Case Story: Salman Baig - Asian Football Development Project (AFDP) & Magic Bus Partnership

The Magic Bus’ Bangalore programme started in Doddananagar Slum Community in November 2011. For community inhabitants livelihood sources include tile making, agarbathi (incense stick) making, beedi (Indian cigarette) rolling, garlic peeling, carpentry, domestic serving and garment making. As you walk down one of Doddanagar’s main roads, you will be greeted with the sound of prayer calls at a Masjid (Mosque), the sight of a small white, spotlessly clean Mother Mary shrine with scattered heaps of trash just a few feet away, the pungent smell of Bangalore’s snake-like open storm drain, and a wooden cart full of fresh fruits and vegetables in front of Murugan temple, all at once.

The Doddananagar community contains a mix of religious backgrounds with a large population of conservative Muslims. Languages spoken include mainly Kannada, Tamil and Urdu. You’ll certainly walk with chickens, dogs, goats and cows alike through the narrow roads which are home to parked auto rickshaws, smiling footwear-less children and a concentrated range of 12ft x 12ft colorful cement homes making up a low skyline. Some homes stack up to three stories high, just like Salman Baig’s home on the second floor of a compact, narrow, staircase building in Block E.

Salman is an ambitious fourteen year old boy attending Amma A. High School. Salman lives with his mother, his father and three sisters. Salman’s mother, Nagina, currently stays at home and watches over the family. Salman’s father is an Electrician, a symbol of pride for Nagina given this job provides a higher income compared to the average.

Currently, 2022 children take part in our sport for development sessions throughout 8 of Doddananagar's neighbourhoods.  Twenty four of these children, 12 girls and 12 boys, train for two hours every weekend for the Magic Bus Football Team (MBFT). MBFT is a specialised football programme in which athletically inclined and interested children from our main sport for development sessions are identified and chosen after a selection process. Salman is the Captain of the first MBFT team in North Bangalore. Appointed Captain in June 2013, three months after joining the MBFT programme, Salman is a natural leader filled with curiosity.

The Magic Bus Football Team (MBFT), supported by the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), has given Salman the opportunity to build his football and leadership skills, and practice English. Girls and boys from the team train together and often time play mixed matches. Salman supports Magic Bus' push for gender equality - both boys and girls look up to him as a role model.

Salman’s football talent and leadership skills have led him to be selected to participate in a '1,000 Cranes Project Recycled Art and Football workshop' in Bangalore. He also recently traveled to Mysore for the first time for a MBFT Karnataka Exchange Day. He took part in a day of training, friendly matches and a visit to Mysore Palace touring with 25 other selected MBFT Mysore players. He was also one of twelve players participating in the Sunfeast Roots Football League, a two-month football talent tournament across Bangalore.

Salman wants to grow up to be a Chartered Accountant and Footballer. MBFT Bangalore olunteer mentors are diverse in age, gender and occupation - they work or attend college full-time whilst actively playing football. The MBFT Coach encourages balancing football with another profession. One of our MBFT volunteers has a background in Accounting within a global corporate finance company, and Salman has found a mentor in him, so he regularly interacts with him on and off the field.

MBFT Bangalore players had the opportunity to meet local Footballer Amoolya, a national and international level Footballer, and Physical Education Teacher. Salman confidently shared his own bio and favorite football move with Amoolya, Chitra (Former National Goalkeeper) and Kamal (former State Level Footballer). Exposures like this have sparked Salman’s ambition as his confidence in playing and interaction skills strengthen. Our Youth Mentors and Training & Monitoring Officers often assign him the task of assembling the team before practice.

Nagina, Salman’s mother, explained that the Magic Bus Football Team has brought about positive changes in Salman. Seeing how her son has excelled in the past year, Nagina is keen on her daughter joining MBFT someday. With Magic Bus' and family support, Salman’s mother and grandmother strongly feel he will achieve his future goals.

