Umang – children for unified action

Children have the right to express their own opinions and to have them taken into account in any matter affecting them.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12

The child shall have the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 13

Situational Analyses

Governments and organisations the world over have committed to increasing the involvement of children in the development process. The Government of India for the first time came out with a Policy on Children in 1972. These directions are binding on the states and they are required to come out with a Policy or Action Plan with its core components primarily drawn from the National Policy. Unfortunately, not many states have considered their children valuable enough to pay attention to their well being with focussed programmes and activities that would promote Child Rights. Most of the state programmes benefiting the children are scattered under departments like Health, Education, Social Welfare and Women and Child Welfare. One of the underlying reasons being that these children don’t form the Vote Bank for the politicians in power and therefore get a raw deal when the government take the whole population as the universe for targeting the programmes.

Children of Uttarakhand1 within their Bal Panchayats2 (Children Clubs) have realised the situations and have decided to exercise their Right to Participate in addressing the issues that not only effects them but also their communities. They are and pressing upon the government to come out with a State Policy or a Specific Action Plan with a time frame for the children. Children have already taken initiative in this regard. Since past eight months the children groups have been organising consultations with various stakeholders (children, parents, general public, educational institutions, government officials) from community-block-district-state levels. Through consultations with the children they came out with the recommendations for the Policy, which was submitted to the government on 21, May 2006.

1 Uttarakhand is the 27th state of the Republic of India. It was formed on 9th Nov 2000 and was carved out of Uttar Pradesh after a long struggle of the Uttarakhandi people. Uttarakhand lies in the Northern part of India amidst the magnificent Himalayas and dense forests. The state is bordering Himachal Pradesh in the north-west and Uttar Pradesh in the South and has international borders with Nepal and China. The State today with 13 Districts can be grouped into three distinct geographical regions, the High mountain region, the Mid-mountain region and the Terai region. Dehradun is the interim-capital city. Uttarakhand consists of 13 districts viz., Almora, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Haridwar, Champawat, Nainital, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag. The total population of Uttranchal is 8479562 according to the census of 2001; children below 18 year constitute 49% of total population.

2 Bal Panchayat (children club) are the children association at village level between 9-18 years old. These Bal Panchayatsprovide platform to children to organize and express their voice within and outside of the village. In SBMA/Plan working area (Gairsain and Uttarkashi) more than 300 Bal Panchayats are actively involved in the process of their own development.

The struggle continues for the children groups since the government has yet to take a definitive action on this. In their continuous endeavour, the children are coming to realise that unless they establish a network that connects more and more children from all the districts, and work as a cohesive force who speak in one voice and strengthen it through media for greater visibility, as also to keep their issue alive, the vision of having responsive policy-makers and adults in the society who see them as equal participants in development will continue to remain a distant dream.

Genesis and first steps of Umang - a child media group

A small voice of an exuberant group of children and young people, who call themselves Umang (means Exuberance) Group, can already be heard from the remote mountains of Himalayas. Umang is the outcome of the endeavour of the children of Bal Panchayats and youth facilitators from the working area of SBMA/Plan, Gairsain, who under went an intensive one year media training under the Plan International (India) initiated programme called; Amazing Kids was geared towards highlighting the stories of children and their achievements to audiences in their own communities and to encourage kids in other communities to share with a wider audience. The main objective of the project was to strengthen children's capacity to document their own stories, to give them hands-on practical experience on the use of media for advocacy and to facilitate them to collect and use information for empowerment of their communities. The children took forward this intervention according to their own interpretations and understanding.

SBMA/Plan3 a programme unit of Plan International (India), in its Umang initiative has established an innovative process that is taking child participation to another level by recognising them as a potential resource in the world of media–both regional and mainstream.

