Aarti is a 25 years old. She has braved several challenges that life and identity faced her with. She struggled hard, with the support and encouragement of her grandmother and teacher to keep herself out of the web of customary prostitution that the Bedia community girls have to accept and practice. Aarti enrolled herself as a private student and completed her post graduation in 2007, supporting her own education through small jobs from high school onwards. She has been working with a Social rehabilitation initiative of the Bedia Community for the past three years. She has a big vision for her community where girls have access to education and dignified living, boys critically look at gender relations in their community and the community itself can relate to the larger social world on equal terms.
Alumni
Year: 2009
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Working with the youth of the Bedia Community towards greater options of education and livelihoods to challenge the customary prostitution practices in her own village in Sagar Dist of Madhya Pradesh.
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Afaq has completed his post graduation in Human Rights from the Jamia Milia Islamia and his stay in Delhi in this duration has offered him opportunity for multiple exposures to development issues and initiatives. His exposure with the SMILE programme to famine prone Baran district of Rajasthan was an eye opener on many social realities; This was only strengthened through an internship with NFI taking him to Orissa to closely witness and work on forest, water and mining issues among the tribal communities of Raigada. As part of his fellowship with NFI, he joined the Hazard Centre in Delhi to work among youth and slum communities and labour in the unorganised sector. Hailing from the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh, Afaq is 25 years old and these various experiences have taken him back to the many experienced realities of discord back home...
Work towards redeveloping the culture of positive coexistence in Faizabad town using creative art initiatives among youth
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Born in the Amaravati district of Maharashtra, Chinmay comes from a farming family that believes in the Sarvodayi philosophy. While feeling very strongly about sustainability, his family practices organic farming. Chinmay is 23 years old; he has received training in media from the Nasik based organisation 'Abhivyakti'. Since 2004 he has been associated with 'Samvad Rawala' an organisation that organises camps for children on organic farming. He believes that education should contribute to the development of scientific temperament and has been coordinating the Jeevanshala project in Vidarbha. Chinmay is disturbed by the fact that the number of people in agriculture is slowly declining. He is also concerned about farmers not getting adequate monetory returns on their produce, even though the price of inputs is increasing.
Studying, creating and adapting farm implements and machinery for food processing towards strengthening organic farming and local food processing initiatives in Amravati district of Maharashtra
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22 years old Hameeda had a challenging childhood and had to start working at a very young age to support her family and her own education.Working with Sanatkada, an initiative supporting women artisans in Lucknow Hameeda has worked for the empowerment and capacity building of marginalised communities including Dalits and Muslims. She feels this has developed her ability to view issues such as gender, identity and equality from a feminist perspective, this has led to a surge of excitement and self-confidence in her and given her inspiration to express herself.
Computer literacy Initiatives for marginalized youth of Lucknow city, inclusive of an understanding of identity, gender, human rights, and equality through a feminist perspective.
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26 year old Ismail has grown up in the Jogeshwari pocket of Mumbai. As a young man he has witnessed discrimination patterns especially after the 92 riots and wants to work against the potential threats for other youth. Ismail has had the responsibility of earning through petty jobs to support his family and his own education since middle school. His exposure to youth mobilisation initiatives of YUVA gave him a sense of purpose and he strongly believes that change can only come with effort. He has functioned as a Catalyst for a youth research group at PUKAR, researching relationships of users and PDS shop operators.
Working with Youth, primarily Muslim in Jogeshwari slum of Mumbai towards skill enhancement, personality development, livelihood options and civic rights.
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Joshua Hishey, 29, is a Design professional with a keen interest in applying Design for Development initiatives. Since 2005, he has been leading a furniture manufacturing enterprise to provide training and employment to local youth in Rajpur, Dehradun. In 2008, he established Studio Alaya, a platform to facilitate capacity building of craft and skill based producers in Uttarakhand and improve market access for their craft produce. Joshua serves as a member of the Cooperative of Artisans supported by a state nodal agency Uttarakhand Bamboo & Fiber Development Board. He is also actively involved as a volunteer mentor with an organization working with Tibetan youth.
Setting up a graphic design studio for training youth from underprivileged backgrounds in graphic design after imparting to them training in Computer skills and English, developing their creativity as an extension of His Studio Alaya in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand.
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Sharp concern for his sociopolitical context has made Kathi a journalist and environmentalist and development has pushed him towards farming. Coming from Atoizu in Nagaland, 28 year old Kathi Chishi is currently pursuing post graduation in sustainable development through correspondence. While pursuing his graduation at Delhi University he was active in student politics. Kathi was associated with the Consortium of Indian Farmers as a journalist. Over time, he has developed a deeper understanding about the need for environment conservation and development of forests and works around these issues specifically in Nagaland through 'Toka Multipurpose' an organisation he has had long term association with.