To find out more about Magic Bus, visit www.magicbus.org.
To find out more about the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), visit www.the-afdp.org

Magic Bus CEO answers questions on the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Clause

On 18th, December 2012, the Indian Legislature passed the Companies Bill 2012. One of the key changes in the new bill is the introduction of a Corporate Social Responsibility clause making India the first country to mandate CSR through a statutory provision. While a company is not subject to liability for failing to spend on CSR under the 2 Percent Formula, a company and its officers are subject to liability for not explaining such a failure in the report of the board of directors.

Pratik Kumar, Magic Bus CEO, answers questions on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Clause in the Companies Bill 2012.

Pratik Kumar, CEO, Magic Bus

Keeping in view the areas mandated as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), how does it impact your organisation's focus and investment?

Our focus has been on building viable collaborations with Corporations who want to create real impact. Our investment will continue to be on children and youth, two crucial population segments on which our country's future depends. The hope, for me, is that since giving in India as a percentage of GDP is very low compared to global standards, this quantum jump in Corporate giving, will, to an extent, bring Indian philanthropy closer to global standards. Whether or not it will make a real dent on the nation's development issues, however, depends on several other factors. 

• The first set of challenge we foresee would be in the Corporate sector's interpretation of what constitutes real-impact investments. There is a strong welfare-orientation in India, perhaps driven by the fact that traditionally, giving has been associated with religious traditions. Thankfully, this understanding is now changing. The world over, investments in charity are being preceded by needs assessments and informed decisions being taken to channelise funding to those causes that need it the most. The young CSR specialisation needs to gather the best practices in order to choose highest, long-term on-ground impact over short-term gains.

• The second set of challenge is with the government sector, in learning how best to leverage Corporate Social Responsibility to meet the nation's foremost development goals

What will be the impact, if any, on the NGOs or social enterprises (you engage with) and the communities/causes they support? 

NGOs and social enterprises can look forward to sharing the values they have upheld so far on the crucial concerns of the country today — concerns like poverty alleviation, gender equity, on children's development. This is a unique opportunity for all three players in development – Corporations, NGOs and the GOvernment, to create a working collaboration that makes a real dent on the Nation's standing in development.

As a sector, we would need to upgrade our professionalism and skills to match the new demands that such a large leap in funding would mean for all of us. At Magic Bus, given that our Founder is himself from the Corporate Sector, we had foreseen the impact of increasing CSR by starting a process of professionalising with a increased focus on transparency and measures to systematise operations with the help of a set of Standard Operating Procedures that today oversees everything from Finance to Communications. 

Are the projects currently implemented by your organisation 'sustainable'? To the extent possible, do elaborate upon the complexities.

Sustainability was a major concern for Magic Bus from Day One. We knew that the country is replete with innovations, the true test is not in the generation of the innovation, but in the replicability of it. Deliberately, we defined our model in terms of its adaptability across contexts. In a crucial strategic choice, we decided to use local, community-based volunteers to deliver programme on the ground, who use our training to not just deliver the work but also build on their own skills and achieve their life goals. I would say this was a crucial choice that enabled us to go from being a small island of success to a demonstrable model of development, one that has traction with policymakers and Governments. 

Please share the journey of one project implemented by your organisation, with focus on its impact at the grassroots.

Our flagship work, in Mumbai, is one that is a fairly emblematic of the Magic Bus journey. Our Founder, Matthew Spacie, started work as a weekend volunteer activity with just 30 street boys he was coaching to play rugby. Over years, he noticed that his coaching was leading to some fairly revolutionary changes in the lives of the children he was coaching – they were getting interested in formal education, adopting healthy behaviours and imbibing crucial life skills such as how to work better in teams. Over the next few years, Matthew and his team of volunteers expanded his work to cover a few hundred more children. More importantly, the team worked on using classical learning theories to build the coaching sessions into what we now call the Magic Bus Sport for Development curriculum. Off the playing field, the team started working intensively with the local communities, building consensus on children's issues and rights, and advocating for a more child-friendly family and community.

By 2007, we were ready to test the waters in new geographies to see whether this — the Magic Bus model — was scalable. The Mumbai project remained our fist and most important learning ground, a learning that is today being replicated across 2000 communities from 12 States of India. 

