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NewsLEtter JuLY 2011

From the desk

Mr. B.K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural

Development, Government of India.

While referring to the e-learning modules

and learning tool kits that will be

customized for Parvaaz, Mr. Sinha said,

”The course content, pedagogy has to be

different and I am very happy you have

come up with exactly that. I am amazed

at the care that has gone into the creation

of e-learning modules for Parvaaz.” He

further added that in the last 38 years of

his experience, he has seen a lot of

projects have started with a lot of fanfare,

but have ended with a whimper. He does

not want the same to happen with

Parvaaz. “We look forward to a great

inauguration. A good publicity will

generate a lot of hope…and hope is all a

poor man has. It is a huge project that will

impact BPL families to come out of the

vicious circle of poverty by empowering

them with a job in the organized sector. I

wish you all the best, to continue the

outstanding efforts you have already

started in this direction.”

∞∞∞∞∞

Welcome to the second edition of the Parvaaz Newsletter! The beginnings are well in place. After months of

planning and preparation, Parvaaz has finally come at its crucial roll out phase at the level of states.

Inception Workshop, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi

In purview of the same, on July 14, 2011 an inception workshop for Parvaaz was organized at Krishi Bhawan,

Ministry of Rural Development office at New Delhi. The purpose of the workshop was to acquaint the

government officials with the project essentials and progress updates along with major highlights. It was to

familiarize them on how Parvaaz will take flight at the classroom level and what kind of learning kits and

project manuals will be used for imparting the training to the rural BPL minority youth. About 50 participants,

including representative heads from various ministries, IL&FS, TIE Foundation, Koyothore Bata Foundation

along with others, attended the workshop. Mr. B.K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development; Dr.

Arvind Mayaram, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of Rural Development; Mr. T. Vijay Kumar,

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD); Mr. Ashish Joshi, Director (Planning & Programme),

Ministry of Minority Affairs; Ms. Preeti, Director, NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission); Mr. R.C.M. Reddy,

MD, IL&FS Education; Ms. Saleha Waseem, Director, TIE Foundation; Dr Raj Dravid,Chief Operating Officer,

Skills Development with their respective teams.

~~First Reactions~~

Dr. Arvind Mayaram (Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, MoRD) congratulated Ms. Saleha Waseem,

Director, TIE Foundation and Mr. R.C.M Reddy (MD, IL&FS Education) for bringing good teams together for the

project. He stated, “Though it is a pilot project, the methodology and philosophy behind Parvaaz has found

resonance even with Jammu and Kashmir and left wing affected areas, as it seemed like a very sound strategy

to follow for bringing the marginalized into the mainstream. This has the potential to be the game changer for

thousands who are in need of such a programme. My best wishes are with the Parvaaz team.”

In the picture, Mr. B.K. Sinha, Secretary, MoRD, Dr. Arvind Mayaram, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, MoRD and Mr. T. Vijay Kumar, Joint Secretary, MoRD addressing the teams from TIE Foundation, led by Ms. Saleha Waseem, Director and IL&FS, led by Mr. R.C.M Reddy, M.D. at the Inception workshop at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

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Mr. Ashish Joshi, Director (Programmes & Planning), Ministry of Minority Affairs added that in the 11

th FYP, education and

employment has been given tremendous emphasis. It was skill development per se that needed a more focused approach. “I

am glad that your pilot program addresses the problem of skills development. Also, I feel that there has to be more stress on

the cluster approach, i.e. the convergence of various government schemes.” He offered full support of Ministry of Minority

Affairs to the project through the mention of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), which was

set up by the Government of India to promote economic development of the minorities. He appreciated the scientific basis of

the baseline survey that has been carried out and hence was therefore confident of the project being successful.

Ms. Preeti, Director, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) referred to the project as a “commendable effort” and said that, her team will be looking forward for it to be successful and be converted into a full-fledged government scheme.

Training of State Coordinators for Community Mobilization

Picture Left: Interaction and discussion with Banapur villagers including Panchayat mukhiya, parents, teachers and all important representative

stakeholders on how to reduce drop out rate from cluster schools. Picture Right: Ms. Meenu Gulati, Project Head, training and orienting the

state coordinators at Jamui, Bihar.

The training for State Coordinators was held at Jamui district, Bihar from 26th

to 29th

July. Mr Venkat Reddy,

National Convenor, MV Foundation, which was running several successful bridge courses in the state, coordinated

the training. The main objective of this mobilization training was to expose the teams from TIE Foundation and

IL&FS Education to the mechanism of tried and tested methodologies of the residential bridge courses in naxalite

hit clusters of Bihar. This was crucial from a learning standpoint as mobilization of volunteers from the toughest

areas for the developmental process was being experienced by the state coordinators who would further be

mobilizing the communities in their respective states. Banapur and Ghari village were visited by the teams at Jamui

and the system of Residential Bridge Course (RBC), Cluster Resource Centre (CRC), Bal Bandhu and Bal Mitras was

very closely understood. The significance of ‘interface mobilization’ was explained via extensive counseling during

parent-teacher-children meetings with the important stakeholders of the community.

