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The International Conference of Mountain Children
May 18 - May 23 2002
Dehradun, Uttaranchal, India

 
                     
   
"This is our world, we cannot think of improving until we develop ourselves and our areas....Why don't we try to find solutions and make it a better place. And show God above all who is our guide that we care for him."
"Look at the mountains, they teach us to be strong. And the clouds tell us to cover the whole world like they do."
    
     
"The precipice symbolizes sadness, and the mountain gives us hope. The road tells us that we must face hardship and keep moving upward because God lives on the mountaintop."
    
     
"When they see the fresh grass and the colour of the mist the Gods will come down to the earth again"
"Man didn't make the mountains. The road leads to some far away village. Many rivers cross the road and sometimes when they flood their banks, people get swept away."
    
     
"Children must move forward together. The mountains are our destination. Above them is heaven."
    
The International Conference of Mountain Children (ICMC) was much more than simply a meeting of children from mountainous regions: It was the first step in a revolution that means to change how the world works with and perceives children and mountain communities. Though millions of development aid money spent in the world is earmarked for children's issues, rarely are the children themselves consulted on what they need or want. Even worse, despite vast funds being pumped into children's welfare, many children still lack adequate nutrition, medical care, education, and, saddest of all, a childhood, for they spend their young lives struggling to survive. (According to the UNICEF, some 600 million children still live in poverty.) This is particularly true for the children of mountain communities, which continue to languish on the fringes of the world's consciousness, even as the mountains they live in are exploited for their natural resources.
The ICMC was inspired in part by two concurrent global events: the Global Movement for Children, headed by Nelson Mandela, and the UN designation of 2002 as the International Year of the Mountains. The conference itself served a dual purpose:
 
  • To bring together children from remote mountain areas (who wouldn't normally have an opportunity for such interaction) to discuss their problems and work together to find solutions; and
  • To provide a permanent platform for such interaction through the creation of the Mountain Children's Forum.
The ICMC was a success. The path leading up to it was fraught with problems and frustrations. Now that the conference is over, we can look back and try to learn from past mistakes and use the challenges we now face to help us evolve our methods. As we have always said, the real work begins after the ICMC is over.

The ICMC took place from 18th-21st May 2002 in Uttaranchal, India, the newest mountain state in the world. The conference was funded by Plan International, and hosted by the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) at their IMD campus in Dehra Dun. It was made possible by an unprecedented collaboration of more than a dozen NGOs and was organized by RACHNA, a non-government organization based in Dehra Dun that works for the promotion of comprehensive and people-based strategies for socio-economic advancement of the Himalayan areas.
A total of 72 young people attended the ICMC as official delegates. They represented mountainous regions across India as well as Nepal and the Tibetan community in India. Between them, they spoke more than a dozen different languages. As there was no single common language, the conference was conducted in a mix of Hindi and English with the adult facilitators acting as translators. The children also came from diverse
 
On the afternoon of the 17th, fourteen children arrived from the northeast. As they piled into the cafeteria, hungry and exhausted from their long journey, a young boy from Uttaranchal approached me, pointed at the newcomers and asked in careful English, "What country are they from?" "India," I said, laughing a little. "No," he said, frustrated that I didn't seem to understand him, "W hat country are they from?" "India," I replied again. This went on for a few minutes until I told the boy to ask one of the northeast children himself. He returned from the exchange with a puzzled look on his face and leaned to me to confide in a hushed voice, "I think they're from one of those countries next to India!" - Kirsten, an American volunteer for ICMC
backgrounds ranging from remote tribal villages to affluent private schools. There were 44 boys and 28 girls. They ranged in age from 14-18. For many of the children, this was their first trip away from their villages and the first time they had met people from outside their own communities.

The original vision of the ICMC had children from mountainous regions all over the world coming together in India for the conference. We hoped to make use of the Plan International's vast global network of programs and organization to help coordinate and bring the children to India. But in the end, Nepal was the only Plan program country outside India to send delegates to the ICMC. Realities of the post-September 11th world, tensions between India and Pakistan, which made people hesitant to travel to the region, along with insufficient funding to cover international travel expenses forced us to scale the conference down to a regional level. Nonetheless, the children that participated represented such diversity in background and experience, that the ICMC was a unique experience for all of them.

