Community Ownership and Development - Towards Sustainable Livelihoods!

Manori CSA with the help of CCO staff had a concept clarity session on Bal Sansad at Uttan, Dongri, Pali, Manori, Chowk and Gorai to form new batches for the current academic year 2018-19. These sessions took place from the 6 th  to the 13 th  of June 2018 and 12 - 40 children from various zones participated. Through different games and group activities they discussed the basics of the concept and the expected duties and responsibilities. The resource person interacted with the children and explained that by joining a Bal Sansad they would have opportunities to participate in various activities and through that develop their personality, improve communication skills, respect the view of others, build a sense of responsibility, enhance their general knowledge, etc. Further, the children were asked to suggest the activities that they wanted to be included in the sessions. The children responded they were content with the ongoing activities like awareness on environmen...

  In order to spread awareness on the importance of protecting the environment, avoiding high expenses during celebrations and selling dry fishes on credit, 60 children at Uttan led a rally on 14 th June 2018. Children prepared motivating slogans such as paryavaranacha samtol rakhu,shudh hava, pani chakhu (Balance the environment for clean air & water), Udari masli deu naka,Dokyana santap geu naka (Avoid selling in credits avoid tension), Sohalyana karch karu naka,karjabajari hou naka (Avoid high expenditures avoid loans), and many more.  

An interactive session was held between the (PSI) and the Bal Sansad members on 10th May 2018. 22 participants from Pali and 10 from Chowk attended this session. The Police Patil of Pali Village. the CCO & CSA staff were also present for the meet. The structure and law pertaining to remand home and information about the activities carried on in the remand home were briefly discussed by the PSI. He explained with examples about the remand home and the reason of their establishment for a Juvenile delinquent. He said that a Remand Home is a place where a person who has been arrested and charged with a criminal offence until their trial is detained. It is an observation home for the Juvenile Delinquent where changes are brought in the behavior of these juveniles. He further said that the Juvenile Delinquency is participation in illegal behavior or the habitual committing of criminal acts or offences by minors below the age of 18 years. He also explained the protection against...

The pleasant morning wake up sound will get far if we do not conserve birds. A session on helping birds was held at Pali on 8th May 2018. Twenty six children from the Bal Sansad attended the session. The objective was to create  awareness  for  a bird friendly environment among the children and to provide safe facility for the birds. CCO staff Carol Munis was the felicitator of the event. She reviewed the activities done with the children. Children who studied Environmental Studies in school shared that with increasing expansion of cities, birds struggle to find natural water sources. They have proposed the idea of making this summer bird friendly by providing clean bowls of drinking water, facilitating nests and providing shelter to the birds. The outcome was such that the children have prepared 3 nests on their own with mutual cooperation and have built up the value of team spirit among them.

Skit on the three issues The CCO staffs along with the Bal Sansad organized an awareness rally on the 27 th April 2018. The summer camp children from std. 1 st to 10 th participated to create awareness on three main issues of Pali village. Around 203 children participated in the rally that marched on to all the 9 wards of the village. In the procession awareness slogans were raised, the banners and posters were also displayed at few places. Three short skits on the main issues of cleanliness & health, irregular water supply and lack of information on ration issues were performed. The skits on these issues helped to mobilize and create awareness once again by the children.  The participants from the youth volunteers (23 in all) were admirable. The students of std. 11 th & 12 th helped to manage the crowed along with the Bal Sansad children. The villagers from the youngest to the eldest have become aware of the three main issues at Pali. The volunteers were ex...

On 19 th April 2018 an educative session was held at Pali for the Bal Sansad with 28 children present for the same. The main objective was to understand the three pillars of the Indian Constitution and its functions. The Bal Sansad welcomed the resource person. The background of the Indian Constitution was explained to children by the resource person following which the topic was taught in detail. She said that the modern India Government was originally formed through the Constitution of India. While framing the Indian constitution the Constituent Assembly was working meticulously to frame a system of Governance in which the powers conferred by the people won't be vested on a single person/institution. Hence they devised the principle of 'Separation of powers' among the three pillars of democracy that is the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. She explained the role of the president, the functions of the governor, council of ministers, prime minister etc....

On 11 th January 2018 a meeting was held at Pali with the CC & three issues subcommittees along with the CSA staff. A total of thirty people were present for the meeting to plan for the execution of various tasks. The chair person was the president of CC. The meeting began with reading previous meeting report by the CC secretary and preceded by two members. The following agendas were discussed: ·          Evaluating the activities done by the three subcommittees for uncleanliness & health issue, lack of information on rationing issue and irregular water supply. ·          Planning the requirements for Rationing camp, Wall painting, Banners & Posters which needs to be done. ·          Planning the requirements for the issue of septic tank, Dustbins, wall painting, posters, banners. ·         ...

On 23 rd November 2017, forty seven Bal Sansad children were present for the input session on gender equality at Gorai. The objective of the session was to create awareness on equality and respect for women. The resource person Ms. Nasim   Kasughar, CCO staff explained to the children various ways in which discrimination starts from our house to society. They are limited to access resources and opportunities such as education, job, healthcare services etc.   right from food, education, work   to behavior. Most of the time people underestimate the efforts and hardwork put by women and their capabilities. The list of Indian women who have made great achievements in various fields all over the world are in plenty for e.g Mother Teresa . Sunita Williams, Kalpana Chawla etc. An interaction session as a follow up on the input session was held on 30 th November 2017 at Gorai again with nineteen children from Bal Sansad participating. The children were asked quest...