Mountain Children’s Foundation
Changing the way the world perceives and works with children

Nainital |Workshops

Strengthening of baal panchayats

Partner Organisation : CHAHAT
               District: Nainital

          Supported by : Give2Asia

Workshop Report

Feb 18th and 19th Feb 2010

MCF conducted a 2 day workshop on strengthening the baal panchayat in the village  of Kasialekh with their partner organization CHAHAT and with the support of Give2Asia. 30 children attended the workshop which commenced with a few games so that the children could introduce and familiarize themselves with each other.
The first day was devoted to discussions on social organizations. The children were aware that a number of organizations were functional some of which they were able to name – namely Youth organizations, Women’s organizations, Women’s Self Help Groups, children's groups,etc.
The children at the workshop were from kasialekh and the neighbouring villages. In some villages the baal panchayats have been established. The children of those baal panchayats gave details of some of the work their organisations had done – for e.g. clearing and cleaning of their drinking water sources, working towards prevention of child labour, they interacted with the shop keepers and asked them not to supply tobacco and cigarettes especially to children below the ages of 18.
The children and the MCF coordinator discussed the strengthening of the Baal Panchayats. The main focus of the discussions were on:

• What is a organisation
• Who does it belong to
• How to make a strong organization
•  Points to be kept in mind while being part of an organisation

All these points were discussed with the children by way of games that they played, which enhanced the learning that even though it was only a game yet they had to follow the rules and work together as a team.

The next topic of discussion was the elderly generation and the children’s reactions to what they think of them, how they treat them, how they react to them and what difficulties the older generation faced. The children were then divided into six groups where they discussed what they would like to do for the older generation.

Group 1: ( consisted of Deepak, Khushbu, Basanti, Mamta and Himalaya )

• Work in the baal Panchayat should be carried out in a planned manner by placing responsibilities regarding who will carry out the work and the period of time for completion of the work
• To ask the older generation about the culture of the area
• Will meet at-least once a month to ensure smooth operation of the baal panchayat and its responsibilities
• It will be the responsibility of all the baal panchayat members to decide the type of work and the time frame for completion.
• Will also talk to the older generation and help them with their difficulties.

Group 2: (consisted of Kanchan, Yamuna, Bhavna,Deepak and Preetam)

• Will meet once a month and will ask the older generation about the culture of the area
• Discussions with the older generation will be to gather information about our ancient culture
• Will discuss with the older generation regarding the difference between the older times and the present day
• Will discuss how to look after and safe guard the environment
• Violence against women and discrimination were also topics that were of interest to the group.

Group 3: (consisted of Kavita, Bhavana, Neeraj,Ganesh and Deepa)

• To hold discussions with the elderly people of the villages
• To understand their feelings on the changes that have taken place over the last 2-3 decades
• Will inform them about the baal panchayats and how they function
• Will discuss the Right to Information with them
• Discuss the problems faced by the older generation and ways by which these can alleviated
• Will write in to the PABAM magazine regarding all they have learnt from the older generation

Group 4: (consisted of Hema, Bhavna, Prema, Sanjay and Virendra)

• Will ask the older generation about the ancient culture of the area
• Will discuss the government schemes with the elderly people and find out if they are benefitting from these schemes otherwise work towards implementing the schemes for them
• Will inform them about the Right to Information and help them with applications if so required
• Will convince the elderly to form a group or organization and help them meet on a monthly basis
• Will write in to PABAM with the knowledge gained from them

Group 5 (consisted of Chandra, Sushmita, Rekha Pushkar and Bhupendra)

• Will collect information regarding the culture and the rites and rituals of the area from the older generation
• Will understand their feelings on the changes that have taken place over the last 2-3 decades
• Discrimination against the girl child will be discussed
• Will help the elderly people of the village solve their problems
• Will collect stories and folk lore that the older generation still remember

Group 6 (consisted of Pankaj, Bhanu, Pushpa, Mukul and Durga

• Will hold discussions with the older generation and collect all kinds of information from them
• Will find out the level of education of the village and the mode of dress and how they lived in the olden days
• Differences between the olden times and today
• What were the facilities available in the villages in the olden days
• What were the social norms that governed the society in the village in those days
• What was the availability of higher education in the villages and towns
• What were the avenues for employment, communication and entertainment
• What were the avenues for import – export of goods
• What trees were found in the jungles around the villages and which plants were used as medicinal herbs
• What rights did the women have in olden days
• How many water sources were available earlier and how many are left now and what were the causes for the sources of water drying up?

There was a lot of debate and discussion between the children while the presentations of the groups were being made. All the children felt charged and were going to make it a point to go from house to house and speak to all the elderly people of their respective villages not only to collect information about earlier times but to also help them with sorting out their problems.

From the feedback after the workshop the children took home many positive points. They had learnt through the games they played that they should not discriminate between girls and boys and that no one should laugh at another person instead they should help solve the difficulty the other person was facing. They also learnt about strengthening their baal panchayat and working with the elderly people of the village as they were the most neglected. All 6 groups have taken a decision to help the elderly in their areas and they would also listen to the stories that their grandparents love to tell and would write in to Pabam (the children’s magazine), with these.

The Mountain Children's Foundation,63-A Vyom Prasth, G.M.S Road,Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India
Phone: 91-135-6532937 Email: mcfglobal @ mymountains.org