OIYP India APs meet

Oxfam India Capacity Building Workshop
1 – 5 December 2011

Sanskriti Kendra New Delhi      

We, a group of young change makers and the Indian Action Partners (APs) with Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) had come together for a capacity workshop organized from 1 – 5 December at Sanskriti Kendra, Delhi. The following is the brief report of the workshop.

OIYP is a global network of young people who share a vision of just world and are committed to working for peaceful, equitable and sustainable social change within their communities. For every three years, OIYP will have three hundred young people from over hundred countries, sharing a common platform to discuss new ideas and share experiences among each other to enrich skills and capacities for delivering better services at their communities.  So far 1200 young people are part of this network across four generations.  The current cycle of OIYP 2010 – 2013, started with kaleidoscope in New Delhi, India.

Post kaleidoscope, with an objective of bringing together Indian APs and facilitate a process for effective partnerships among APs, Oxfam India has organized an capacity building workshop from 1 – 5 December, 2011 at Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi.  The workshop is attended by over 20 APs, across four generations of OIYP, Pallavi Kaushal - Youth Officer from Oxfam India, Geoff Hazell - OIYP Coordinator from Oxfam Australia office and is facilitated by Pramada Menon, eminent social activist and trainer.

The workshop proved successful and effective as the APs could familiarize each others’ work and identify spaces for potential partnerships. The first three days of the workshop was focused on training on Human Rights, UDHR, and deriving Human Rights perspectives on the work APs are already doing. The later two days workshop staged space to discuss the need for networking among APs and also the possible collaborations. By the end of the workshop the APs came out with specific Action Plans on how to support each others work and decided to go ahead with the plans. Realizing the need and positive impact it creates, the APs have decided to have similar workshop in near future and also try to bring in the other APs who missed out this event. It was also decided during the meet that the next workshop will be held in Hyderabad in the third week of February 2012.

Working , Working and Working

My work on ageing samachar website has intensified. The entire last month went on for looking out houses for starting the Old Age Home. As the time progressed I realized its not so easy to find a suitable house and also new queries on issues like cook, care taker, gas connections, intake procedures etc have come up suggesting me to get back my original plans of visiting Old Age Homes first and then starting one by self.

During the last few weeks I was frustrated at the pace the things are going on. So I also decided to resign to my job and start spending more time for the website and other related work. However, repeated requests from the college principal made me to change my plans and postpone my resignation for a while. The principal permitted me to utilise fieldwork days, every Wednesday and Thursday, for my work, further I thought I could also use weekends for the same purpose.

My work with OIYP & other networks is going on at its own pace, with regular correspondence and my contributions where ever necessary. I wrote an article on OIYP's  October Voice Newsletter.  

Shaping up thoughts !

Today dad and myself came to Ramayampet for some financial work related to world elders day held a few days ago. Yesterday morning we started to ramayampet via a small temple in Yedupayala. The whole journey was about 6.5 hours . All throughout the journey we discussed many things about the old age home project . How we should start, how we must run it, what care we should take, what are the objectives of the home, what should be next step etc. , almost everything about the project is discussed. I am feeling very happy and pleasant for the discussions that took place. I feel much better and now have a very good clarity about the project. Finally we decided the home must start with out any more delay. So today I will take dad around the few houses I shortlisted for the home .

Doing good with Ageing Samachar and Other assignments !

I am glad that the Aging samachar project is now going on well ! I have started to work on the Insurance companies details. The task is to contact the insurance companies and take the details of insurance packages available and the services they provide The Interviews with Old Age Homes are delayed for some more time as I still have to draft the questionnaire ! For the "research" on insurance companies and other tasks, I have recruited three MSW students. I am hopeful that the project now speeds up and be implemented as early as possible !

Back 2 Home after Awesome trip to Taiwan

Finally back to home. After 16 days of travel and stay in Taiwan, finally yesterday morning I returned to home. My mind is fresh with wonderful experiences over past 1 month and body is a bit very tiered. I love to take my mental energy forward to accomplish my tasks ahead.

All the day I relaxed and now getting ready for the routine life. The next few months will be very crucial as I have planned to implement projects that would decide the rest of my life.

College Reopens after Vacation

Today the college has re-opened after a brief vacation for one month. Although officially it means the classes for MSW students must begin today, it still takes atleast 2 weeks to see students coming to college. Adding to the vacation mood, the students have to wait until 14 August to avail travel concession to come to the college. So it means until 14 August, there would be very few students; Todat I shared about my initiative regarding lake campaign with few faculty (Kanaka Durgamba and Ravindra Chary) at the college.

The whole day seems to be a waste of time as it didnt serve any purpose. During the evening I received a call from the travel agent saying that my Taiwan visa is on hold until I send them the NOC from my employer (HARD). I decided I will send it tomorrow morning. For this, I might skip off my college.

Visit to a Old Age Home !

Today I visited an Old Age Home located on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The home is situated in middle of a 10 acre farm flattened for making plots for commercial units, I suppose. Despite travelling to such a far off place, I could not enter and see the actual building as the watchmen isn't available. From outside the building looked very new and spacious. The person who brought me to this place is a co-founder of the home. He explained the home has 75 independent rooms and two dormitories accommodating each 5 old people. The home also has adequate water supply. Almost everything is set except its being occupied by old people. And the Home management finds it as a big challenge to over come. They invited me if I could offer any help for the home.

I liked the home and its location very much but the offer from the home people is not so attracting. They do not want to lease or get into any sort of contract. Rather they are just looking for some one who can work for improving the home's prospects and bring the inmates count to atleast 50.

Nod for old age good !

Today is one of the most exciting day ! My parents accepted my idea to start an Old Age Home near Medchal. Some 2000 Sq. yards of land will be donated to the Home. If all my plans go well. I should have a better clarity on this by September last week. The survey I am doing will help me in this regards.

M&Ms Facilitator Training begins

Very happy to see myself in the new role of an Facilitator for the upcoming E-Workshop on Organizing Campaigns ! The e-workshop is from 1 to 30 August. M&M / facilitator roles are always well respected in OIYP. And also great responsibility to deal with !