Setting up an Agricultural Resource Centre for young and underprivileged farmers of Dimapur District in Nagaland to provide capacity building and agroforestry solutions.
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Currently pursuing a master's in Sociology, 23 year old Lokesh belongs to Udaipur district of Rajasthan. Since 2006, he has been associated with 'Seva Mandir' at the local level and working on issues such as youth development and child rights. Located on the Gujarat border, Lokesh's village witnessed large scale in migration of people running away from the Gujrat genocide in 2002, the situation left a deep impression on him and he became part of the OXFAM initiative of 'Stop violence Enhance peace'. Lokesh received a youth fellowship from 'Urja Ghar' for documenting the local history of the area and struggles of single women. He has continued to work in the Karawada area among children and youth; he also edits a quarterly magazine called 'apna josh'.
Using Theatre and other Creative methods for strengthening Communal Harmony and evoking youth participation for addressing social issues in the villages of Udaipur Dist bordering Gujarat.
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Naveen has a love for nature and has grappled with many questions relating to human nature as he grew up, this prompted him to choose to do a Postgraduation in Psychology inspite of family disapproval. He worked with different groups in Kolkata including the 'Thoughtshop Foundation' on many aspects of youth development including interpersonal counselling. Naveen enjoys being with children and has experience in alternative teaching for rural kids using interesting teaching aids and methods and optimal facilitation skills. The experience of working at the grassroots and some capacity building workshops influenced his thoughts and broadened his perceptions of the world. He went to SIDH working in the hills of Musoorie to volunteer in their education programme and stayed on for over two years working as a teacher. Naveen is 27 and highly desirous of creating learning spaces for youth to explore their potential.
To establish and run a drop-in counseling and support center for rural youth of the Jaunpur community in Kempty Village, Near Mussoorie of Uttrakhand.
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Naveen's stint as an environmental engineer in an automobile company made him realise that the singular motive of many corporates is only to maximise their profits. This significantly influenced his thought, he quit his job with the objective of working for the environment. After volunteering at Shikshantar for some time, Naveen undertook an experiment in environmental education among school children as a Global Green Grant Fund Fellow. He also regularly contributes articles to 'Infochange India', a news portal focused on social change issues. Naveen is 26 and has been concerned in building an understanding on the processes and meaningfulness of social change. While he volunteers with a youth group in Chennai discussing issues like corporate crime and hegemony, Globalization etc, he has also extensively read and explored the philosophies of Gandhi, Krishnamurti, Vivekananda etc. Interacting with this diversity he says gives him a chance to examine various stands and identify what he finds meaningful to be involved with.
Journey Period: June 2009 - June 2010
Co Create a web-based platform for interested young activists/ changemakers who believe in the Gandhain approach to social change, to come together for shared learning and exploration.
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Nirupama feels that she is still in the process of discovering herself; every person, place and experience that she has come across has played a part in shaping the person she is. A quest for more satisfying answers took her from a graduation in Economics to study Social Work, which further opened her world-view and understanding of social situations. Nirupama has worked with Pravah in Delhi and Jaipur on various programmes promoting youth active citizenship; she has also volunteered with a number of groups including Patang in Sambalpur and Prajnya in Chennai. She has had an active concern to work towards gender equality and conceptualised and anchored a multigroup partnered initiative to mark the International 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence in Chennai. Nirupama is 26 and she believes that her chosen path for social change needs to start with herself.
Facilitating the engagement of young people in active citizenship primarily in the domain of gender and related issues through co-creating an open space for learning and action in Chennai.
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Prakash has grown up with the challenge of having to work almost the full day to earn a living to support himself since almost childhood. His search for suitable options where young people from labouring families could find information, support, friendship and confidence has been incessant. Constantly occupied with work, Prakash could only imagine such a space. His brief exposure to a youth theatre group initiative of Sanjha Manch offered shape to his imagination and his desire to make it real for many other struggling youth has been at the centre of his being even as he has worked full time on petty jobs, a small aquarium business to support his family. Prakash feels that in the rapidly 'developing' Delhi, the plight of people providing basic services to the city is very vulnerable and youth need support to sustain their basic zest for life.
Journey Period: June 2009 - June 2010
Using theatre, sports and educational activities towards development of youth engaged in labour in South Delhi.
