"I thought of an idea to document women's experiences and interface with IVF technology and doctors' views on IVF expansion in the North East of India. FST held full trust and faith in my idea and provided the platform to express my views based on the study findings to a larger audience in the North East".
Leena Uppal
FST Individual Fellow
Assam
The North East region of India is known for its abundant resources and unique cultures and communities; this rich diversity is also often the cause of ethnic conflicts and tensions. A long felt sense of alienation and isolation from the Indian mainstream further compoundsthe situation in the region whichwitnesses significant socio-economic disparities and political unrest.
The instability has adversely affected the development scenario of the North East India. Several indicators reveal a discouraging picture: poverty incidence is high, gender inequity is severe, there are still a number of areas subjected to continued violence, and rapid natural resource degradation is depleting the very assets that are usually highlighted as offering the greatest potential for development. The region’s agriculture sector has been declining, and diversification into services and manufacturing has been inadequate. Moreover, the process of globalization has led to the emergence of new issues like migration, increasing youth unrest and their addiction to drugs, high incidence of HIV/AIDS, lack of planned urban development, etc.
In recent times, there has been considerable investment for the development of the northeast region. On the one hand, several large infrastructure development projects funded by national and international agencies have been undertaken by the state governments. Many such projects did not take into account democratic and holistic planning processes, consequently causing large scale displacements, man-made disasters, environmental degradation, conflict, etc. On the other hand, there are still large parts in many states, especially the Hill areas which are still inaccessible due to lack of proper roads and communication facilities, and where people are still deprived of basic services and amenities.
Thus, development practice and civil society work in Northeast India has to take into account the unique socio-economic and political realities of the region and locate their work within the larger socio political context, understand the impact of certain development policies and projects on the people of the region and on issues of marginalization and vulnerability. This will increase their own capabilities to negotiate and utilize schemes/services and deal with existing service delivery systems
FST initiatives:
FST has been supporting the work of civil society groups across 7 states of the region to provide small grants and modest fellowships to local NGOs and individuals, supporting their work across a range of thematic areas that include - gender and social justice, youth development, natural resources and linked livelihoods & regional art and culture.
Now in its third year, FST has 51 partners - 19 organisations and 32 individuals - whose creativity and innovative work has much potential for social change as they conduct leadership and vocational skill training for the youth, enable access and improve quality of health and education facilities in remote villages, promote good governance, advocate for child rights, enhance child participation, raise awareness about rights and entitlements and much more.
FST also endeavours to build capacities of its partners and facilitate forging of wider networks and alliances to extend and sustain their initiatives. In the past FST has organised workshops for partners on various need based topics in collaboration with resource persons from within and outside the region. The topics covered in the past workshops were more generic in nature - Resource Mobilisation, Organisation Development, Documentation and Communication, Fundraising,
Workshop rationale:
Based on the rich experiences and diverse range of work done by our partners, our understanding of needs of the region, and as we come to the close of the current grant making project, we realize that there is a great need to learn and share from each other’s experiences, revisit the thematic areas, discuss and discourse, so as to deepen our understanding of the issues, build networks and alliances and explore options for strengthening and taking forward our work into the future.
It is in this connection that we are collaborating with TISS NERC and other resource persons and experts to organize a workshop for our partners to discuss our work, build common perspectives on general issues and specific themes – child rights, youth development, gender and social justice and natural resources and linked livelihoods.
Workshop objectives:
1. To facilitate interaction, sharing and networking across and beyond the region
2. To facilitate a critical reflection and analysis of development issues both at micro and macro level
3. To build on the participants’ existing understanding of the thematic issues related to child rights, youth development, gender and social justice, natural resources and linked livelihoods
4. To strengthen skills and capacity for intervention at different levels of practice
National Resources & Linked Livelihoods
The NE region is a biodiversity hotspot (6th in the world!) with 52% forest cover; it is home to abundant species – flora and fauna. Despite the pressures of population, monetization of the rural economy and erosion of community control, natural resources still play a critical role in the economic life of people of the region, particularly those living in rural areas. These natural resources include pastures, grazing land, village and unclassed forests, wasteland, watershed drainage, ponds, tanks and streams. Villagers collect fuel- wood, fruits, roots, tubers, gums and resins, honey, fish, weeds, herbs, grasses, bamboo, manure etc from these common resources, which are not only used for domestic consumption but also sold and used in local cottage industries.
Rampant deforestation and exploitation for commercial purposes, depletion of forest cover and habitat has endangered many species and brought some to the brink of extinction. Short sighted and bureaucratic conservation policies have often led to the shrinking of common property resources and reduced access to them adversely affects the economies of local communities. Thus there is need to introspect on appropriate models and strategies that sustain the livelihood requirements of local communities and also protect and preserve the natural resources.
Topics/Issues to be covered:
Bio diversity and Traditional Knowledge Systems
Natural Resources and linked livelihoods, community initiatives
Group Discussions on Challenges in working with communities; Convergence with existing dev programs; Advocacy issues
Interactions with community members living near Intangki wildlife sanctuary area