Our quest towards facilitating alternative leadership in the adivasi context has been focused mainly on youth: young men and women with whom we have initiated different kinds of capacity building processes and accompanied them in sustaining leadership in representing the interests of adivasi communities. The idea was to develop an alternative perspective where local communities take charge of their own development.

Involvement with youth and their skill development covers multiple interest areas pertaining to rights over resources, sustainable agriculture, traditional health care, youth leadership, traditional and cultural knowledge systems, etc. The outcome of our effort is paying dividend in creating a cadre of informed young men and women as adivasi activists in the region. In the preceding years the capacity building and networking processes have reached out to various categories of adivasi representatives such as activists, village level committee members, women farmers, panchayat leaders, single women, self-help groups, forest protection committees, etc. The challenge continues in building capacities to confront difficult value choices and to take informed decisions in a situation where external forces conflict with the concerns of vulnerable communities. In this context the leadership provided by youth is vital and our accompaniment processes have been ongoing.

OUTREACH

The empowerment processes with youth cover an extensive area of all the agency areas in the seven districts (Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Khammam and Warangal) of Andhra Pradesh. These processes are of two basic types: long-term and short-term.

Long-Term Training and Accompaniment

Long-term processes are region specific with respect to Yuva Chaitanya (Visakhapatnam) and Yuva Shikshana (East Godavari). Extended over one year, training sessions are conducted for a period of 5 days every 2 months. 25 to 30 trainees are selected each year. The criteria for selection are: a basic understanding of the issues within the candidates’ respective communities; their willingness to work on community issues; and basic literacy skills. Generally potential participants are expected to have basic literacy skills. The course comprises theoretical and practical sessions. During the course of the programme the participants are encouraged to organize and conduct awareness meetings on issues of their community.

Because Yuva Chaitanya and Yuva Shikshana are region specific, located in our districts of intensive intervention, the curriculum is designed to take into account the differing conditions in the two districts with reference to the government schemes, land holding patterns, health and sanitation, forest cover, etc. As part of the long-term capacity building process, ‘Parichay’ is a fellowship program, which is more generic to the larger context of adivasi issues in the seven districts. This fellowship program is a one-year accompaniment and training process. Application forms are disseminated widely and published in the Manyamlo . A six member Board scrutinizes the applications and shortlists potential participants for final interviews. Around 30 participants are selected each year. Criteria for selection relates to their prevailing skills, motivation and perspective to engage with development within their community. During the course of the programme training sessions are conducted over a range of issues that cut across the adivasi communities, including displacement, land rights, human rights violation, livelihood issues, micro credit and enterprise, youth involvement in development, etc.

The participants of these processes are encouraged to join existing CBOs or form their own group. They are expected to use the knowledge and skills acquired to organize sustainable development processes with issues relevant to their differing contexts.

Short-Term Skill Share Workshops

Short-term workshops are focused training sessions for particular aspects of skill development. Some of the key areas which have been explored through these intensive training initiatives relate to health care, natural resource management, land rights, culture, education, etc. The participants of these programmes are CBOs members and/or individual youth interested in these particular themes. They are expected to utilize this specialized knowledge and skills within their community apart from the general responsibilities that they may be assigned by their CBO.

Collaborative Engagement with CBOs

For young men and women who come together to form a CBO, a process of accompaniment to support and facilitate their work is in place. The key areas with which we have engaged with CBOs (technical support) include land rights, forest issues, culture protection and promotion, self-governance (model panchayats) during the last five years. The CBOs who have been a part of this accompaniment process are expected to organize and conduct awareness programmes/demonstration models on relevant issues and community/resource development on the basis of the key areas in which they have acquired knowledge and skills. In addition the CBOs are facilitated to develop capacities in organisational development as well as in building second line leadership through various training initiatives undertaken by this unit.

Promotion of CBO Federation

A significant step has been the promotion and establishment of a CBO federation in 2000 under the aegis of Andhra Pradesh Adivasi Sangala Samakya (APASS). 72 CBO members attended the last convention in 2006. The federation has been involved mainly in critically assessing the relevance of state level policies on adivasi areas such as the adivasi policy, forest policy, displacement policy and other policies. As representatives of adivasi communities they have presented petitions, memoranda to local Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) recommending changes in the draft National Adivasi Policy. They have challenged the concept of Adivasi-Battalions mooted by the state government to respond to naxalite militancy and protested the displacement likely to be caused due to the construction of Polavaram, a large dam project on the river Godavari in the region. These campaigns seek to create awareness about the effects and opportunities of policies at the local level with their local constituent communities. The federation is also involved in facilitating the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) at the local level. As a federation they engage in lobbying and advocacy with the government bureaucracy to implement adivasi welfare schemes and programmes. The membership of CBOs in the federation has been steadily increasing. We provide technical support to the federation with regard to knowledge/information and strategy in design and implementation of their campaigns. Apart from this once in two years an Organisation Development (OD) exercise is conducted with the Federation. During this process impact, acceptability, sustainability within the adivasi community is assessed. In addition we facilitate self-assessment of their performance and accordingly aid them in building their perspective and strategic plan for the future. We provide the federation with material and financial support towards incidental expenses for their meetings and campaigns when requested.