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Born in the 'Laman' community which is a denotified tribe and exploitatively labelled 'criminal', Ranjita is no stranger to social discrimination. Such adverse conditions encouraged Ranjita to study further and in 2007 after completing her D.Ed. she became the first teacher in her community. Biographies or various Dalit leaders and writers inspired her to work for the community. Ranjita joined the 'Samaj Vikas' an organisation working among the Laman tandas where she learnt about management of self help groups and the various needs of children. To improve the learning ability of children, she started exploring games, music and stories for joyful learning but realised that the socio economic forces dominating the community's life also need to be challenged to facilitate education herein. She along with close friends has set up 'Samarth' an organisation committed to working among Laman tribals. Resolute and cheerful, at 25, Ranjita is sure that her purpose in life is to open greater avenues of participation, equity and dignity for the girls and women of her community.
Journey Period: June 2009 - June 2010
Working towards enhancing girls' enrolment in primary schools, quality education and decriminalization of the Laman Community.
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Growing up in the conservative Purvanchal region of UP, Sangeeta has witnessed gender discrimination and violence since childhood. This inspired her to actively challenge this inequity and lead life on her own terms. Alongside her undergraduation, she started to work… volunteering initially with Grameen Punarnirman and moving to work with Sahyog on a statewide programme on maternal health and gender rights. Sangeeta is 25 years old, is quietly confident and believes that social change is all about taking the risk, mobilizing energy and challenging structures.
Journey Period: June 2009 - November 2011
Working with the Youth of the Buksa Tribe towards equitable gender relations in selected villages of Udhamsingh Nagar district of Uttarakhand.
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Coming from a traditional and joint Muslim family from the Malvani region of Mumbai, Shahnaz has closely experienced the prohibitions that are imposed on individuals, particularly women, in a conservative society. While very young she witnessed family situations which made her understand the reality of gender inequality changing her perceptions about society. Opposing conservative thought, She started believing that women have their own identity and can achieve anything if they so desire and find opportunity. At 26, Shanaz is a natural leader and leads most of the rights based spontaneous initiatives in her settlement, also finding inspiration and confidence from her engagement as a youth research group anchor as part of the PUKAR Fellowships for youth.
Journey Period: June 2009 - June 2010
Working with Women in Malvani area of Mumbai towards women's empowerment through creation of collectives and livelihood enhancement.
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26 year old Vishal has grown up in a happy, large joint family. Tickled by TV programmes teaching to make creative things out of waste products, he discovered a vocation of deep interest and engagement. This interest took him to the Shikshantar a Learning space in Udaipur, where he started to volunteer his time to conduct activities among children and joined the nationwide network of young people working on the 'kabaad se jugaad' concept. While in 'Shikshantar', he has been able to better understand the existing conditions of globalization, media, education system etc. His concern for nature has encouraged him to develop his understanding of the concept of 'Zero Waste'. While he is concerned about the impacts of large scale garbage dumping on our local environments, he is also grappling with the fast moving culture of garbage creation in our lives. His interests include painting, animation and architecture.
Journey Period: June 2009 - June 2010
Initiating school and community based efforts towards Zero Waste in Udaipur City.
Year: 2008
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An engineer from IIT, Kanpur, Akshaya quit the corporate sector last year. He has been traveling to various parts of the country to get a feel of the geographical, social or economic challenges people face, discussing various problems of society regularly with others and has been reading extensively and regularly.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Akshaya will highlight the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the troubled Kashmir and North-East. By writing, documenting, debating and protesting peacefully against this Act, Akshaya will focus on democratic means and human rights as vital to the health of every democracy.
To get the Manipur perspective on AFSPA, and gain an understanding of the region that has been the recent epicenter of protests against the Act, Akshaya visited Human Rights Alert (HRA) in Imphal, Manipur. In the course of his journey he interacted with the civil society leadership and intellectuals of Manipur, met common people who have been victims of various atrocities and got a feel of rural as well urban Manipur politics. As an intern in HRA, Akshaya got to work closely with Babu Sundara, a key leader of the movement against AFSPA. Post Manipur, Akshaya travelled to Jammu & Kashmir to gain a perspective on the Act as it is implemented and perceived there.
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Ankit has a Post Graduate degree in Arts and is based in a village in Gujarat. Between 2005-2007, Ankit engaged with Manav Kalyan Trust, Khedbrahma as a field worker. His subsequent training in conflict resolution under OXFAM’s Urja Ghar Project helped him take a stance against corruption and look for solutions. Prior to joining LLJ, Ankit had informally started his work to mobilize youth and engage them in awareness building, and other village development activities.
Journey Period: May 2008 - June 2010
Ankit worked to bring about grassroots change at the community level by making the tribal youth in his area vigilant active, self reliant and conscious of their entitlements. He has mobilised over 300 youth in the Banaskantha region and established the youth development Centre in the village with a regular set of activities and engagement of various team members. He has always sustained 15 SHG’s in 7 villages, and through it, engaging the community in critical thinking about local governance and social realities.
