinivas

Founder and CEO, TrustIn

“How do you build institutions that endure? What is justice when it comes to safe workplaces? What is the role companies can play?”
Vikram Kumar

Chief Technology Officer, Sama

“How do you make the idea of dispute resolution easy for large scale adoption? How do you get buy-in from multiple stakeholders?”
Girish CK

Founder, Landryt

“How do you build value and ownership from the bottom up? How can we discover and push the boundaries of adjacent possibles in the justice ecosystem?”
Deepika Kinhal

Lead (Judicial Reforms) and Senior Resident Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

“How does one evaluate long term work that shapes the ecosystem? How do you keep your energy up for the here and now?”
Akshat Singhal

Founder, Legistify

“What will it take to break down systemic constraints and legacy infrastructures? And to make systems more efficient and transparent?”
Shivani Singh

Operations and Digital Security Manager, Internet Freedom Foundation

“In this ‘black hole of uncertainity’ how do young people continue doing the important work they set out to do? What is wellbeing for those on he frontlines who witness the injustices faced by disenfranchised communities?”
Swapnil Shukla

Co-Founder, Zenith Society for Socio-Legal Empowerment

“How do you involve more young people in the changemaking process? And sustain the process itself?”
Suhaib Salman

Creative Head/ Co-Founder, Lawctopus/ Unpadh Wakeel

“How can art help in de-mystifying laws and increase legal awareness?”
Shabani Hassanwalia

Producer and Chief Editor, Nirantar The Third Eye

“What happens when the power and tools to create are handed over to contexts that traditionally serve as ‘subjects’?”
Jahnavi Jayanth

Co-founder, Bolti Bandh

“What does storytelling as ‘therapy’ look and feel like? Who tells these stories and how?”
Jishnu Veetil

Head of Operations, Sama

“What will it take to overcome the adversarial mindset?”
Aditi Singh

Associate Partner, Dalberg Advisors

“How do we catalyse greater interest and participation from the development sector towards ideas that advance justice?”
Abantee Dutta

Co Founder & Director, Studio Nilima

“How do you build a community of justice leaders who are empathetic, committed, creative and resilient? What is the role of community members?”
Justice Prabha

Former Judge, Madras High Court

“Not just in the field of justice, but how do we overcome difficulties in enabling access to relief for those who have no privilege?”
Pramod Rao

Group General Counsel, ICICI Bank

“What are the intersections when advancing ideas across dispute resolution, the legal industry and possible overlays with the criminal justice system? How do you harness the power of LawTech for both the common person and commercial entities in a way that is disruptive and scalable?”
Ashwani Rawat

Director, Transerve Technologies Pvt Ltd

“How does one break conditioning to motivate someone towards an idea?”
Shreya Rastogi

Founding Member, Project 39A

“Is the best way to disrupt the system to work with it?”
Akshay Roongta

Co-Founder and Partner, Ooloi Labs

“How do you keep-up with the evolving nature of your work and what it requires from you as a leader?”
Badarivishal Kinhal

Co-Founder, CORD

“How do you know if you’re on the right path as a leader?”
Apoorv Anand

Sector Lead, CivicDataLab

“How does one unravel assumptions? What is the role we play in the bigger picture?”
Keerthana M

Curator, Agami

“What is the journey to take from idea to action? How do we get others to join in with energy?”
Swagata Raha

Head, Restorative Practices, Enfold Proactive Health Trust

“In the larger world, how do we build acceptance for a community based restorative approach to justice?”

Meet the 2019 Cohort

Akshetha Ashok
Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer, Sama
“How can we change the adversarial mindset of people organically?"
Apar Gupta

Executive Director, Internet Freedom Foundation

"What part do I play in this journey? How to ensure that I, myself, do not become a roadblock to it in the future?"
Antaraa Vasudev
Co-Founder, Civis
"How can we create a common badge/currency that enables citizens to be recognized across platforms for their effort?"
Anup Surendranath

Executive Director, Project 39A

“If scale is truly possible only by collaborating with the state, what should the imagination of that collaboration be?"
Pranjal Sinha

Co-Founder and CEO, Sama

“How to have a unicorn startup, an iron man title, and happy relationships-all at once?"
Renu Mishra

Executive Director, AALI

“How do we best manage and best use the information and data we have from the field to effectively capture our qualitative experience in an organized manner without reducing it only to numbers?”
Ritvik Lukose

Co-Founder and Director, Vahura

“How to manage multiple priorities and build a learning/collaborative culture?”
Roohi Bhatia

Content Manager, Civic Studios

“Can we re-imagine the relationship between the individual and the social- to make it more dynamic, sustainable, and mindful?”
Tanuj Kalia

Co-Founder, Lawctopus

“What hinders and encourages collaboration?"
Tara Ollapally

Co-Founder and Mediator, CAMP

“How do you influence social behaviour to see the value of a process that might seem counterintuitive but essential for the greater good?"
Ramanauj Mukherjee

CEO, LawSikho

Founder, SuperLawyer

"How to scale my team - how to manage and lead people better?"
Sampath Mandarapu

Superintendent of Prisons, Telangana

"How to sustain change? What role can Prison play in supporting the victims? How to make ‘restorative justice’ an important part of our criminal justice system?"
Late Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer

Founder, SpicyIP and IDIA

"How to ensure that people stay "good" and "moral" in an era of increasing complexity and uncertainty, where it is easier to fall prey to the bigoted ways of black and white?"
Pratik Bakshi

Co-Founder, World Law Forum

“What impact is he bringing to the world through his work?”
Supriya Sankaran

Co-Founder, Agami

"Are we drinking our own koolaid? Who are we listening to?"

