Inauguration of Youth Development Centres for our Karnataka programme

Our world is fraught with social, cultural, political and environmental challenges. This scenario is an opportunity for societies to transform their value systems and create a more sustainable and equitable present and future. In this context, the role of youth is of critical importance, as young people are the most important building blocks of a society: They are an important source of creativity and enthusiasm, and are drivers of social change.

Towards this, Magic Bus, through nurturing one of its impact areas – livelihood, is striving to improve disadvantaged youth’s economic and social well-being by empowering young people to identify their targets, develop themselves personally and professionally, and ultimately take up and sustain employment.

The Magic Bus programme in Mysore has around 650 Community Youth Leaders. In light of this, a youth development programme was required to help young people visualise and achieve their goals, and move into employment, training or higher education. Taking this into consideration, two Youth Development Centres were inaugurated in Mysore on March 8 and 9, 2014, in Shanthi Nagar and Haleem Nagar respectively.

MV Krishnan from Vodafone, in collaboration with Magic Bus, supported the centres with computers and furniture. Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) extended their support by engaging their trainers who will train enrolled youth in spoken English and basic computer skills. Roshan School and Milath Trust provided space for the youth development centres in the two communities.

The programme in both communities started with cultural performances by children, which included singing, a fancy dress competition, group dances, quawwali performances and skits on the importance of education.

In their speeches at the inauguration event, the guests mainly emphasized the need to empower and create a group of youth leaders who can positively explore themselves and are commit to making changes in their community. Guests also pointed out that youth need a positive and constructive environment where they can develop themselves socially and economically, and can ultimately lead successful, independent lives.

Youth Development Centre – Shanthi Nagar
The inauguration programme started with a great buzz in Roshan School, where 120 children, 80 parents, 60 youth and 20 teachers participated.

Inauguration event guests included Ayub Pasha, Corporator, and Raju Desai from Ace Foundation, and Amith, Aafaq and Chandini from Hinduja Global Solutions

At the opening of the Youth Development Centre in Haleem Nagar, around 150 children, 80 parents and 60 youth participated.

Guests at the event included Nagraj, Secretary of MESCO School, Shafi from Milath Trust, Shree Krishnan from the Vodafone Foundation who played a vital role in making it possible to open the two centres, and Kusum Mohapatra, State Head for the Magic Bus' programme in Karnataka.

Children, youth, parents, teachers and other community members came forward and supported the inauguration of both the youth development centres. The event was solely supported by the communities.

Thank you to all that made this happen!

To find out more about Magic Bus and how you can help us to make changes in communities like these, visit our website at www.magicbus.org/donate

Magic Bus Trainers at EMPOWER 2014 Youth Conference

EMPOWER 2014 is ROTA’s (Reach Out To Asia) sixth annual 3-day Youth Conference on Leadership, Service Learning and Global Citizenship, Qatar. In the last 5 five years, EMPOWER has gained a reputation as the first youth-led conference in Qatar. It focuses on equipping young people with skills to take active roles in building their communities, as well as and having a voice on global issues. [1]

Our CEO Pratik Kumar (second from right) participating in one of the panel discussions

The main aim of the event was to raise awareness and build knowledge and capacity to enable young people to take leadership roles in addressing local and international developmental issues of concern to them.The three-day event included a combination of seminar, panel discussion, power speeches, keynote speeches, small group workshops, off-site visits, and a youth panel. The major theme was Sports for Youth Empowerment. [2]

Two of our Magic Bus Trainers, Aman Sharma and Subhomoy Bhaduri, took part in the conference. Their role involves recruiting and training youth to deliver the Magic Bus programme in the field to children from some of the poorest communities across India. At Empower 2014, Aman and Subhomoy conducted a workshop on leadership, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of various leadership styles through an experiential activity, encouraging young people who took part to develop their own styles.

They demonstrated how sport can be used to address “socio-emotional learning”. A group activity began after some ice-breakers. The group played “touchdown handball”, a game where players pass the ball among their team with the overall objective of touching the ball down on their opponent’s line. [3.1]

The game was played with a difference as there was no referee during the game, the players were responsible for keeping score, penalising unfair play and resolving disputes. The reason for this gets to the heart of the socio-emotional learning curriculum by Magic Bus. Playing sport can lead to strong emotions, both positive and negative. Without the presence of a referee, participants need to confront those emotions, find a resolution and manage the way they behave. [3.2]

Emotions experienced on the sport field can mirror those felt in everyday life. People experience conflict or anger at school, at work and at home: by learning to deal with these situations and manage emotions in a controlled environment, difficult day-to-day situations can become less challenging. [3.3]

The relationship between sport and everyday life.

