Youth Fellowship

For the first time in the history of the YFP, the Team was able to organize a 2-day, full-time, residential workshop on Gender. Partly influenced by the ‘Gender, Development and Social Transformation’ workshop organized by Visthar, Bengaluru, and attended by Sunil Gangavane in May 2012 and partly influenced by the transgender youth who engaged with the programme in 2011-2012, the gender treatment was comprehensive, transcending the traditional male-female dichotomous lens.

Sunil Gangavane, Coordinator, YFP, facilitated this workshop on December 14th- 16th, 2012. This residential workshop was intended to explore the concept and the institution of gender, to understand gender politics and to help fellows develop a gender-sensitive perspective. The workshop began with activities that clarified the concept of gender and socio-political-economic factors that influence the concept. Further, participants were explained how different social institutions perpetrated gender stereotyping and gender-based discrimination.

The idea of explaining the complexity of gender to 27 participants from different backgrounds was overwhelming. Gender literacy among the participants, to begin with, were different due to their diverse backgrounds. It helped to have an informal background discussion with different members to see where each individual was at in understanding gender. Moreover, gender issues are usually viewed through the male-female dichotomous lens with a focus on the exploitation of women. A great idea to deal with this challenge was to include YFP Alumnus of 2011-2012, Ashish, who brought in the transgender perspective. Also, Humsafar Trust’s documentary ‘68 Pages’ was screened to introduce the different components of gender. The different institutions that perpetrate gender stereotypes were difficult to communicate.

The Team is aware that such an in-depth workshop cannot be the end of the programme’s engagement with gender. The Team is eager to see how this idea has been internalized by groups and how they bring gender to bear upon their research work. 

Following the Research Design Workshop, the fellows needed to choose their methodology after giving due consideration to their topic and its suitability. On December 9^th, 2012, RajendraJadhav, Director, YFP and Sunil Gangavane, Coordinator, YFP, facilitated the Research Methodology Workshop, so as to introduce the youth fellows to different research methodologies and to help groups choose the most efficient and suitable methodology for their research.

The facilitators began with an activity that impressed upon the participants the need for a research methodology. The next part of the workshop was dedicated to exploring the different research methods and how they can be used efficiently.The workshop was attended by 24 youth fellows from all the different teams.

On December 2^nd, 2012, the team organized a Research Grant Management Workshop, facilitated by PUKAR’s own Grant Manager, Anupamaa Joshi. The workshop was meant to introduce the youth fellows to the basics of grant management. The fellows, usually, are students, fresh out of college or, in most cases, still in college. They do not have experience handling money officially. Since the programme entitles them to a nominal subsidy, this workshop was deemed necessary.

Attended by 28 youth fellows, this workshop began with an explanation of the relationship between PUKAR and the youth fellows. The research grant came under focus. The facilitator then explored the different and efficient ways in which the research grant money can be spent.

PUKAR’s mandate, through the Youth Fellowship Programme, is to create young active citizens who are critical and political and have a commitment towards change. In lieu with this mandate, the team conducted an Advocacy Workshop, to introduce the youth fellows to the concept of advocacy and also to explore the different advocacy tools.

On November 25th, 2012, RajendraJadhav, Director, YFP and KapilChavan, Coordinator, YFP, facilitated the Advocacy Workshop for 25 youth fellows. The workshop began with a consensus among participants that one of the main purposes of research should be social change. Advocacy, in all its various forms were explored. Participants were also explained the appropriate use of the tools in different situations.

While the workshop on advocacy was comprehensive, dealing with all kinds of advocacy tools including media advocacy, lobbying with parliamentarians/members of legislative assembly etc, Youth Fellows felt that the 4-hour workshop was not enough to understand the breadth and depth of advocacy efforts.

Following the Research Question workshop, a comprehensive Research Design workshop was conducted on November 4^th, 2012. Facilitated by Dr. Anil Sutar, Professor, TISS, the workshop aimed to introduce the fellows to research theory and to practically explore design, methodology and other aspects of research planning with specific topics.

During the first half of the workshop, the fellows were introduced to research theory, key words, their meaning and significance. Subsequently, the facilitator engaged with each group to tentatively create custom research designs for each chosen topic.

The research design workshop was conducted for the first time in the Youth Fellowship Programme. The importance of this workshop was impressed on the team as they are engaged in other research activity in PUKAR. Moreover, youth fellows were also faced with the popular misconception that all research is conducting surveys. It was to dispel this myth that they decided to organize a workshop on research design for the fellows as well.

A total of 17 fellows, 9 male and 8 female, attended the workshop. Since only 2-3 members from each group attended, it the workshop was challenging at two levels. First, they had to understand the plethora of issues regarding research design and second, they had to communicate the same to the rest of their group members. 

The Youth Fellows are well and truly on the research road. On October 21st, 2012, the Research Question Workshop was conducted. Probing research question is always a challenging activity. Groups arrive with large themes that they wish to study. Often times these themes are too wide, sometimes fanciful and many times non-pragmatic. The best way to handle this challenge is to patiently steer long meetings and discussions and sometimes engage in a pilot study to demonstrate the concerns.The workshop was intended to help the groups identify and reach an agreement regarding the broad themes they wish to study. In addition, it was intended to help the groups narrow their research focus.

The Research Question workshop was facilitated by Dr. Anita PatilDeshmukh, Executive Director of PUKAR. First, she explained the why, what, where, when and how of research. The groups were assisted in narrowing their topics. Each group was helped in reaching clarity about their research question and how best to frame it. A total of 30 youth fellows, 13 male and 17 female attended this workshop.

In a shift from the usual, the Youth Fellowship Team conducted an Open House for all the Fellows on October 7^th, 2012. The open house was intended to provide a space for the youth fellows to express, share and discuss anything of their own choice. In addition, it aimed at providing a space for the youth fellows to plan, think and execute their own agenda.

The fellows were first introduced to critical pedagogy and the idea that learning should be within the control of the student. Fellows, were then given a free run. Together, they formulated and executed an agenda that they collectively listed. Their agenda included exploring PUKAR’ library, watching documentary movies and playing educative and entertaining games.

A total of 28 fellows, including 15 females and 13 males, attended the Open House. The Team was happy to observe leadership qualities and emergent skills during this time. In group research, often, individual talent goes unnoticed and the Open House provided an opportunity for this to surface and be acknowledged.