{"id":755,"date":"2015-04-24T22:06:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T16:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/volunteers.org\/?p=755"},"modified":"2015-04-24T22:06:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T16:36:20","slug":"gramya-manthan-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/volunteers.org\/gramya-manthan-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Gramya Manthan – A Rural Immersion Program by Youth Alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gramya Manthan<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0nine day rural immersion journey\u00a0with 40 passionate changeagents\u00a0to remote villages in\u00a0Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh, India<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is an\u00a0annual\u00a0program of\u00a0Youth Alliance<\/a>, currently in its fourth year of running. This year the program will be from\u00a0June 13 – 21, 2015.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The program aims at developing a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us by practising shift in our perspective, that is by practising empathy. This is nurtured by\u00a0 bridging the rural-urban divide and creating a space to observe, understand and learn the diverse realities of India. The idea is also to bring ourselves in sync with the complex actualities of rural life, thus allowing ourselves a platform where we at least begin to think on pertinent issues and\u00a0 try to break away from our preconceived notions which thrive on populist knowledge.\u00a0<\/strong>The program has been enriched by interactions with\u00a0Mr. Anshu Gupta (Founder, Goonj); Mr. R. Elango ( Kuthambakkam Village); Mr. Ravi Gulati (Founder, Manzil); Mr. Ram NK (Founder, Rang De).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Gramya<\/a><\/p>\n

Impact of Gramya Manthan<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In last three year we have witnessed a shift in the mind-set of people we are working with. For Example in village Ganga Deen Nevada, when in 2012 we were in the process of setting up the livelihood center Swaraj, it was hard for us to find women who can travel outside their village to Delhi for training so as to come back and start working in the village but now nearly all of them have been to our center and have shown willingness to work. A shift in perspective was observed in participants post-Gramya Manthan. Our alumnus Aananth found it eye-opening to see villages with hardly any electricity supply. For many of us such simple observations meant realization of our privileges.\u00a0In the past three years, we have received 80 participants from\u00a0<\/strong>20 States. Of these\u00a06 went to study development, 22\u00a0are working in development space part time or full time and 11 initiated enterprises.<\/strong><\/p>\n