Nagrik Diwas (Citizen’s Day) @ Delwara

Nagrik Diwas Seva Mandir’s work in Delwara is directly concerned with encouraging responsible citizenship and local self-governance. The journey so far has included an extensive range of activities with the citizens of Delwara through which Seva Mandir has sought to engage citizens in dialogue and action around issues of local importance. These issues have included [...]

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Monday & Tuesday: learning from drama and women

Monday and Tuesday were spent in Delwara, mainly working with members of the women’s group and some women’s mohalla level representatives preparing plays on stories of change. Three mohalla (neighbourhood) committees had come together – all of them amongst the poorest and traditionally most excluded sections of society: the Bhil tribals, the Bhoi (vegetable farmers), [...]

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Women, unity, gifts and spirituality: the foundation for women led community development in Delwara

In the small multi-caste town of Delwara, a women’s group has been formed. This group is a platform for women to come together on a common platform across all kinds of traditional divides – caste, religion, class, etc. – to become agents of their own destiny. This morning, I spent a few hours with the [...]

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social capital – possibility is in our hands

Another long-standing topic that I am finally getting around to putting on my blog… and a good follow-up for the previous blog. It struck me one day in Delwara as I found myself trying to stop two ‘community leaders’ from neighbouring communities – one a tribal (Gameti) the other a scheduled caste (Meghwal – traditionally [...]

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visions, dreams, problem-solving and change

So, I’m pretty sure that I’m not saying anything new here (I have been thinking about it for a while and have taken inspiration from numerous sources and even woven it into my own practice)… but it does kind of strike me as being rather important… here it goes:

Vision-driven change is completely different from problem-solving-driven [...]

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Post Delwara Realisations

A view of Delwara’s roofscape at sunrise while having morning chai at the house of the former Secretary of the Citizens’ Development Forum

Today, sitting in Jaipur airport, on my way back from a fantastic day with Fons and team (to be discussed in more detail in the forthcoming post), I find myself remembering Delwara.
I’m [...]

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