An orientation to the Advanced Youth Fellowship Programme was held from 16th-17th July, 2011 and attended by about 18 vibrant young people. The first day was mainly spent by conducting ice breaker sessions and introduction amongst the participants. Games sent out messages of the importance of listening to instructions and innovation in group work.

Sarika, a former advanced youth fellow gave a detailed presentation of the process and the personal experiences of her group. She specifically mentioned that in the advanced stage one has to be more systematic and focused compared to the basic youth fellowship. She added that at this stage means a lot more readings and focused discussions. This session was well received by the audience as it ended with participants getting more and more curious about the research process.

The next day Anita, PUKAR’s Executive Director began the workshop with a discussion on the importance of research. This was an intense day filled with discussions on research process, proposal and objectives. Anita explained that the advanced stage, unlike the basic research, highlights analytical findings of the study. She added that research should go beyond perspectives; it should lead to the creation of new knowledge. The goal of this research should be oriented towards bringing about a change.

Dr Mahesh Kamble, Assitant Professor at the Centre for Disaster Management in Tata Institute of Social Sciences conducted a comprehensive session on research as a science. Beginning with the drawbacks of the previous stage he raised a discussion on the need to conduct research. He shared that any research which is based within the community is an intervention in itself. Given that people’s empowerment and advocacy are crucial elements of research it is crucial to think of the impact of research from its very inception. He spoke to the participants about the key foundations of any research and also discussed the various types of ‘classical’ and ‘non classical’ research methods.

Dr. Kamble also informed the participants of a new research method, Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA), which is often being used in recent times to collect information about people in a short span of time. PRA is a research method that uses methods like transit walk, social mapping and time line analysis to extract socio-economic data of a particular place. The entire session was both interactive and educational.

The final session was conducted by Dr Ratoola Kundu, Assistant Professor at the School of Habitat Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Her session covered all elements related to writing a research proposal.