At Gairsain, the children took to AK like a fish to the water. A dedicated group of 44 children and youth facilitators underwent a composite training on multimedia and writing for newspapers, raising awareness within the communities and other stakeholders which also included the government. The tools used were photography, comics, internet, story writing, digital stories, and making radio spots. The children were persistent in their endeavours and organised themselves for concerted efforts and collective outcomes and thus Umang Group came into existence. Since eighteen months of its formation, Umang has been writing stories on social issues like alcoholism, gender inequity, exploitation, child labour, child marriage and second marriages etc. They are also documenting successful case studies and innovative and imaginative stories. This group have also attended advance course on radio programming. They are writing scripts for their programmes and went to New Delhi, which is 700 km away from their communities to record and edit their programmes. They use voices of the community to make it interesting and appealing to the community. They used these spots for community awareness campaigns through 'narrow casting'. They take these programmes to the communities and play them using tape recorders. They organised a media campaign on child rights using wall papers, comics and radio.

3 With humble beginnings in 1977 as a place for destitute women and children of Garhwal Himalayas Sri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA) over the years has evolved into a comprehensive people’s institution. SBMA has undertaken major developmental interventions on issues relating to woman and child health, education, collaborative efforts on joint watershed and forest management3 to name a few. SBMA has always believed that change begins with a shift in attitude. And growth begins with self-respect and self-reliance, where people actively and innovatively shape their own future. Even with the growth in scope and activities, SBMA strives to serve the people and respond to their needs. In this noble endeavor SBMA began partnering with Plan India in 1996 and continued its efforts with particularly women and children. Presently SBMA/Plan has two PU in operation– Gairsain PU in Chamoli district and Uttarkashi PU in Uttarkashi district of Uttranchal state.

In May 2006 Umang Group, supported by SBMA/Plan launched its first Rural Knowledge Centre (RKC) at Gairsain. Through RKC The Umang Group produces multi media content using stories written, photographs taken and comics made besides producing radio programmes on useful information. The group has shared the material with other children clubs and has even trained a small group of Bal Panchayat (Children Club) members on media tools. These groups from different areas are communicating with each other on the issues affecting them as children and their communities.

The Rural Knowledge Centre, by Umang Group also has a phone helpline for the public. Any one from the nearby villages could pick up the phone and dial the helpline number to access useful information available at the centre, which is being compiled by knowledge workers on issues like diseases, health facilities, environmental best practices, agriculture, alternate livelihoods, and educational opportunities.

When the opportunity came to Plan International (India) to nominate two child journalists for participation on Day of General Discussion by Child Right Committee4 at Geneva, the obvious choice was that they should be from Gairsain area, where child journalists as member of Umang Group are showing promising future with the kind of successful case studies emanating from them.

4 The CRC Committee identifies the ‘Right to Participate’ as one of the four general principles of Convention and selected “Speak, Participate and Decide- The Child’s Right to be heard”, as the theme for UN Day of General Discussion (DoGD) during its 43rd session, which was held on September 15th, 2006. First time in its history, UNCRC invited children to be part of the discussion during DoGD. Plan International, as part of the Interagency Group decided to support 11 children from different Plan countries to participate in the meeting. From ARO, two children from Gairsain, Chamoli district, Uttranchal India were nominated.)

During these past eighteen months, the management, coordination and collaborative skills of these children have immensely improved and they have also begun to acquire the precision of the experts. They have found the power of unity and networks to create a voice that has the potential to resonate through out the state. The children of Bal Panchayats have found a promising future in Umang and see it as a successful model for creating powerful communicators who are proficient with media tools that generate greater visibility on children-specific issues.

Strategy - The Way Forward

The Bal Panchayats plan to expand the concept of child media groups that would lead to the creation of Children Press Service, a network to bring children-related issues to the forefront and build linkages with the local and regional media. Umang Group has come to the stage when it can be a resource group for the capacity building of other children as child media teams.

The trained Umang Group, will be the core team that will act as a catalyst, trainer and facilitator to build capacities of identified children of different Bal Panchayats from all the thirteen districts. Thus teams of master trainers in each district will in turn create Umang like Groups at Block and community levels in each district.

