Laya believes in positive networking and collaborative relationships as non-negotiable tools in achieving success in shared concerns. This includes playing leadership roles in facilitating networks and institution building processes and participating in common actions at the local and national levels. This is manifested in the nature of networking processes that each of the units are engaged with in their grassroots’ involvement.

LOCAL NETWORKING

Networks Facilitated:

1. Agency Land Rights Protection Committee
2. Adivasi Mahila Hakkula Sadhana Committee
3. Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Institutions’ Rights Struggle Forum
4. Polavaram Mumpu Badhitula Hakkula Sadhana Committee
5. Traditional Health Practitioners Networks in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam Districts
6. Manyaseema: a Micro-Finance Institution
7. CBO Federation: Andhra Pradesh Adivasi Sangala Samakya (APASS)

Membership in networks

1. National Watershed Development Programme
2. Lok Adalats
3. Student Union, Paderu, Addatigala and Srikakulam.
4. Girijan Employees Union, Paderu and Srikakulam
5. Seethampeta Mandal Panchayats Network.

Collaborations

1. AYUSH Department for organising health camps and training programmes
2. Malaria Department, for training of CHPs in malaria prevention and treatment
3. Advisory Council for High Altitude Tribal Zone (HATZ) in training programmes on SRI
4. Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) – Chintapalli and Pandirmamidi
5. Agriculture and Forest, Horticulture Department
6. AFPRO , Hyderabad
7. Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad
8. Center for World Solidarity (CWS), Action Aid relating to “Panchayati Raj Institutions”
9. Human Rights Forum (Human Rights Workshops)
10. Legal Cells, ITDA: East Godavari and West Godavari District
11. District Legal Services Authority, East Godavari Distrtict
12. Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD), Hyderabad.
13. Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Hyderabad.

Role of paralegals…

	Delivery of services: pre-litigative work;
	Education and awareness;
	Facilitating alternative community dispute resolution systems;
	Adding social perspective to courtroom lawyering;
	Documentation and data collection;
	Negotiation, counseling and conciliation.

NATIONAL LEVEL NETWORKING

We have been founder members of three national level networks and continue to play an active role in the institution building processes for sustainable outcomes:

National Youth Foundation (NYF):

The National Youth Foundation is a national network consisting of 5 regional clusters, Andhra Pradesh (Yuva Chentna Vedica), Karnataka (Samvada), Gujarat (Janvikas), Maharashtra (Anubhav Shikisha Kendra) and North India (Pravah). Each cluster is a sub-network of organisations which are actively involved with youth on issues relevant to their context. Laya acts as the secretariat for Yuva Chetna Vedica. The NYF is embarking on a major strategic planning exercise in which Yuva Chetna Vedica will be actively involved.

Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change (INECC):

INECC was instituted in a Mumbai workshop on Climate Change in 1996. The convener of this network is also the executive director of LAYA. INECC is a network is of individuals and organisation representatives who are concerned with Climate Change particularly with reference to the Indian situation. INECC believes that Climate Change is a part of a larger environment crisis and addresses the basic issue of ecologically destructive development processes that have been globally pursued. The issue of Climate Change raises basic questions of social and environmental justice and has a direct bearing on development alternatives for the future. Laya acts as the secretariat of INECC. The current initiatives of INECC are focused on the role of decentralized energy options in the adivasi context.

Indian Institute of Para-legal Studies (IIPLS):

The Indian Institute of Para-Legal Studies, promoted by Janvikas, Ahmedabad was initiated in 2002 to legitimize the role of paralegals in the mainstream justice delivery mechanisms and to improve the quality of paralegal training. A paralegal bridges the gap between community, lawyers and judicial systems. As an institution IIPLS focuses on the rights of adivasis and dalit communities, women and people in institutional care. Laya with its past experience in legal action has been one of the founding members of the network. The role of Laya is facilitating the institutionalisation of regional processes in the East India region.

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING

South Asia Network on Food, Ecology and Culture (SANFEC):

This is a network of South Asian groups on food security issues in response to the World Food Summit organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, Rome, Italy in 1996. Under the Diversity Award Programme of SANFEC we successfully completed the project on Mixed Cropping Systems of Adivasi Communities in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh in 2005.

Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE):

This is a regional association of organisations and individuals engaged in both formal and non-formal adult education, working with and through government agencies, universities, NGOs, community groups, trade unions, indigenous people’s and women’s organisations, the media, and other institutions across the Asia-Pacific region. Established in 1964, the network currently comprises around 640 organisations and individuals as members, and operates in 30 countries of the region. We are assisting ASPBAE in developing a policy brief/position paper on Indigenous Education in India.