Ankit’s internship was severely hampered due to health reasons. It was not even a while when he contacted typhoid and for the next two months he could not do much. However, he did manage to attend several workshops at Janvikas in Ahmedabad on Tribal Law and Empowerment of Village vis-à-vis sustainability issues and spread awareness about Sakhi Mandal Yojna amongst villagers. He also managed to organize a workshop with the youth of his village during this period and send three young people to Delhi to attend a workshop on Health, Education and Public Facilities.
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Inspired by the Narmada Bachao Andolan where he volunteered, Anand has been working actively for the past few years on issues of social development and legal affairs. For the past one year, Anand has been working with ‘Yuva Samvad’ – an informal and non hierarchical youth network, focusing on issues like religious tolerance, gender discrimination and communalism. He is taking up his Commutiny project as the representative of a six member team.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Anand and five other members of Yuva Samvad, want to work on building youth leadership and involve youth in effective partnership and resource building among a targeted 5000 youth in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Besides interning in the organisation Vikas Samvad in Bhopal, Anand has visited the drought affected areas in Bundelkhand, formed a group of youth with which he will continue to work, and written articles on a number of issues. Through his internship he has learned more about how media works, as well as picked up new writing skills, which he perceives will help him in building awareness about issues when he implements his project.
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Ashish was born and brought up in Delhi with his roots in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. His is a farming family but circumstances had forced his father to migrate to the city. Prior to joining LLJ, he worked on non- formal education of children with Bal Sahyog and as a teacher in the NGO Karm Marg for 3 years. He also associated with organizations such as Centre for Science and Environment and Manzil since 1999 and gained significant exposure in issues of sustainable development. While based in a village in Haryana as a teacher, Ashish saw farmlands being sacrificed for real estate development and that spawned his passion to return to his roots.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Ashish worked to first teach himself organic farming, then begin to farm himself. Simultaneously he worked to work on building a learning center as a free space and through it, build appreciation of the 14-18 year olds in the village about organic farming (and other things) to prevent them from migrating to the city.
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Faiz has grown up in a large joint family – a family that has taught him to live with people in harmony and love. He has faced communal conflicts in many forms, and feels the need to work to promote friendship, fraternity and love between different communities in the country.
Journey Period: May 2008 - June 2010
Faiz will work on the issue of communalism. He wants to set up an Adda (Activity Centre) as a platform that allows different communities to talk to each other. He would also facilitate study circles in educational institutions and organize seminars, groups and discussions on issues of communalism. Faiz will also focus on bringing out publications and newsletters to reach his goal, and collaborate with Kabir Mandli people in Dewas, MP to further the cause of communal harmony.
Faiz could not attend the February event because of severe health problems. On being inducted into the Commutiny process later, Faiz did his internship with People’s Research Society, Bhopal. During his stay at the organisation he attended several workshops, seminars and became a part of many fact finding committees. This added immensely to his learning as he got introduced to the significance of conflict mapping as a tool. Apart from this, he networked with other organisations like Eklavya in Dewas and Sandarbh in Indore.
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Gopal is from Bikaner, Rajasthan and is a humanities graduate. He has felt himself strongly drawn towards doing ‘something meaningful’. He has trained with SIDH and has worked with Ajit Foundation in Bikaner and with Doosra Dashak. Gopal is strongly inspired by Gandhian philosophy.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Gopal would like to initiate a dialogue between people from different backgrounds to promote alternate values of life in an increasingly fast-changing world. As a first step towards this larger goal, Gopal would work to build knowledge among urban adolescents about marginalized artisan communities and in the process, develop their interest and understanding of local cultures that are facing the threat of vanishing altogether.
Gopal would like to initiate a dialogue between people from different backgrounds to promote alternate values of life in an increasingly fast-changing world. As a first step towards this larger goal, Gopal would work to build knowledge among urban adolescents about marginalized artisan communities and in the process, develop their interest and understanding of local cultures that are facing the threat of vanishing altogether.
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John is from Indira Point, the southernmost tip of India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In his words, his people “are the invisible population in many ways. And hence to create an identity for ourselves is a major struggle of mine”. With his mother as an active member of the Panchayat for the last 15 years, John has grown up with a sense of social awareness.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
John will be working to prevent the problem of school dropouts among the Tribal Nicobari and Fishermen communities of Campbell Bay through building an Resource Centre. Through this centre, he would make efforts to limit this phenomenon. John would also, in the course of his project explore ways to address other issues that are prevalent in his area, especially in the post-Tsunami situation.