One insightful thought, experience or learning that you will like to share with your counterparts as well as other individuals in the causes domain.

Collective wisdom points at the right way to end poverty. We know we need empowerment in the areas of education, health and gender rights; we need equal access to markets; and lastly, we need robust social and political systems. We also know that no one entity (Corporations, the GOvernment,can act in isolation to or NGOs) can solve mega issues like this that are impacting India. But across sectors, we are tuned to not collaborate. Consider NGOs alone: each operates in a limited geography and/or scope of work, a territory defended vehemently. It has become a highly fragmented effort, where many of the actors are doing great work, but without consolidating services are limiting large scale impact. I think the lesson learnt from 24 years of working in India — both in the Government and Non-Governmental sectors — is that collaboration, Without collaboration, or a shared value system, a common purpose, we as a country will continue to remain fragmented and ineffective. 

www.magicbus.org

Women take the lead at Family Meeting at Magic Bus, Bangalore

The first African-American President of the USA once said, “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself, that you realise your true potential.” These are the wise words of a man who, during his early years, found himself trapped in a cobweb of narcotics, poverty and, the worst of all, discrimination. Despite all the forces that were working against him to bring him down, he managed to do the unexpected: To achieve milestones that nobody had ever even remotely imagined.

And that is what Magic Bus is all about – empowering the underprivileged through means of sports, and transforming the world around them. It is about catalysing change in communities and children. It is about creating “magic”, as the name suggests to a plethora of districts all across the nation.

Some think that Magic Bus is all about sports and children. I thought so too until yesterday. But what happened yesterday brought about a different perception. It changed what I, as other partially-oblivious bourgeois people, think about Magic Bus. This NGO is different. It isn’t concentric to one cause. To put it metaphorically, it has one root, but many branches. It has one path – the power of sports – but many beneficiaries. Magic Bus uses its concept to not only pull children out of poverty but also to change the mindset of their parents and families.

As Shaona and Sonia briefed us on our first day of our internship, Tuesday, December 10, 2013, was a big day for us at Magic Bus Bangalore. We were to organise a first-of-its-kind family meet for all the Youth Mentors (YMs) and Training and Monitoring Officers (TMOs). This was a day for the families of the family of YMs and TMOs that have continued to support Magic Bus Bangalore through their hard work.

The day started with a rigorous set up. Appreciation Magic Bus tags and candles for all attendees, posters and banners sprawled across the venues, carpets, flowers and seats to add a finishing touch. As we eagerly waited for all the 13 YMs, our chief guests, to arrive with their families, we broke out into heavy chattering over light refreshments.

To see these simple, down-to-earth, yet confident and exuberant youth all dressed up for their big day was great. Amidst the bustle, I noticed something different. This day, for a change in an average Indian household, was one for the women of the family. As the proud TMOs entered with an air of importance, the men of their families followed. And that’s what felt good: the female domination that had scattered across the event. To see more women than men playing their own part to change their surroundings almost brought tears to my eyes.

The introductory session conducted by Lawrence was an exciting start to the event. Post the YMs introduction on their role in Magic Bus, family members were asked to speak of how their lives had changed since these women (and a minority of two men) started to spend a majority of their time outside their homes – interacting with other men, women and children. To hear the praises that went around as well as the words of encouragement from the families for these YMs really created an impact.

Following that great start, an ice breaking session was conducted through a balloon-bursting game. As Sonia cleverly pointed out, a concept as simple as blowing and bursting balloons in teams of two brought about creativity through ‘participation’ and all in all created a ‘fun’ and ‘experimental learning’ platform for all. ‘Mentored’ by Narsimha, all teams took part in a fair and fun game that brought a signature Colgate smile on everybody’s faces.

We then moved back into the room for an interactive session conducted by Anu on one of our core concerns – the Child Protection Policy. Comically asking Narsimha to translate her fluent English into the simplest of Kannada words, Anu cast a light on one of Magic Bus’ most important agendas: how to save your child from wrong. She brought about an active discussion and got many parents to voice their opinions.

