आओ गांव को जाने!
October 16-22, 2017 | A 7 day long residential program for urban kids
OBJECTIVES
To create an understanding of rural eco-systems among kids coming from urban environment and to help them experience the values that rural populace naturally lives with.
BACKGROUND
It is unanimously accepted that India is a land of villages. Around 70% population of our country thrives in the villages. Yet, we, the remaining 30%, know very little or, in some cases, almost nothing of the rich cultural heritage and knowledge systems that our villages have. On the contrary, we, the urbanites, grow up with deep conditionings to believe that villagers are financially poor and intellectually incompetent to handle the course of their own ‘development’. We not only underestimate our villagers’ innate capabilities to learn from nature, but we also ignore their ability to collaborate with each other and co-exist while living in harmony with all creations including plant and animal world.
Eventually, when we grow up and assume important development related positions in Government or Non-Government sectors, our underestimations and misconceptions about our fellow countrymen lead us to come up with programs and strategies that tend to further damage the spirit of collaboration and harmony pre-existing at ground level.
‘आओ गांव को जाने’ is a program designed for urban kids to come forward and explore the villages on their own while keeping their conditionings and assumptions aside. The workshop shall help its participants to not only understand the rural eco-system but also experience the love, humility, co-operation and gratefulness that our villagers naturally come up with. The kids shall get a chance to spend time with kids/grown-ups of the villages, live the way they live, walk in the midst of nature and understand the basic knowledge systems related to Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forests, Governance etc through real time projects. We are sure that, for kids, it would not only be a perfect way to spend their outing, but would also be an opportunity that they would forever cherish in their lifetime.
Eventually, when we grow up and assume important development related positions in Government or Non-Government sectors, our underestimations and misconceptions about our fellow countrymen lead us to come up with programs and strategies that tend to further damage the spirit of collaboration and harmony pre-existing at ground level.
‘आओ गांव को जाने’ is a program designed for urban kids to come forward and explore the villages on their own while keeping their conditionings and assumptions aside. The workshop shall help its participants to not only understand the rural eco-system but also experience the love, humility, co-operation and gratefulness that our villagers naturally come up with. The kids shall get a chance to spend time with kids/grown-ups of the villages, live the way they live, walk in the midst of nature and understand the basic knowledge systems related to Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forests, Governance etc through real time projects. We are sure that, for kids, it would not only be a perfect way to spend their outing, but would also be an opportunity that they would forever cherish in their lifetime.
TOOLS AND OUTCOMES
The workshop shall use on-ground visits to nearby villages, dialogues, projects, interactive sessions, collaborative games and movies as its tools to achieve its objectives.
The entire workshop experience shall not only improve the understanding of kids about rural landscape but shall also inculcate values and nurture their lifeskills and leadership traits as they would be facilitated to work in groups to deliver real time projects. On the concluding day of the workshop, kids would be required to present their learnings and experiences to the entire group.
The entire workshop experience shall not only improve the understanding of kids about rural landscape but shall also inculcate values and nurture their lifeskills and leadership traits as they would be facilitated to work in groups to deliver real time projects. On the concluding day of the workshop, kids would be required to present their learnings and experiences to the entire group.
TIMELINE, BATCH SIZE, AGE AND VENUE
October 16-22, 2017
Minimum 15 - Maximum 25 kids
Age 12-17 Years; Grade 7-12
Bir, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Minimum 15 - Maximum 25 kids
Age 12-17 Years; Grade 7-12
Bir, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
EXECUTION PLAN (IN BRIEF)
The execution plan of the program shall be a mixture of both ‘Flow’ as well as ‘Structure’ based sessions. On one side, the participants shall be facilitated to completely ‘BE’ in the villages surrounded by the Himalayas while making new friends and knowing new lifestyles; on the other side, they would also be guided to understand the rural systems through carefully planned on-ground projects, related to Panchayat’s way of working, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry etc, that would require them to work in groups, design survey forms, conduct interviews, derive conclusions and present their learnings.
A brief of our seven day agenda is as follows:
In addition to above mentioned activities, the workshop shall use group sharing, collaborative games, movies, meditation and reflective sessions to achieve its objective.
A brief of our seven day agenda is as follows:
In addition to above mentioned activities, the workshop shall use group sharing, collaborative games, movies, meditation and reflective sessions to achieve its objective.
FINANCIALS
Rs 6,000 per participant. The charges include accommodation, food and local travel, as and when required, during the workshop. The charges do not include to and fro travel from participants' base location to Bir.