Umang Group, Gairsain receives financial, advanced technical, coordination, networking, monitoring and assessment support in implementing its plan. Various organisations, who have been nurturing these children groups, would provide the supports in different roles.

The Supporting Organisation (s)

SBMA/Plan is the focal organisation that provides the necessary support to The Umang Group in the setting up of the Children Press Service. SBMA/Plan, along with its partners in development; Mountain Children Foundation (MCF) and its network of 22 organisations and their Bal Panchayats throughout Uttarakhand will be part of the Children Press Service.

Plan International (India) will provide critical support to the whole project. The Programme Coordinator, a designated position that oversees Plan International (India) operations through and with Partner within a state will participate in monitoring, evaluation and providing the necessary platform for the national level alliance building initiatives and other activities.

Project area

The whole state would be the universe for the implementation of the programme i.e. all the thirteen districts will be targeted. In eleven districts, two blocks from each district will be selected and in each block a minimum of five communities (villages). In the remaining two districts; Chamoli and Uttarkashi, where SBMA/Plan is based, The Umang Group will aim to cover atleast 50% of the total blocks. The reasons being that Chamoli is the home district of the Core Umang Group and in Uttarkashi they have a long term and continuous link with the various children and adolescent groups from the sponsorship area of SBMA/Plan.

Time period

The Project is for three years (till June '10). Each year would focus upon specific tasks; capacity building, media production and dissemination, networking and alliance building.

Goal

Umang project aims to establish a sustainable process by making the children and young people act as competent agents of change across the thirteen districts of Uttarakhand who work as a cohesive force; speak in ONE VOICE and make it heard through media; raise the issues of Child Rights at the district level through establishment of Rural Knowledge Centres; at the state level through a network of Children Press Service and at the national level through alliance building.

By 2010, Plan staff, children and adults of communities in which Plan's partners work will have the capacity to document their own development.

Target Group

Children between 8-14 years

Community youth between 18-22 years

Ø 13 district level Children Media Groups comprising of 325 members (25 members in each group-5 from each block). The group would have 260 children and 65 youth facilitators.

Ø 13 Block Umang groups again comprising 325 members (25 members in each group). The group would have 260 children and 65 youth facilitators.

Ø 130 Community Umang groups having 750 Community reporters again comprising of 520 children and 130 youth facilitators.

Ø Therefore in total 156 Umang Groups will be created with the direct involvement of 1040 children and 260 youth facilitators (1300 children and Youth)

Rationale for working with this target group

Plan International (India) is committed to all children and youth being involved and would like to build capacity of both. Both the age group would act as the support group for each other and work as team since there is a successful model in Umang Group, Gairsain and also children will have their schools to attend, therefore will devout their time after school hours and during holidays.

The Activities

Using the existing Umang group as a trained resource to spearhead the implementation, the activities covered by this intervention will include:

Phase I (January 07 to December 07- 12 months)

Setting the partnership

1. Signing of Agreement and Program Introduction

2. Quarterly meeting of the Partners

Capacity Building of Core Umang groups

STEP 1

1. Intense and Refresher Training/s of Core Umang group, Gairsain on various media skills and Child Rights.

2. Establishment of recording and editing studio at RKC Gairsain.

3. Five days training of producing radio slots and studio management of Core Umang group.

4. Training of Core Umang group children in Information Technology.

STEP 2

Setting up The Umang Group at District/Block/Community levels and capacity building of these groups

1. Three day workshop for identification of child and youth Journalists for District level Children Umang Groups and formation of Lead Umang group

2. Training and refresher of Lead Umang Group in news and story writing, comics and photography and material production skills

4. Training of Lead Umang Group in radio program and visual production

Three days training will be organised for selected children and youth of district Umang groups on making of Radio program and visual production. The trained children from Core Umang group with the help of experts will organise this training. This training will be organised at a central location and 3 children, 1 youth and 1 staff from each Lead Umang Group will be trained in these skills. Refresher of this training will be conducted in year 2^nd and 3^rd by Core Umang group children.