Sonia, her eyes reflecting her many years of experience in this field, then conducted a recognition segment, which, in my opinion, was the most important of them all. The importance, praises and confidence instilled in the YMs through anecdotes of their collaborative experiences at the sessions not only made the YMs feel proud but also reassured their families. These YMs were working so hard to change the lives of a total of 9,123 children across Bangalore. That’s a HUGE number to achieve in just one year, with just a team of 13. To reiterate what Sonia said, it’s not quantity, it’s the quality that’s the focus. When one puts in their heart and soul into something, the outcome automatically shows. Sure there’s a target of 11,000 children – but with such women leaders, nothing is impossible. As Kavita Aka, a TMO, put it, “The aim for 2014 is to have each YM become a TMO, and for each of the 25 CYLs to have 25 more CYLs and multiplied number of children under the Magic Bus umbrella.”

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. That’s what I saw in the eyes of each of the attendees yesterday, and that is what makes Magic Bus so awesome. If the leader of this magical organisation is itself an epitome of an example, the rest will definitely create leaders of the same willpower. It’s a domino effect – Mr. Spacie left his well-paying CEO job to become a social worker, the YMs left their restricted lifestyles to change the lives of many, the families left their bread-winning jobs to support their kin, and I left my old perception to think afresh and, hopefully, do a thousandth of what Magic Bus does to change my motherland, my home – the nation of many with all hearts beating as one – India.

Thank you Nidhi Singh (Magic Bus intern from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) for sharing this wonderful story. 

To find out more about Magic Bus, visit www.magicbus.org

Celebrating the Girl Child: My Life, My Fight and My Decision

Poornima made a difference to her life

10-year old Poornima from a poverty-stricken family in Jayanagar, Bangalore, has defeated difficult circumstances with her desire and exceptional talent.

Poornima, studying in grade 5 at a Government school, was a shy, reserved and softly spoken girl whose parents are separated. She stays with her “Amma” who works as a housemaid to meet the family's needs.

Her mother shares, "My daughter used to feel very isolated among her friends for not having her “Appa” around, however, her friends have been supportive and I can see a huge difference in her since she started attending Magic Bus sessions."

Putti (Poornima) now shows a renewed enthusiasm towards life and people around her, she has opened up, become friendlier and is more confident in herself.

Her school Principal has also noticed some changes, “Poornima was a very shy girl and used to always stay aloof from her classmates. Since joining Magic Bus sessions, she has more friends, her performance in studies has improved and she is now the Class Monitor.”

Inspired by her Magic Bus Youth Mentor, Poornima’s dream is to become a teacher and a footballer. She acknowledges the importance of education and wants to be a role model for her younger brother and help her mother financially by being a successful teacher.

Thank you Sheetal, Aarikiti, Urbashi and Sami (Magic Bus Interns from Christ University Bangalore) for sharing this wonderful story.

To find out more about Magic Bus, visit www.magicbus.org

Pink and Blue: The possible signs of danger

(Names have been changed in this story to protect privacy).

“First I thought I would become a teacher because it is an easy profession, and as people say one doesn’t need to study much. But now I think I will be in the police and help the victims of domestic violence. Will you cast me as a heroine in your film?” 11-year-old Ruhee asks with a twinkle in her eye. Ruhee has had a change of heart, as she flirts with trading the confines of her gender for her aspiration...

Like so many other families, Ruhee’s family migrated from their ancestral village in Bihar, in hope of work and better educational facilities. Their new home, Bhanwar Singh camp, like many other Delhi slums, is a labyrinth of narrow lanes, open drains, community water taps, and pastel colored squalid mud and brick houses with roofs made up of cemented slabs and plastic sheets.

The neighborhood is dotted with shopping complexes, and posh houses of some of the city’s rich. Just like a typical slum, locals strive to make an honest living doing everything from driving auto rickshaws or taxis, cleaning houses, selling vegetables or as daily wage labourers working on the booming city's many construction sites.

A study by [1] International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) reveals that there are more cases of gender-based violence reported in urban areas than rural – urban areas not unlike the neighborhood Ruhee now calls home.