Right after the February event John got actively engaged with strengthening the organizational base of his resource center by actually widening the scope and improving the quality of inputs. During his learning phase, he interned with an organisation called ACANI (Association of Catholic Andaman and Nicobar Islands). During this period, he engaged in organizing various livelihood projects, and conducting other monitoring and evaluation related work. He intends to go for more internship experiences as he thinks he needs more knowledge on organisation development and capacity building. Moreover, after internship, John is thinking of converting his resource center into a full time information center that will address different queries/concerns of the locals.
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Krati has done her Masters in Women’s Studies. She has worked in projects and campaigns on issues of violence against women. Working in an organization that focuses on the human rights of Muslim women and children has deepened her passion to work on the issue of communalism.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Krati will work on communalism and spread awareness amongst the youth on the issue. She aims at establishing a line of youth leadership that would spread political awareness amongst people.
Specifically looking at the post-2002 psyche, Krati went to different organisations to understand the ways in which the communal spirit possesses us as individuals. During her internship at Anhad, Ahmedabad Krati got to know how group thinking shapes one’s thought. She then attended a workshop with Asghar Ali Engineer’s organization CSS Mumbai, and learned more about the Quran, the Holy Book of Muslims and how the Maulanas spread wrong messages to feed their own interests. Finally at Pravah, Jaipur where she went to attend a short workshop, Krati learned about the significance of positive engagement with issues, relevance of emphasizing on leadership, and ways of working with young people. Going forward, Krati intends to go for more internship and gain more knowledge on communalism and the way it influences the youth.
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Having completed his B. Sc. from Bhopal in 2006, Krishna has been working in the Bhimapur development block of Betul, which is primarily a tribal area. His work areas include developmental issues like the working of Panchayats, establishment of grain banks and self help groups in villages besides awareness building about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA). He has also been involved in the Tara Akshar computer literacy program for women.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Through advocacy and sensitisation drives, Krishna wants to broaden and deepen the reach of the NREGA programme. For this work he wants to focus on 5 villages and plans to reach these through youth facilitators, who would hold workshops in villages to promote awareness about NREGA and engage the residents, especially the youth in this process.
During his internship period, Krishna spent quality time in 3 different organisations. He firstly interned at Pragati Gramin, Baitul, MP, and he urged the villagers to demand for their rights, and got all the needy ones to file applications. During his stay at Guru Kripa Yuva Samiti, Aathner, MP, he spread information among the villagers about NREGA, often through street plays. Then during his internship at the organisation FES Mandla, MP, he made youth groups communicate about NREGA and mobilized families without job cards to get them made.
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Lipi, a software engineer, worked with Infosys and in her free time for the education of underprivileged children in the slums of Bhubaneswar. Along with a group of professionals from different fields, she has a team - Professionals’ Association for Action and Development (PAAD), which aims at giving quality education to underprivileged children.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Lipi will be developing her dream project of an excellent learning-training center for underprivileged children.
In her fellowship journey, Lipi explored different methodologies and tools to sharpen her own project. She interned with Katha in Delhi to evaluate the pedagogy of the organisation, a process through which she learned not only about Katha’s method of using stories for teaching young people, but also about conducting project evaluation. Then in Pune, Lipi studied the innovative materials that the organisation Khelghar has developed for language, mathematics and science teaching. She also visited Mr. Arvind Gupta’s Science Centre in the course of her internship journey and facilitated informal sessions/workshops with young people and children. Through this process, Lipi sharpened her own project plan as well.
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Several experiences in conflict in her life and her neighborhood made Mamta decide to work for social change at one point in her life. Till now, she has been working as a village coordinator for Seva Mandir in Rajasthan.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Mamta would like to take up a project that would focus on the execution of the democratic system and work against corruption. She will collaborate with the village Panchayat, government organizations and the civil society to reach her goal.
During her learning journey Mamta primarily focused on the village as a fundamental unit of analysis and implementation. Mamta interned at Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan at Devdugri, Rajasthan during which she worked on various issues starting from NREGA, RTI and Pension Plans to Dalit’s status and Caste Panchayat. Her learning phase got her acquainted with the grassroots level problems that occur in the implementation of NREGA and also with the intricate relations that exist between the common people and the Panchayat and how these can be strengthened and improved.
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Azam has studied Mass Communication in Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi after completing 12th in his native village in UP. Having a visually impaired sibling and experiencing communal conflict post the Babri Masjid demolition moved him to engage with society. He started working to teach theater to visually impaired women at the National Association of the Blind two years ago, while he was still an active volunteer in Pravah’s SMILE programme.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Azam will work intensively on his project of teaching theater to visually impaired people with two aims: to develop their sense of self worth and confidence, and to build awareness in the larger society about disability – something he feels is lacking till now.
