Human beings learn best when they are in a non-threatening environment which allows them the space to think for themselves. MMA is an approach to creating that very environment. Going against the grain of traditional training processes, MMA focuses on engaging the learners instead of the trainers. MMA is driven by the trust that every human being has the potential to conceptualize lessons by themselves and that the trainer is there to guide them – not to feed them forcefully. MMA is an approach that has shown how this trust can be realized through creating an informal setting and empowering the learners. We implore you to look inside this book and get a glimpse at how MMA works and how this has changed not only training processes but the lives of its participants/learners in profound ways. The lessons, attitudes and mindsets that are gained in MMA training can be carried on in a lot of other areas of life. It is because of the fact that MMA creates space for one to be free in thinking, learning and socializing. And is a skill that transcends any training room. In the era of post-modernism that we live in, the large metanarratives are breaking down giving space to free-thinking and newer ways of living. The narrative of orderly learning environments is breaking down. MMA is a reflection of the need of this era. The old ways of training are a remnant of the past era. Bureaucratic and inefficient; they are in desperate need of change. MMA is a way to that change.
Serajud Dahar Khan is an innovative practitioner in the participatory training-learning-facilitation domain. He is a specialist in education, advocacy, rights-based approach and inclusive development paradigm. As a development specialist, he has been learning from and contributing to the development arena for about forty years. He has contributed to UN bodies, and National and International Development Organizations through training, IEC/SBCC materials development, designing innovative development programmes, evaluation and research. At present, he is the Chief Executive of INTERACTION, a training, research and IEC/SBCC materials development institution. Dahar is the innovator and orchestrator of Mind Management Approach-MMA (a new stream in the participatory training-learning process), Active Learning Process (ALP- an interactive approach to train teachers and students of formal institutions), ‘Shonglap’ for the empowerment of adolescents, and ‘Lahanti Akhra’, an approach to the empowerment of Adivashi adolescents and adults. Hundreds of development practitioners and participatory training facilitators, in and abroad, have been nurtured and developed through his exceptional training and co-working with him. He has developed more than 30 pieces of development of literature, out of which 20 have been published. He was an activist in Bangladesh Lekhak Shibir, a leftist cultural front. He is a theatre activist and reviewer, and a littérateur as well. He is a literary composer of poetry and non-fictional stories. His book, `Khanshaheber Khondojibon’, published in 2020, is a partial portrait of his life. He studied Bengali Language and Literature at Rajshahi University. He was born in Pabna, Bangladesh on 9 July 1957. He is the elder son of late Serajun Nessa Khanom and Late Dr. Abdul Kader Khan.