Women and Girls Lead Global, a documentary film and trans-media initiative to affect lasting change in global gender issues, aims to positively redefine gender role stereotypes in Indian society. With this goal in mind, we set out to explore the conditions that cause girls like Ruhee to worry so much about domestic violence and community protection, and to fear dreaming of anything beyond the practical.

Ruhee and other children from her community congregate to share their own childhood rituals of growing up and aspirations. “My brother doesn’t even clean his plate. I am the one who helps mother with household work. At times if he’s forced to work, he creates heaps of mess for me to clear. So I’d rather not have him work at all. He is better off doing what he does on most days, i.e. to eat and play”, said Ruhee, sheepishly, escaping the eye of her mother and brother standing next to her at the doorway of their one-room dwelling.

Children in this community, like anywhere in the world, learn very young to play a role. Girls are taught to be obedient and submissive. “Hide n seek, and three claps”, gleamed 10-year-old Meena with excitement on the games she likes to play with her friends.

“My brother and I always fight over the Television remote, he wants to watch wrestling matches and cartoons, while I love Hindi film songs and soap operas”, asserted Meena, with her head down in embarrassment, as the rest of her female friends giggled in secrecy over her love for Hindi film songs. “But I hate boys”, she added.

“Last week, my brother broke the head of my favourite Barbie doll. He hates them. I do not know why. Can you scold him?” complained 7-year old Asha.

“No! Girls don’t like cricket at all” exclaimed the three girls in chorus.

Boys, on the other hand, are taught to be competitive, physically strong, and often oppressive.
“Why should I train myself in cooking, when I have a sister”, asserted 11-year old Gautam, with a hint of wryness.

“I think I need to balance my brawn with my height and age,” chuckled Manish while seeking reassurance from his all boys’ gang. “Yes, girls do not need to exercise and be muscular, they have the police and their family to protect them”, said Amit in confirmation with Manish.

These innocent and playful confessions are often accepted as rites of our passage of life and growing up. But what happens when young girls and boys accept the roles set out for them? What impact do sports, entertainment, and household responsibilities have as children grow into adults? We are often oblivious to the fact that these seemingly simple childhood experiences point towards a looming danger of gender based violence.

“I have three brothers and I hate them because they abuse and bully other girls and the kids younger to them” said a relatively irritated Renuka.

“Last week a boy asked if I could be his friend. I slapped him because friendship with boys makes you weak in studies. It is good to be friends with only girls” she added.

10-year-old Renuka is seen as the leader of her all girls’ gang. She is what her community calls a ‘Tomboy’ for her roughness and outspokenness.

Gender socialization continues throughout the life cycle. Society defines the boundaries of the gender roles. At an early age children’s minds are molded by the values and behaviors of their gender, and identify what is socially acceptable as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.

Boys who have less muscular strength, or are emotionally weak are considered to be ‘sissy’ and effeminate, while girls are expected to be weak and emotionally submissive. This chips away the possibility of building a healthy and equitable relationship with the opposite sex, and hinders the development as a person.

When girls or boys, women or men, are seen stepping outside the rigid definition of appropriate male and female behavior they become easy and socially-acceptable targets of violence.

“I can easily wear a short and a t-shirt, but it is unacceptable for my sister to wear such short clothes, it will be outraging modesty. Girls must cover themselves properly” declared Gautam.

“I will never allow my sister to roam with a boy in any park, alone in the evening” he added.

The expectations set out by their families and communities continue to affect the way boys and girls treat each other as they grow up. Likewise, exposure to violence can have a profound impact on children’s development. “I see my parents fight almost every night. My father comes drunk, and at times hits my mother if she forgets to do her work. It is normal for married couples to fight. I do not like seeing that, but I am used to it now” said Megha, fidgeting nervously with her fingers as she talked about her dad.

A study by [2] UNICEF indicates that as many as 275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the home. It further adds that children who grow up in a violent home are more likely to be victims of child abuse, and there is a strong likelihood that this will become a continuing cycle of violence for the next generation.