Outreach of the program

1. Formation training and follow-up of 5 community based Umang groups and selection of Community based Umang groups by Lead Umang Group of Lead NGO

2. Research and production of material by Partner Umang groups

3. Child right campaign at village level

4. Child right campaign at Block level

5. Selection of Partner NGO for Block 2 under Phase II of the Project

6. Child right campaign at district level by Lead Umang Groups

7. Coverage of children led Advocacy on child rights and a policy on children at state level

8. Broadcasting of Radio programs through AIR

9. Publication of Umang newspaper (monthly)

10. UMANG website

11. Child Media led Consultations with mainstream media at State level* and formalizing Child Press Service and its charter

12. National level media workshop*

*These consultations and workshops and other interactions with mainstream media would help in ‘image building’ and ‘branding’ of Umang Project.

Phase-II (January 2008 – December 2009-24 months)

Expanding the Umang Project in 2^nd Block at each district

On the basis of the Partners identified during Phase one the programme will be expanded in the 2^nd blocks of each district.

1. Training and refresher of Block Umang groups on production of material and presentation through media skills

2. Refresher of Lead Umang groups of Phase-I on media skills

3. Establishment of Rural Knowledge Centre (RKC) by the Lead Umang Groups

4. Recurring cost of RKC of Core Umang group at Gairsain

Categories of staff

Ø Financial support to Partner NGOs for organizing logistics (non staff) for meetings, workshops, campaigns and consultations.

Ø Payment to Lead NGO’s full time Staff (one at each district)) for supporting the Umang Project (put in the numbers and approx expertise/experience of the staff).

Ø Payment to resource persons (non staff)- the payment would be made to cover the resource fee, travel, boarding and lodging.

Ø Comment on volunteer work

Ø Paid Volunteers (non staff) - Youth facilitators who would be paid according to their time, involvement and responsibilities. It would be incentive based and guided by specified criterias.

Ø Volunteering support will be sought by the experience and knowledgeable people and youth within and outside the communities.

List of Local Partners their coverage and proposed Umang groups

The project will be implemented through the Partner NGOs in each district in phase one and for phase two the Partner NGOs will find a partner on the basis of the willingness of the other NGOs.

Phase I - This stage will see the formation of 78 Umang groups Umang groups across 13 districts (13 Partner NGOs District level Umang groups and 65 Community based Umang groups)

Phase II - This stage will see the formation of 78 more Umang groups across 13 districts (13 Block-2 Umang groups 65 Community based Umang groups) and refresher activities for the Phase I groups

Sl No	Name of the organization	District	Block	Bal Panchayats	No of members	Umang group to be formed	No. of children and youth members
1	Sudha	Almora	Takula	5	100	12	100
2	SBMA/Plan	Chamoli	Gairsain	173	4498	12	100
3	Kagas	Champawat	Champawat	3	50	12	100
4	Rajkiya Inter College, Horrawalla though MCF	Dehradun	Sahespur	2	60	12	100
5	Setu foundation	Haridwar	Bhadrabad	5	95	12	100
6	Vimarsh	Nainital	Bhimtal	15	300	12	100
7	Jan Chetna Kendra	Pauri	Khirsu	5	60	12	100
8	Arpan	Pithoragarh	Kanalchina	5	50	12	100
9	Grass	Rudraprayag	Jakholi	21	419	12	100
10	SBMA	Tehri	Jaknidhar	5	97	12	100
11	Kumaon Seva Samiti	Udham singh Nagar	Khatima	2	40	12	100
12	SBMA/Plan	Uttarkashi	Bhatwari	140	3780	12	100
13	Kassar Trust	Bageshwar	Kapkote	1	20	12	100
	Total			377	9474	156	1300

The Block-2 will be decided during the implementation of the first phase based on the willingness of the other NGO.