During his learning phase, Azam did his internship at Adhar Shila (Human Development Centre), Alwar, Rajasthan. Here he observed how children with multiple disabilities (with blindness being one) were taught different things - from dance to music to brail. During his stay in the organisation, he got to know how important it is to develop learning designs for effectively training/teaching children with disability (primarily blindness). He also got introduced to the immense energy, potential and receptiveness that these children possess.
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Mrityunjay lives in the Kalighat area of Kolkata, Having been brought up near a thriving red light zone area, he wants to work with the young men in the area so that they actively oppose violence against women and no longer act as pimps for minor girls in prostitution.
Journey Period: May 2008 - June 2010
Mrityunjay will be identifying about 15 young men - men who are in substance abuse/petty crimes/act as pimps for women in prostitution and organise adda sessions with them (adda, a Bengali word, stands for chatting about everything under the sun, with no particular purpose). He will gradually direct these adda sessions to map the gender understanding of these men and ultimately build a specific action plan for gender justice and changing the real life situations of the women in their area.
Mrityunjay did his internship at Arz in Goa and learned about various strategies to work with young men. Through working in the laundry run by Arz with young people who were agents for sex workers in the past, he learned about how Arz made it possible for them to choose a different life. Moreover, through his involvement in art workshops, sports activities or other initiatives carried out by Arz, Mrityunjoy has picked up (as well as shared) many skills and ideas. All these learnings, feels Mrityunjoy, will help him plan and run his project more creatively and efficiently.
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With his father who works on various social issues as his biggest influence, Ravindra decided quite early on to devote himself to grassroots work. He joined the Swadeshi and Swaraj campaigns after completing high school from Bhopal in 2001. Later he worked with various organizations in a number of villages on various issues of development. Ravindra believes that people are inherently good and well meaning. They just need some guidance and capacity building for pursuing the correct action.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Ravindra will plans to empower the Gram Sabha, and by means of a potential village committee, he aims to address issues of women’s empowerment, and promote environment awareness, education and health. Through his efforts, he also wants to challenge the oft held stereotypical notions of a ‘village’ as essentially being ‘backward’ and ‘underdeveloped’. He feels his initiative will lead to a relatively more equitable society.
Ravindra had an intensive internship at Gandhi Ashram, Chatarpur during which he learnt organic farming, made manure, bred cows, weaved cloth, etc. His learning journey made him realise how important it is to ‘walk the talk’ and made him more convinced and confident about his social change initiative. At present, he intends to bring transformation in himself first and only then address the outside. Very soon he wants to become self-reliant in terms of food, clothes and other everyday needs
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Richa has formal training in communication and has studied filmmaking in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. The experience of working with Majlis, a centre for multicultural art initiatives, has helped her develop a better understanding of the politics of image creation. She has made a film titled Love Song, that was commissioned by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT).
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Project Richa would like to document life in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, which is threatened with impending demolition. In her words, 'Through my lens, I wish to give an expression to an array of thoughts and sentiments brewing in the minds of my subjects. I wish to give voice to their unheard agitations...'
In her journey, Richa focused on learning about how arts and activism can go hand in hand, and how her film making skills can be used effectively for advocacy. For this purpose, she interned at Vidarbha Organic Farmers’ Association at Yevatmal, Maharashtra, where she compiled a film from existing footage to spread information effectively among farmers about the negative impact of using BT cotton seeds. In the course of her learning phase, Richa also got acquainted with key issues related to food security. While the film she made got screened in many villages and built the knowledge of the farmers, her new and unexpected learning fired Richa’s passion as an activist- filmmaker further.
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Graduating from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata with Mass Communication & Video Production, Rrivu has worked in the TV industry and has assisted the veteran filmmaker Rakesh Sharma for his documentary “Final Solution” on the post Godhra carnage. He has a post graduate diploma in cinematography from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Rrivu has begun working on ‘Vasudevs’, a culturally threatened community of singing minstrels of Maharashtra. With his ongoing research and preliminary shooting done, he would like to expand the scope of his venture. Moreover, he will organize performances in villages, accompanied by screenings of a 10 min audio-visual showcasing their life and concerns, to generate resources for the Vasudevs’ community centre.
To fill the gap between the actual and the understood through the medium of film and to learn from the process, Rrivu did his internship at Vidarbha Organic Farmers’ Association at Yevatmal, Maharashtra along with Richa and worked on the same film project (described above). However, because of his association with the organisation, Rrivu’s interest about issues of food security grew manifold, so much so that he now wants to focus on the issue through his Commutiny project. In fact, post his powerful learning experience at Vidarbha, Rrivu may change his original project idea and instead use films to create awareness, especially among young people, about the issue of food security. He would retain the essence of his project though – of advocating for a social cause through films.
