UNNATI | Organization for Development Education,Social Inclusion and Empowerment,Civic Leadership Governance and Social Accountability,Social Determinants of Disaster Risk Reduction

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GUJARATI
HINDI

Social Inclusion and Empowerment

Civic Leadership Governance and Social Accountability

Social Determinants of Disaster Risk Reduction

Current Projects

Programmes

SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EMPOWERMENT

Social Inclusion and Empowerment aims to invoke the social justice principles among the civil society actors and governmental organisations involved in social development. In partnership with grass root organisations we work on the issue of rights of the dalits, women and persons with disabilities.

The broad areas in which programmes are undertaken:

DALIT MOBILISATION AND ORGANISING IN WESTERN RAJASTHAN

In partnership with grass root organisations and dalit community leaders, we have been working in 248 villages of Western Rajasthan (Jodhpur, Badmer, Jaisalmer) for the last eleven years. The field level interventions have shaped into a Dalit Rights Campaign (Dalit Adhikar Abhiyan) with village and block level community based organisations/committees. The campaign was built around 11 block level Dalit Resource Centers (DRCs) which were working on awareness building, mass mobilisation, leadership training, support for access to justice and government programmes and schemes. In September 2009, the programme made a shift by withdrawing support to the DRCs. However, activities around the Dalit Adhikar Abhiyan continue. It is aimed that the local organisations and/or dalit people’s organisations will play a more pro-active role in taking up awareness building and in addressing local issues.

The programme aims at resolving cases of discrimination, atrocity against men and women and land encroachment. The dalit families are also linked to various government schemes. Currently most of the cases of social injustice are being resolved locally by using the Constitutional principle rather than with feudal and patriarchal values. As we have phased out from organising and mobilisation work, more attention is given to facilitation of access to justice. A cadre of paralegals has been trained with the support of the Indian Institute for Paralegal Studies (IIPS), Ahmedabad. Besides the paralegal training, community leaders and panchayat representatives were also trained on the basic constitutional framework and social justice laws. A fact finding guideline is under preparation to help the local leaders to take up the cases.

Till September 2009, the following number of cases have been addressed:

Case of discrimination resolved – 343 Case of atrocity resolved – 349

Case of atrocity against women resolved – 50

Areas of land released in favour of dalits – 1187

Areas of land under legal process – 7126

PROMOTING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

The overall focus of the women’s empowerment component of the programme is to engage with women collectives to develop a critical understanding on the rights and to build their leadership. In Western Rajasthan, the exemplary efforts of women leaders were documented. This case documentation was used in the mobilisation of the women on land issues. To facilitate grass root level learning on women’s empowerment, a set of four popular books have been conceived on the History of Women’s Movements. It includes (i) Women’s Movement from Vedic Age to the Bhakti Movement (ii) Feminist Movement around the World (iii) Women’s Movements during the Indian Freedom Struggle (iv) Contemporary Women’s Movement and Challenges Ahead. The first three volumes have been published in Hindi and Gujarati. It is written in collaboration with Sahiyar (Stree Sangathana), Vadodara. These books are written in a story/ drama form so that it can also be read out in meetings and training programmes.

A training resource pack on Gender Awareness and Sensitivity Applications has been published in English in the form of a manual. This manual has been developed based on our past years of training with partners.

MAINSTREAMING DISABILITY

The primary objective of mainstreaming disability component of the programme is to create a sense of awareness on the rights of persons with disabilities among the civil society actors. In Ahmedabad, an ‘Access Resource Group’ has been formed where architects, engineers, designers and other professionals volunteer for conducting access audit of public buildings/spaces and recommend modifications. Building by-laws of Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) is being reviewed in the light of parameters of barrier free environment. Mainstream developmental organisations are also supported to identify persons with disabilities and include them in the ongoing programmes. Four organisations working with children with intellectual/ mental disabilities are being provided technical support in the areas of developing individual treatment plans for children, classroom structuring and management, developing quality indicators for monitoring of services, understanding the needs of children with deaf blindness and communicating with children with multiple disabilities.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMME FOR STD. VIII and IX IN THE SCHEDULED (TRIBAL) AREAS OF GUJARAT

A pilot programme has been conceived by the Gujarat State Tribal Development Department and UNNATI to enhance the English language proficiency of Std. VIII students of tribal areas covering 15 districts of the state. The satellite based programme seeks to provide additional inputs to students for reducing their inhibitions and fear of learning the language and reinforcing their English language skills. It indirectly supports the English teachers to enhance their classroom teaching practices through exposure to child friendly pedagogy. More than 8000 students from 173 schools are covered under the programme.

Based on a need assessment and dialogue with eminent educationists (Dr. Rajendrasinh Jadeja, Director, H. M. Patel Institute of English, Dr. Ranganayaki Srinivas, ex- faculty H. M. Patel Institute of English, Prof. Jacob Tharu, Retd. Professor CIEFL, Ms. Anju Musafir, Director MGIS and Dr. Indira Nityanandam, S. R. Mehta Arts College), decisions regarding the programme approach, process and pedagogy were taken. The learning package developed (audio-visual sessions and accompanying workbooks) consists of a Bridge course of 26 sessions based on the language competencies of standards V-VII and 48 sessions that are based on the language competencies covered in the standard VIII textbook. This course will enable the students to effectively comprehend their curriculum and enhance their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. In the first year of the programme, the Bridge course was telecast over a period of three months (Jan-Mar 2010) and the entire course comprising 74 sessions was telecast during August 2010- March 2011 from Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Application and Geoinformatics (BISAG), Gandhinagar. In the thrice a week, one hour relay, after each session, students and teachers speak to the teacher in the studio and practice speaking, share their feedback and seek clarifications through the 2-way audio interaction.

The English teachers of the participating schools have been provided an orientation to the components and pedagogy of the programme to equip them to facilitate the sessions in their classroom and assist students in their workbook practice.