Meet the Curators

Manish Srivastava

Co Director- Social Presencing Theatre & Core Faculty, Presencing Institute

Artika Raj

Senior Curator, Agami

Sachin Malhan

Co-Founder, Agami

Supriya Sankaran

Co-Founder, Agami

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Who can take part?

Application to Agamishaala is by invite only. In some years, existing Agamishaala members also send out ‘Peer Invites’ to people who we think would benefit from and add to the experience. These are:

  • Justice innovators who recognise that the most critical site of change is internal
  • Are at an inflection point i.e at a critical turning point in their own lives and that of the work they are leading
  • Curious about new ways of learning
  • Seeking a community of peers they can connect with through the course of  their entrepreneurial journey
  • Can come from a variety of fields such as law, technology, media, social justice, research and advocacy, etc. 
  • Are comfortable with a mix of Hindi and English as languages of communication.

How is the learning journey designed?

The way learnings are enabled is by completely grounding them in a member’s own experience. There are no theoretical discussions and all insights come from what you discover about yourself through different activities. What is offered are guidelines, questions and context to the experience that is curated to help you reconnect with your core motivations, surface assumptions that create challenges for you and reveal insights that help to lead better and advance your work. All this within a safe space and with a community of people who share similar vulnerabilities and different strengths. For different groups, we design differently, with a combination of online to in-person sessions or only online or in-person sessions.

What has been the experience of people who have been a part of Agamishaala?

What we have discovered is that each one’s experience and takeaways have been unique. It is how openly each one leans into the process that changes what they learn from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answered by the Shaala community

Avanti Durani, Artha India Research Advisors

How do the sessions help in sensing the system?

Anup Surendranath, Project 39A

Can you share an example of insights revealed through the work done at Shaala?

Shivani, Internet Freedom Foundation

What should I expect from a Shaala journey?

Pramod Rao, ICICI Bank 

“What did you value most in the Shaala experience?”

Santosh Poonia, Ajeevika Bureau

 “What are the Agamishaala practises like?”

Badarivishal Kinhal, CORD

“What is being part of the Agamishaala community like?”

Where does Agamishaala happen?

And other frequently asked questions

Got a question?
No problem.

In case we’ve not answered your questions in the FAQ or other parts of this page, feel free to reach out to us with your queries.

What is the process of selection?

Every year, Agami extends an exclusive invitation to apply to a curated list of justice innovators in the field. Having done the journey themselves, in some cycles, existing Agamishaala members also send out ‘Peer Invites’ to those who they think will benefit and add to the experience. Those invited to apply are then required to fill a short application form and send it in by the deadline. The team then evaluates the applications and selects a list of people for the next stage of interviews, either with an Agami team member or a past Agamishaala member. Based on the interviews, the members are confirmed. Members who have been part of a past Agamishaala, can’t re-apply.

What kind of support is included for Agamishaala members?

We believe we can most effectively support leaders in building their capacity through a combination of personal growth and community support. To that end, each Agamishaala member is eligible to receive: 

  • guidance from facilitators as part of Agamishaala;
  • resources, and help from Team Agami as and when;
  • key introductions to relevant network members based on need;
  • access to ‘Agamishaala United’, the larger network of all Agamishaala members both online and at the annual retreat;
  • Supported Passes for the Agami Summit

Where does Agamishaala happen?

We design differently for different groups.

For the next edition, we are curating Agamishaala as an in-person to online experience running actively for 3 months. A grand retreat for all Agamishaala members, across the years, will take place in-person at ‘Agamishaala United’ right before the Agami Summit. Post that, curated spaces and sessions to deepen your learnings and connect with the community will be available to you to continue as you wish. 

Is there a participation fee?

No, there is no participation fee for Agamishaala. Agami will take care of hosting you at the in-person retreat in August (3n/4d)  2023 and at  ‘Agamishaala United’ (1d/1n night stay) right before the Agami Summit in December 2023. However, travel costs will have to be borne by the participants themselves. Exceptions may be considered. 

What is expected from an Agamishaala participant?

Specific expectations and time commitments include:

  • Full and engaged participation during the 3 months. 
  • Approximately two to three hours each month for sessions, activities, and wellbeing check-ins. We will try and do most online sessions on weekends barring major conflicts.
  • Active communication with Team Agami as needed between monthly check-ins.
  • Annual surveys, testimonials and data collection through December 2023- March 2024.

What if I am unsure if Agamishaala is for me?

Let’s talk 🙂 Feel free to write and reach out to us for a conversation about the experience before you fill in your application form. We want you to feel comfortable about applying, and also curious and excited about what lies ahead but may not be fully visible just now… 

What are the Agamishaala Membership and Community Guidelines

As a peer learning space, how each of us show up as members influences the other’s learning experience. Therefore, we follow the simple guidelines of right speech, thought and action in engaging with each other, the space and the collective.

We aspire to be both a courageous and caring community. We prioritize the felt safe space nature of all engagements and experiences we are a part of. In case of any violations, our processes will seek to honour that. To arrive at an informed response, we will explore best possible methods depending upon the situation – through community best practices, value-based frameworks, and/or legal frameworks where needed. Where we fall short, our intention will always be to learn and grow this space with the community.

NOW WE MAKE JUSTICE·

NOW WE MAKE JUSTICE·

NOW WE MAKE JUSTICE·

NOW WE MAKE JUSTICE·

NOW WE MAKE JUSTICE·