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Sangeeta is a young activist from Harangaon, Madhya Pradesh. As a community mobiliser with Samavesh, Sangeeta worked for women’s empowerment and on issues of the Panchayat in 3 villages in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. The passion for her project grew from Sangeeta’s own experiences of discrimination and hardships. Sangeeta worked with young girls from villages and marginalized sections of society.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009, December 2009 - June 2010
Through her project she wanted to create a platform where young girls can come together to share and solve the issues they confront. Through various activities and workshops, Sangeeta developed their knowledge, leadership and understanding, and. She built sustainability of her intervention through building the ownership of the adolescent girls for the resource centre she established. She also consolidated a curriculum to implement with the girls developed her own skills to work long term with young girls on issues of gender and other issues of discrimination as well as manage extended group processes.
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Sayonika was born and brought up in Patna. In her school days she used to raise funds, collect books and clothes and interact with children of the 'basti' which was close to her school. According to her, the next turning point came in her life when she joined Pravah as a SMILE volunteer.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Sayonika will focus on working with children in the age group 10-16 who go to schools. She intends to focus on ways in which self-development can be attained and how, subsequently, children can actively engage in a process that enables them in becoming responsible members of society. Her idea is to engage with children through games, walks, film screenings, theatre and puppetry.
To start her learning journey, Sayonika interned at SBMA Paryavaran School, Uttarakhand. Here she learned how freedom builds a sense of responsibility in an individual and why it is a prerequisite for her/his healthy development. Then, during her extensive internship with Eklavya, Bhopal and Hoshangabad, she worked in a project to evaluate and collect feedback on Eklavya’s educational magazines – something that led her to meet with many people and gain insights into their ideas about education. Besides, her interactions with children from diverse backgrounds led Sayonika to gain insights into child psychology and learn how to create spaces for adolescents for thinking and expressing themselves. All these helped her a lot in sharpening her project idea.
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A graduate in Chemistry, Sudebi believes that science and arts are actually complimentary. Experiences such as working on a book on child rights for UNICEF, speaking as a panelist in a global conference and undergoing a course of UNESCO has strengthened her beliefs that human unity underlies all disciplines.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Sudebi will first identify what young people (from all backgrounds) feel about media and how they perceive it in their lives. Then, using different art forms and collaborating with experts, she will develop a curriculum that will focus on building media literacy among them. Sudebi eventually sees herself going to schools and colleges and training young people with it.
Between May and July, Sudebi interned with three organisations - Thoughtshop Foundation and CINI-Asha in Kolkata, and Pravah in Delhi - to gain greater knowledge about working with young people as well as to learn about different aspects of media literacy. In the course of her learning journey, she interacted with about 300 adolescents from diverse backgrounds, and learned about diverse teaching-learning methodologies and communication strategies (e.g., diary writing as a form of self expression, focused group discussions, games for learning, film screenings to facilitate discussions, etc.). She also met with a wide range of media literacy practitioners to learn about their views and perceptions and explore how she could connect with them in the course of her project.
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Through a series of apprenticeships and workshops, Sumit has been learning filmmaking over the last two and half years and sees it as a tool for social change. His concern for the environment was sparked off by an exposure to the state of the River Yamuna. Recently he has been filming at the Narmada and listening to the voices of the displaced.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Sumit would like to organize exposure trips and create groups that will film outdoors to cover different issues, especially issues related to River Yamuna. ‘In this way’, he says, ‘we will together discover the issues, about ourselves and also what we need to change within ourselves and communicate to others.’
Sumit fell ill just after starting the journey. However, he continued with his effort to learn more about his project and issues related to it during the period. Through visiting organisations/initiatives such as Centre for Science and Environment, We for Yamuna (Sweccha), Yamuna Bachao Abhiyan, and Jatan Trust in New Delhi, he researched more into the issue of water. He also conducted 2 filmmaking workshops with a group of young people through the organisation Manzil in Delhi to hone his skills as a facilitator. Sumit would like to intern in some more organizations (Abhivyakti in Nasik, Manthan in MP, etc.) before he gets totally immersed in his project.
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Tarsh grew up in a small town in the Nilgiris, where his parents work with the Adivasi community. He studied in a school with Adivasi children, then was shifted to Rishi Valley. While this exposed him to excellent learning opportunities, it also highlighted for him the vast economic and social differences in India. After a stint in a software company Tarsh has moved back to Gudalur to teach in a school for Adivasi children.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Tarsh wants to examine and document the relationship Adivasis at the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve have with the forest and look for ways in which they can be involved in conservation efforts. He also wants to look for ways in which some of their indigenous knowledge can be preserved.
