Project Week

Hey everybody,

Here’s my next blog already (;!

I just received a letter of MUWCI (which, as you know, stands for Mahindra United World College). In the two years I’ll be there, I’ll have a week each year in which I do a sort of project.  This can be a project to protect the environment, to help people of a ‘lower state’ or to do activities that are particular to India. I’ll probably take one in which I can help people who are disadvantaged.  

I’ll add a few possibilities that I would like to do.

Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA)

Bangalore, Karnataka

www.apsaindia.org

The Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) is a child-centered, rights-based, community development organization founded in 1981 and located in Bangalore. APSA works at two levels - at the grassroots level where the focus is on empowerment of the poor, and at the macro level of the state and the country through advocacy and policy planning. This two-pronged approach is reflected in the planning and implementation of all of APSA's projects.

Last year's project week in APSA was planned collaboratively by MUWCI volunteers and APSA staff. After a day's orientation on APSA's projects, our volunteers spent the rest of the week with the Child Labour project, which at the time had a campaign in progress. This allowed our volunteers to take part actively in conducting surveys. They accompanied the Child Labour project team to government institutions, visited slums, attended women's group meetings - all of which helped them arrive at a holistic picture of child labour in the context of urban poverty. They also learned to deal realistically with issues of rehabilitation, processes of law, child rights versus family rights etc.

Sangama

Bangalore, Karnataka

www.sangama.org

Sangama is a sexual minorities human rights organization for individuals oppressed due to their sexual preference. Sexual minorities include, but are not limited to, hijras, kothis, jogappas, lesbians, bisexuals, homosexuals, female-to-male / male-to-female transsexuals. Sangama aims to help these people live with self-acceptance, self-respect and dignity. They especially emphasize the concerns of sexual minorities from poor and / or non-English speaking backgrounds and sex workers, who otherwise have little or no access to information and resources. Sangama aims to bring sexuality, sexual preference and gender identity into the realm of public discourse; and link it to gender, human rights development and other social movements. Sangama campaigns for the changes in the existing laws, which discriminate against sexual minorities, including sex workers and people living with HIV / AIDS (PLHA). They work with family members, friends, co-workers and partners of sexual minorities.

While at Sangama, students will have interactive field visits, watch documentaries, hear personal experiences from the community, take part in sessions on lesbian issues, workshops on human rights and sexuality and an activity session / group discussion with a college in Bangalore where Sangama conducts their awareness program. They will also participate in any campaigns that may take place during our time with them.

Samata

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Samata is a voluntary organization working for tribal (adivasi) in the Eastern Ghats of southern India and specifically in the north coastal region of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Samata is an advocacy and lobby group for tribal peoples’ concerns on violation of their rights; vis-à-vis lands, forests and other natural resources, violation of their human rights and dignity, problems of development negligence and lapses in government functioning, exploitation by non tribals, money-lenders, traders, and by public and private industries. Samata also works towards strengthening tribal communities, in their assertion for Self Rule and governance, and protecting their cultures and customary rights. Samata’s primary focus in the last 15 years has been on organizing the adivasi (indigenous) people to assert and protect their constitutional and traditional rights over their natural resources and traditional livelihoods. The proposed project week includes visits to mining areas and working with Samata in tribal areas. We will be closely working with Balmitra and CRYNet also.

This project week is being launched in 2012.