To ensure the proper implementation of the VDSA project with a target domain of 42 villages, including 18 in SAT India spread across 5 states, 12 in East India and 12 in Bangladesh, a 10-day induction program (2-11 September 2010) for 20 field investigators (including two women) recruited to collect quality household data in the villages was jointly conducted by RP-MIP and Human Resources at ICRISAT-Patancheru.

Dr William Dar addresses the field investigators.	Team building exercises for better bonding.

The program included classroom sessions, village visits and team-building exercises. Classroom sessions focused on quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and instruments in addition to usage of GPS, CAPI, VLS website, email and internet. Their learning included two “village immersions” to Pati village, about 7 km from ICRISAT to understand the village dynamics and household economy and also to test the survey instruments. The team building exercise was conducted by Siva Kumar of Envision Satyalayah, Hyderabad.