In his learning journey, Tarsh focused on understanding how indigenous knowledge is preserved and transacted and thus involved himself in activities with the Adivasis such as going to collect honey from the forests. He also networked closely with Keystone Foundation to strengthen his knowledge about honey production, etc. In the view of the fact that the forest has been declared a tiger reserve and is threatening the Adivasis with displacement, Tarsh worked with World Wildlife Fund India and did a lot of reading and investigation to understand the implications of it. During his interactions with WWF, he also did documentation for the organization.
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Vartika comes from what she considers a privileged background, and in her own words, ‘... the struggle between the various aspects of privilege is evident in my questions, explorations and choices.’ She works with children in Kolkata on various projects including theatre workshops, art and craft from waste material, and filmmaking.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
SWABHAV is a learning centre that Vartika is setting up in Kolkata. Through a range of arts and activities including painting (everything from walls to faces!), handicrafts, theatre, organic gardening, filmmaking, creative writing, music, dance, cooking, SWABHAV will instill and restore confidence, self-belief and self-worth in all individuals, as well as work towards creating a just and sustainable world.
In order to groom her facilitation skills, Vartika did an internship at Manzil in New Delhi. During her internship, she got introduced to healthy ideas of time and space management, innovative ways to facilitate participative learning, the ideal value-system to look forward to etc. In this phase, Vartika also focused on exploring ways to develop more activities at her resource centre like organic gardening, music etc. and find livelihood options that are actually linked to one’s passions. Vartika has already set up SWABHAV in Kolkata and the centre has about 60 young people coming there regularl
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Wangshikokla has worked with Indo Global Social Service Society in Assam as Youth Coordinator. She has volunteered with SMILE, Assam and has participated in the VSO/ Pravah/British Council organised Global Exchange Program. In her words, ‘The Exchange program really transformed my life. I had an enriching experience and I have a dream of replicating all those learnings.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Wangshikokla would like to work on “Youth Employment and Youth Empowerment” in Dimapur, Nagaland by promoting a youth resource centre and forming youth clusters. As a part of her project she intends to offer skill building opportunities to support young people in their enterprise or career building and in the process create a platform for young people to raise their voices on various issues.
Wangshikokla did her internship with Bosco Reach Out in Guwahati, Assam. During her stay at the organisation, she got involved in the domains of microfinance, field-coordination, documentation and commentary. She also interacted with various leaders at the cluster level federations to gather information to strengthen her knowledge about working with youth. She feels that her key learnings in this phase about the various facets of organisation management and holistic youth development would help her in implementing her project better.
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Yashodhara, a resident of Mumbai, has been working as a tele-film maker with the organization, Akshara. Her previous work in the Stri Mukti Sangathan has had a special influence on Yashodhara, who feels strongly for women’s empowerment. She has also been involved in micro saving and self help group schemes among women, which has further strengthened her beliefs.
Journey Period: May 2008 - April 2009
Yashodhara wants to work towards empowering women, especially young girls by the means of encouraging and providing facilities for them to play sports. She believes that due to socialization, girls are encouraged to stay indoors while activities like sports are restricted to the males. Wanting to overcome this distinction, Yashodhara plans to use mediums like sports, theatre and films to encourage groups of young women to overcome these social barriers.
Yashodhara began her learning journey by interning in Shaishav Trust in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, following which she went to Jagori, New Delhi. In the course of her internship, Yashodhara engaged in a variety of activities, which includes: workshop on planning a campaign on child labor, field visits, Jan Sunwai, workshop on violence, and film shows. According to her, exposure through the internship has helped her focus more clearly on the age group of girls she would target through her project (6-20 year old) and on empowering them through sports.
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Zaidahmed is from an area called Jamalpur in Ahmedabad. He was still studying in college in 2002 when the “riots” broke out in Ahmedabad. He worked with riot affected children, and attended trainings around psycho-social counseling and life skills. He has worked on creating and conducting a “peace curriculum” with Dalit and Muslim children in the city.
Journey Period: May 2008 - October 2009
Zaid would create a curriculum which reflects social realities and links peace to social, economic and political justice. He would also train a team of 15 teachers to deliver this curriculum in schools over a one year period. This initiative, he feels, will be a step towards creating a worldview among school students, which is just and humane and will strengthen the people’s struggle for a democratic secular nation.
As his project that aims at understanding and appreciating the true meaning of education, Zaid started off his learning journey with an intensive internship at Avehi in Mumbai. Moreover, he attended several workshops of Pravah at Delhi and Jaipur, to learn facilitation skills and skills to work with diverse group of children. In his journey, he gained many significant learning that would aid him in his project, such as education history, importance of being aware of child psychology, reasonable understanding of media, culture and politics and the way they affect education per se, etc.