Community Mobilization Workshops conducted across states.

Mobilization and Sensitization workshops at the grassroot level were conducted in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and

Bihar on 30th

(for influencers) and 31st

July 2011 (for community mobilizers). On the first day, the participants of

the mobilization and sensitization training workshop were the influencers from the community, academicians,

sarpanches, Imams and school/college principals and teachers. It started with the trainers from TIE Foundation

making the participants understand the need for Parvaaz, and then subsequently followed by what were to be its

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key components. The present situation of the Muslims in today’s context was depicted with respect to the status

of education and employment and basic statistics from Sachar Committee’s report were also discussed. Once the

community started understanding the need and implications of the project, the major highlights of the project

were shared. It was told, that 5000 school dropouts from 17-25 years of age in the rural BPL category will be

taught through innovative and technological teaching aids and given employment in the organized sector with due

hand holding post placement. Genuine doubts and questions were asked which were convincingly answered.

Parvaaz brochures and follow up written material was handed out to the participants as reference material.

Important pointers about women participation came up from the influencers themselves. Considering the fact,

that the rural minority communities in Haryana, UP and Bihar are somewhat conservative, the participation of

women in large numbers came as a pleasant surprise. In words of Nazma, a young school teacher from Nuh block,

Mewat, “Parvaaz will be an opportunity to change the mindsets. Sabse zaroori hai ki soch badli jaye. Main umeed

karti hun ki hum jaisi teachers ko bhi Parvaaz ke zariye ek naya moka milega. (It is extremely important that the

mindsets are changed. I hope that teachers like us, are also given an opportunity to be a part of this programme.)

School teachers and retired principals also came out in full support for Parvaaz. Interactions with community

leaders were done to assess the problems Parvaaz might face in future. These issues and challenges were

important to know and to be understood in depth so that plans and strategies could be drafted well in advance to

stay clear of them.

The second day saw the participation of young volunteers from the community, who were to act as community

mobilizers during the course of the project. This was a much younger crowd than the previous day and was

enthusiastic to lead as changemakers in their respective communities. Women participation from all three states

was exemplary. The need of ‘samudai bhagidari’ (Community Mobilization) was effectively explained through

presentations in Hindi followed by the screening of a 5 minute movie clip. The qualities that were needed on the

field by the mobilizers were listed through an interactive process and what was their role as mobilizers, was

thoroughly discussed. A lot of discussion and brainstorming was done in groups and the ideas were generated by

the members from the community themselves on how and in what ways do they plan to reach out to the

community under Parvaaz. A well drafted work plan was formulated block wise by the members and roles were

assigned with timelines (from 1st

-31st

August). This plan of action, was brought back to the TIE Foundation’s, Delhi

office to be further incorporated in the strategies that were to be charted in the coming month.

~~ Reactions from the community mobilizers and other major influential stakeholders ~~

“Community is desperate to change itself. Everyone wants to come ahead and feel empowered. A

sense of hope is all what they want. Parvaaz will give them that.” - Ms. Memuna Sultan, Member,

Juvenile Justice Board, District Faridabad, wife of Mr. Aftab Ahmed, MLA, Nuh, was very impressed with what the

project had set out to achieve.

“Bihar might have the richest soil...but some of the poorest people as well. A project like Parvaaz will offer a

wonderful opportunity for education and more importantly employment and jobs. Humse jo ban padega hum

karenge. (All that we can do for the project, we will.)” - Abdul Khaliq, B.D.O, Amour, Purnia, Bihar

“If you want success for Parvaaz, women participation is must. Also, collective supervision and collective

responsibility of the community for the project is crucial. Until a sense of ownership doesn’t come from the

community, changing mindsets will be difficult.” - Mohd. Rafiq Azad, 66 years, Jamia University, Nuh, Mewat

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Community mobilizers and influencers getting oriented in full swing at the training workshops in Mewat (Haryana), Moradabad (Uttar

Pradesh) and Purnea (Bihar). As seen here, women participation was seen in large numbers which was a positive development for Parvaaz. The

communities charted out a draft plan for mobilization using resources available locally in their respective communities. Retired principals,

school teachers, etc, came out in full support to the project.

Community Mobilization – Pictures speak a thousand words!