The final activity brought the group together to discuss the game and situations that arose. Participants highlighted a range of situations which caused conflict or anger, and skills, such as teamwork, communication and negotiation, which were needed to navigate these potential flash points. A central component the of Magic Bus programmes requires the facilitator to relate the activity to participants' daily lives, highlighting the need to manage emotions and negotiate – both on and off the sports field. [3.4]

Photo 1: Review on different Leadership Styles                          Photo 2: Ice-breakers before the group activity

Photo 3: Group activity in progress                                               Photo 4: Post-activity discussion

"There was great participation from different countries. This exposure gave us an understanding of the cultural aspect to sport, though there were leaders from various organisations present, one would notice that some would not get involved with the opposite gender whilst taking part in a group activity," shared Aman.

Subhomoy added that the participation at this conference was interesting to note. Although there was a language barrier, the enthusiasm shown by participants to learn and be involved in all the activities and discussions were evident.

They said they found, amidst the gathering of great young minds, a network of skills and talents, and felt encouraged by the spirit of the EMPOWER initiative.

Article source:
[1] ROTA website: http://bit.ly/empower2014conference
[2], [3] Sportanddev.org: bit.ly/socioemotionallearninghttp://

http:/bit.ly/empower2014conference

Case story > Magic Bus Connect Programme > Pardeep Kumar, Age 20

Pardeep Kumar
(Photo: Heena Patel)

Pardeep lives with his parents and four siblings in a single room in JJ Colony within one of the largest resettlement slums in Delhi, Bhalswa. This 14-year-old community is mainly inhabited by migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Although they live in concrete homes which usually consist of 1 small room, they are in close proximity to a landfill area which creates a significant health hazard. To make things worse, the community is forced to use open spaces as their chamber pots. The drainage system is ill-maintained with open manholes, which carry risks for people living in that area.

Lack of cleanliness and stagnant water in Bhalswa breeds bacteria and spreads disease

Many children work as rag pickers helping their families to earn a meager sum of Rs.100/$1.5/£1 a day, which can barely provide a family of 4 with 1 meal a day.  Employment opportunities in Bhalswa are limited and most men are involved in manual, daily wage labour at the construction sites and nearby wholesale vegetable market. Women in this community support their families by working as domestic maids in nearby houses. 

Pardeep’s mother is a homemaker, and his father is a daily-wage earner who just about manages to make ends meet.

In 2010, when Magic Bus first set up a programme in J.J. Colony, Training and Monitoring Officer (TMO) Santosh Gupta noticed Pardeep, who came across as bright, positive and eager to make a difference to his community. He stood apart from other young boys in Bhalswa who tend to have little direction or guidance in life, and often fall into the trap of drug addiction and substance abuse.

Santosh asked him if he wanted to join Magic Bus as a Community Youth Leader (CYL). Excited at the opportunity to bring about change, Pardeep accepted. In October 2010, he completed his CYL training and started conducting Sport for Development (S4D) sessions for younger children in his community.

A young girl on the Magic Bus programme in Bhalswa, who also helps her family pick rags for a living. Pardeep works to educate and empower such young girls through the Magic Bus curriculum.
(Photo: Heena Patel)

Pardeep enjoyed his work, and the fact that children and parents in his community started to look up to him. However, after a short phase of excellence as a Youth Leader, Pardeep’s enthusiasm and energy levels dropped. Over time, the situation became worse. Local youth had to request him to be prompt and active at sessions, but he retaliated, got angry and often argued with them. He also stopped communicating with his CYL co-workers.

When Santosh, his Training and Monitoring Officer (TMO) asked him why he was distracted, he would get irritable. Pardeep’s behaviour at home changed too. Pardeep’s friends and parents also tried approaching him about his changed attitude, but he said nothing. Soon, Pardeep stopped relating to the children in his sessions, and the programme altogether.