Since children were not just the focus of the conference but also the future stewards of the MCF, we attempted to keep the ICMC flexible enough that the children could direct discussions and activities, while maintaining just enough structure to keep things moving forward and compensate for the lack of time. When they arrived, the children knew little about the purpose of the conference or about the other delegates. By the end of the five days, they had not only set up a structure and rules for the Mountain Children's Forum, but also planned and carried out the function to mark the launch of the MCF and the end of the conference, an event that included nearly 400 people.


OBJECTIVES :

To provide a measurement of its success, the first ICMC set itself 11 simple first objectives. Looking back, we believe we met all the objectives we had established for the ICMC, as a starting point and a launching pad for the MCF. This is how the delegates met these objectives through four days of discussion and sharing:

  1. Establish the Mountain Children's Forum (MCF) as an institution and a platform for mountain children across the world to be engaged, interact with one another, and be heard.
    The delegates formally established the Mountain Children's Forum, and created an official declaration of purpose and rules to guide the MCF.
  2. Establish the concept of children as their own representatives at the local and global level.

    The entire ICMC was an example of children speaking for and representing themselves and this message was widely broadcast by the media coverage of the event. In addition, the children had the opportunity to meet with and address the Governor of Uttaranchal as well as other highly placed politicians and civil servants in the Uttaranchal government. Mr. N.N. Prasad, Uttaranchal Secretary for Tourism, stated that he was so impressed with what the delegates had to say at the ICMC that he would now work to actively involve children in his own department's upcoming meetings on ecotourism. Thus, and most importantly, the ICMC showed the children themselves that they could speak to government officials at the highest levels and be heard. We hope this is something they carry home with them.
  3. Set up new ways of working with children and break stereotypes of development.

    Traditionally, development has often been done "to" children rather than for them. Even as we planned for the ICMC we had to struggle against traditional paradigms and the desire of people to tell the children what to do and say. During the ICMC, the children were encouraged to express their own views and opinions and we focused on exercises that would challenge them to think creatively and independently. The final function of the conference, the ceremonies to mark the launch of the MCF, was planned and conducted entirely by the children, providing important support to the contention that these children are capable of sitting at the table with adults when it comes to deciding the issues that concern them. Furthermore, in an important endorsement of the ICMC, the government of Uttaranchal has shown interest in involving children in development matters relating to them, particularly planning and policy meetings.
  4. Involve children in the evaluation and execution of child-development schemes by the government and voluntary organizations.

    The delegates to the ICMC, by showing how articulate, passionate and competent children can be, have laid the foundation for children to be taken more seriously in the planning and execution of government schemes. As mentioned above, the Uttaranchal government has already expressed the intent to involve children in development issues that affect their lives. In addition, each of the NGOs that participated in the conference has expressed a commitment to involving children in their own activities and helping convey their views to the appropriate government entities.

    The children, too, are anxious to begin work and are looking for opportunities to bring what they have discussed into reality. Although the ICMC is only a first step, we feel sure that the momentum we have achieved will carry this objective forward.
  5. Showcase Uttaranchal, the youngest mountain state in the youngest mountain range in the world, as being the laboratory and proving ground for the revolutionary process of empowering children to speak for themselves.

    The ICMC generated a great deal of interest in the regional and national media. The ICMC was India's first contribution to the celebration of the UN-designated International Year of the Mountains. In addition, the Government of Uttaranchal has provided crucial support for the ICMC throughout the two-year process of making the conference a reality.
  6. Generate a follow up mechanism to facilitate the growth of this movement within Uttaranchal and around the globe.

    In an exciting follow-up to the ICMC, the MCF received a grant from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust to facilitate the ongoing activities of the MCF. Children's Secretariats, through which the children can carry forward the activities and imperatives of the MCF have been established in each district of Uttaranchal. Efforts to establish secretariats in other states are underway. After attending the ICMC, the delegates from the "seven sisters" Northeastern states of India have set up a Children's Secretariat of their own and have begun to identify projects that they want to work on.