When children learn to expect violence in their homes as “normal” like Megha has, they become much more likely to accept other forms of gender-based violence as well. At the end of 2012, a tragic case of sexual violence on a New Delhi bus made international headlines. When the horrific story ignited a movement across India, children of Bhanwar Singh camp believe that had the girl not stepped out of the home late evening with her boyfriend, she could have avoided her brutal sexual assault and eventual death.

There is a desperate need to intervene, to introduce and to help these children discover the vicious process that makes them, their minds and their society vulnerable to violence. By working with local and international partners, this is where Women and Girls Lead Global hopes to make an impact in India. By engaging boys and girls through film and other forms of media, as well as through connections with mentors and role models, we encourage them to re-think their identities, their relationships, and their responsibilities. Perhaps by introducing a girl like Ruhee to positive role models – both on film and in person – she can indeed become a policewoman – or a teacher. Either way, she will be a heroine.

By Abhishek Srivastava, ITVS Country Engagement Coordinator, India - 'Women and Girls Lead ' Campaign

This story was written following a visit by ITVS' India Engagement Coordinator to the Bhanwar Singh community in Delhi, with Magic Bus. Magic Bus develops local community mentors who empower children from marginalised communities across India to break out of poverty, taking them on a journey from childhood to livelihood. Children (aged 7 and above) from Bhanwar Singh are enrolled in a sports for development curriculum incorporating 40 sessions a year, tackling critical issues such as gender inequality, health, hygiene and education, delivered by trained volunteer community youth leaders. These experiential learning activities are used as a metaphor for change.

ITVS and Magic Bus have partnered to incorporate the 'Women and Girls Lead Global' series of documentaries into the Magic Bus programme. By harnessing the power of media to improve the lives women and girls across India, the collaboration seeks to inspire action and drive change among children, parents and their communities on pressing issues such as child marriage and gender-based violence.

Summer workshop for children from Delhi resettlement communities

168 children from four resettlement communities we work with in Delhi, enjoyed a visit to the National Museum this summer, where they engaged in various arts and crafts activities. 

Aimed at opening children's eyes to their rich cultural heritage, and motivating them to conserve some of the dying arts & crafts in India, the day's activities also developed logical thinking, problem solving & brain storming skills, as well as their creativity.

Activities also focused on developing self-confidence and a positive attitude. The experience also helped to build trust and rapport between our staff, mentors, children and the community.

Thank you to the National Museum for hosting our children and giving them such a wonderful day's experience. http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/

www.magicbus.org

Magic Bus & ITVS putting the power of media to work for women and girls in India

9 Magic Bus youth mentor leaders responsible for training our volunteers in the field were brought together to take part in a new and potentially ground-breaking initiative using the power of media and technology to drive disadvantaged young people to become change-makers.

They were shown a documentary film, the first screening in India by ITVS, about how a group of children challenge dire circumstances in their community, a squatters’ settlement in Kolkata. The idea is to encourage children, girls in particular, to become agents of change, a concept our mentors are familiar with since the Magic Bus sport for development programme is about empowering youth to challenge and break the restraints of tradition and poverty, to rewrite their future.

Through 40 lessons a year delivered to children by youth volunteers living within their own slum communities, the Magic Bus curriculum and its field-tested methodology, focuses on 7 key inter-related domain areas of Health, Education, Right to Play, Gender, Socio-emotional learning, Leadership and Livelihood. 250,000 children from the most marginalised and deprived parts of India are currently enrolled on the programme, with the mission to create long-lasting, sustainable community-wide change taking 1 million children from childhood to livelihood.

Similarly, the film "Revolutionary Optimists" set in the notoriously squalid Rishi Aurobindo Squatters’ Colony in Kolkata, profiles 4 youth living among 9000 slum dwellers, Shikha and Salim, Priyanka and Kajal. Their stories are followed over 5 years to demonstrate the empowerment of children to become educators and advocates for creating sustainable movements in areas such as child labour, sanitation, disease prevention, early marriage and gender. Whilst this award winning, longitudinal documentary is a success story aimed at inspiring monumental change, it doesn’t fail to acknowledge that some of these challenges require even greater levels of determination and patience.