As a way to address the situation, he was asked to take part in a Community Youth Leader Refresher Training programme. Santosh thought this might help Pardeep relate to his goals. During the training, Community Youth Leaders were encouraged to share any experiences they had whilst conducting Sport for Development sessions, advocating for children’s rights with parents, and negotiating with the community for support. They also talked about life in general—both on and off the field.

During his counselling session at this refresher training, Pardeep admitted that he was facing a lot of pressure at home: “I will be finishing my degree this year. My parents keep reminding me that I must get a job, but there seems to be no opportunities out there for me.”

He was told about Connect, Magic Bus’ Livelihood Programme, where youth are trained to become job-ready. Through this intervention, Pardeep was able to improve his spoken English, IT and soft skills, and develop interview and job-readiness skills.

On completing the course, Pardeep was offered a job at the Government’s Income Tax Department in New Delhi at a salary of INR 8,000 (80 GBP/$100) per month. To supplement his income, Pardeep also started to run extra-curricular tuition classes for children enrolled on the Magic Bus programme.

As an incentive for CYLs to share and improve their communication skills, Magic Bus has a peer-sharing, feedback and recognition process. As a part of this process, Pardeep was named ‘CYL of the month’. At this point he realised he played a significant role in helping to build a brighter future for his community. With renewed enthusiasm, he started conducting Magic Bus sessions for children in his community once again.

Magic Bus session in progress, Bhalswa

Today, Pardeep is a changed young adult. He is looked up to as a smart, understanding, caring and responsible person, and someone who has the potential to make a significant difference in his own life as well as his community, and his family.

He is on track to graduate from University with a Bachelor’s degree, and is still employed by the Income Tax Department, a job which he takes seriously and enjoys very much. During his free time, Pardeep continues his commitment as a volunteer Community Youth Leader with Magic Bus, delivering vital life-changing lessons to children in his community, coaching them to complete their education and build a stable livelihood - empowering them to break out of poverty.

Pardeep reflects on his experience, “Magic Bus has been my best friend. An educated person is respected and better able to make changes in his/her own life and the lives of others. I have learnt this through the programme. It is important to make sure children grow up to be responsible and independent citizens."

Insights into a Youth Development Camp

A Youth Development camp was held for 100 Community Youth Leaders (CYLs), who volunteer to deliver our Thane programme in Maharashtra. The camp took place at our Magic Bus Learning Centre on the outskirts of Mumbai.
  

The primary objective of the camp was to allow our CYLs to focus on issues relating to youth development and career planning in a concerted and uninterrupted manner.

The topics covered over the 3 days included:

·         personal and social development

·         individual and group values

·         managing one’s strengths and weaknesses

·         various dynamics of leadership

·         career planning

The first four modules created a sense of self-awareness, a pre-requisite for the concluding topic of career planning.  The methods employed to help us reach this goal was not that of a lecture, but activity-based. This provided an impetus for the CYLs to express their ideas and understandings. The emphases of these activities were to allow the CYLs to vigorously debate the philosophies that resulted from the introspection drawn on the topics discussed.  Packed with interactive outdoor exercises and role plays the programme provides experiential learning on the challenges of leadership, prioritisation of values, and assessment of one’s strengths and weaknesses.

One could visibly note the behavioural change the CYLs went through over the three days. They learned to develop an inherent sense of responsibility, team spirit and understood what it takes to be a leader. They also further developed abilities of how to communicate effectively, think strategically and solve complex problems. The distinction in the responses provided by the CYLs in the pre- and post-assessment forms of the topics covered indicated maturity and understanding of the topics.

Recognising the importance of career planning, the CYLs formed area-specific youth committees. The objective of these youth committees is to create a grouping for the CYLs to collectively voice their career requirements and to create a sense of ownership of the youth development programme.

The youth development camp is an important step in allowing the CYLs to single-mindedly deliberate on their personal and professional growth. The ideas expressed by the CYLs formulate the core and direction for the Magic Bus’ Youth Development programme, ensuring orientation with their requirements.

• If you'd like to know more about the Magic Bus programme, visit www.magicbus.org
• To sponsor the training of a Magic Bus Community Youth Leader (CYL) to become a change-maker in a poor community, visit www.magicbus.org/donate.