    Following the ICMC, several other child-focused activities have been geared towards furthering the goals and objectives of the MCF, including children's camps and workshops, and plans are on for ICMC 2003.
  7. Identify mountain-specific issues and demands as well as Uttarakhand -specific issues and demands

    The delegates spent the first two days discussing issues and formulating potential solutions for problems they had identified as pervading across all their mountain communities. These included lack of adequate educational facilities and teachers, violence against and exploitation of children, poverty and unemployment, and damage to environmental resources, particularly rivers and forests. Though many of these problems exist outside the mountains, the children's discussions during the ICMC demonstrate just how widespread they are in mountain communities. It is our hope that the MCF can provide the children with the resources, support and ability to work together to effectively address these issues.
  1. Provide children with the opportunity to share experiences, learn about each other's worlds, and learn that they too can and must influence policy and change what is not nice in the world.

    Perhaps the ICMC's greatest success has been in this area. Children from tremendously varied backgrounds, many of whom shared no common language still managed, through the course of the conference, to build bonds of friendship and shared purpose. They not only learned what was different in each other's worlds, they also found that they had much in common. Most importantly, despite their diversity, the children were able to come up with common purpose and agenda for the work they wish to do to improve their lives and the lives of all children.
  2. Begin to develop and promote a collective Himalayan Development Policy in India.

    The government of Uttaranchal will be working with RACHNA and the Children's Secretariats to formulate a blueprint for Uttaranchal, which will then be shared with other mountain states and countries.
  3. The formulation of a strategic policy for mountain children that will set policy agendas for health, education, livelihood and habitat in the mountain regions. Through the MCF, by giving children the opportunity to speak on their own behalf, we expect to see an impact on policy decisions made in Uttaranchal as well as in other mountain states. It will be the ongoing mission of the MCF to gather this information and use it to formulate a comprehensive strategic policy for mountain children.
  4. Awaken in the participants the confidence and desire to make a change!

    This is amply demonstrated in future plans for Secretariats in all the states and the plans for the next ICMC. The confidence with which the children carried the conference has demonstrated to them and the world at large that they do have the will and ability to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
    The ICMC team

We were fortunate to have a dynamic, talented and dedicated team whose efforts made the ICMC a success.

ICMC team:
Collaborating NGOs - Uttaranchal
ARPAN Pithoragarh
Arpit Udham Singh Nagar
CDI Rudraprayag
Chinmaya Degree College Haridwar
Ashok Pant Almora
Himad Chamoli
Himalayan Gram Vikas Samiti - Gagolighat
Janadhaar Dehradun
HITESHI Bageshwar
Jan Chetna Samiti Champawat
Kala Darpan Uttarkashi
PCT Dehradun
SBMA Anjanisain
SPECS Dehradun
Vimarsh Nainital
SMTA Chakrata
Sri Communications Pauri


and regional

TUNA - Don Bosco Tribal Development Society, Tamilnadu
PREM - Orissa
K.C. Secondary School, Shilong, Meghalaya
Paderu, Andhra Pradesh
Maharashtra.
Sutra - Himanchal
RUCHI - Himanchal
Central School for Tibetan - Himachal Pradesh

and our international guests from Plan Nepal


Cyril Raphael

The ICMC owes its existence to the vision of Cyril Raphael, who first came up with the idea of using the convergence of the International Year of the Mountains and the Global Movement for Children to create a special place on global stage for the children of the mountains. He has been guardian of the vision, ensuring that the true purpose of the ICMC is not lost within the details of planning the conference.


ICMC team RACHNA/SBMA, Janaadhar and SPECS

Aditi P. Kaur, Saji Kumar, Khila Bisht, Smita Patel, Sunil Kainthola, B.M Sharma, Pradeep Anthwal, JP Panwar, Gurjeet, Mohan, Sanjeeta, Ranju, Vinod, Pappu,

SBMA support for the event Gyan Singh Rawat, Manoj Bhatt, H.S Pankholi, Neetu Prasad, Rakesh Bisht, D.S Rawat, Usha, Rekha, Sant lal, Gajendra Nautiyal, Pradeep Dimri, CM Thapliyal, Meera,

Kirsten from the US who volunteered for the ICMC

Friends and supporters Shalini, Ranu, Vijay Shahi, Subhash Rawat, Sreedhar and his wonderful family, Manish Gurung,

..................... and many, many others put their shoulders to the wheel and made the dream a reality.