Much like Magic Bus Founder Matthew Spacie, Amlan Ganguly, creator of the NGO profiled in the documentary, Prayasam, is a social entrepreneur and former Ashoka Fellow, who through sheer determination, instinct and passion, single-handedly initiated his programme with the belief that education and child empowerment are crucial keys to lifting entire communities out of poverty. Ganguly’s holistic approach suggests “If you want to start any kind of change, start it with the children… they have the power to become agents of change if their aspiration level is raised to believe that they deserve more. If you change your mind-set, you can change your surroundings. Slowly the children’s consciousness is raised: Why shouldn’t they have access to clean water?  Why should a young girl be forced to choose marriage instead of education and a career?”

Taking the concept of placing youth at the heart of the change-making process seriously, Amlan has gone as far as including children from Rishi Aurobindo on his Board of Directors.

Film trailer
http://vimeo.com/59202365

Map Your World
Youth + Technology = Change

“Revolutionary Optimists” profiles “The Daredevils”, a group of young girls and boys who have made a dramatic improvement in the health of their slum community, a place that could not even be found on a map, using innovative new “Map Your World” technology to track polio vaccination rates and water quality.

This potentially radical innovation enables young people in any part of the world to collect and record interactive data and story maps highlighting critical issues through the use of proven technologies including Google Earth, GPS, Android phones, and an open source tool, Formhub.

By mapping and sharing these powerful stories, young people in any part of the world are empowered to become change agents in their own communities.

About the Women and Girls Lead Global campaign

'Women and Girls Lead Global' is a three-year, nine-country, thirty-film media project to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide, created through a public-private partnership between USAID, the Ford Foundation, and ITVS, and in collaboration with CARE. The campaign plan is to create a 10-episode documentary film series each year about women and girls rising above extraordinary circumstances to seek better lives for themselves, their families, and communities.

Abhishek Srivastava (pictured left), India Engagement Coordinator for ITVS, responsible for leading the implementation of the "Women and Girls Lead" project in India talked about the partnership with Magic Bus, "I am excited to understand that our film, Revolutionary Optimists, resonates very strongly with the Magic Bus youth mentor training team. They also see our film as a strong tool to address various issues, including gender, within their communities".

"ITVS and Women and Girls Lead Global have a series of such films that will seek to address gender-based violence with the prism of redefining gender role stereotypes amongst youth and children".

"It is very interesting and disappointing at the same time that the youth mentor leaders and their communities have little understanding of words like masculinity and patriarchy. It makes our task even more important and nuanced. It is about time we use such narratives to prevent gender-based violence".

Excited to share their film with youth worldwide, filmmakers Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham write “We hope that the story will inspire youth to feel empowered as potential revolutionaries, which is why we have developed the multiplatform tool ‘Map Your World’ in partnership with the children in our film - so that youth everywhere can become agents of change in their communities.”

Magic Bus team feedback

Rajni Rani (pictured right), a female Magic Bus youth mentor trainer who watched the RO documentary screening shared her thoughts, “I’m looking forward to using this film in our monthly community youth leader refresher training to motivate my team, and facilitate a discussion around gender. Showing this film within the communities could also have a positive and inspiring impact since so many of the issues raised are relatable to our own such as early marriage, which I myself had to fight against when I was only 15.”

Debjit Paul, a male Magic Bus youth mentor trainer from South Delhi, shared his views on the discussion around using the documentary in their training programme, “I hadn’t heard or understood the term ‘masculinity’ prior to this session and I think it is an interesting topic in terms of its relationship with gender equity and gender-based violence. With further briefing I would like to incorporate this theme into our training, using the documentary as a tool to facilitate the initial discussion among our youth leaders, and where appropriate within the communities we work in.”

Santosh Gupta, another mentor leader from North Delhi commented on the ‘Map Your World’ tool, “I’m keen to explore the potential use of this new technology in the communities we work in to record and track issues, and to use this data to advocate for making changes.”

Source: http://www.itvs.org/films/revolutionary-optimists/engagement-resources

By Heena Patel, Magic Bus Communications Team