Youth Initiatives
The focus of the youth interventions is on young people who are on the threshold of entering careers, starting families and getting into relationships. The decisions that they take and the choices they make, have a great impact on how the relationships between men and women are defined as well as their sexual and reproductive behaviours. Also, they are the future leaders of media, advertising, politics, business, administration etc.
Gender Sensitization
Workshops
Theatre and activity based gender sensitization workshops/discussion forums are an important element of our youth initiatives. These workshops provide an open and non-judgmental space for the students to discuss issues related to gender discrimination, stereotypes and gender based violence. The aim of these workshops is to build the capacities of the young people to define more equal gender roles and work towards violence and discrimination free colleges, communities and homes.
The two-day training module, “Self-empowerment to Social Transformation”, apart from perspective building and sensitization also focuses on life skills required to negotiate better gender equations at home and in workplaces as well as in public spaces.
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Discussion Forums are organized in colleges to bring together young women and men to have an open discussion on current gender issues in a non-judgemental space. Sexual harassment in public spaces and in colleges, gender biases in career choices and work opportunities, gender stereotyping and violence in media and films were some of the topics covered in the discussion forums.
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If youth are to play the role of change makers, they have to be equipped with the right kind of communication skills. A number of training programmes are organized in puppetry, film making, street theatre, and song development to engage the students in communicating about key social issues at the community level. Opportunities are, thereafter, provided to use those skills at our community based activities during the annual Ganesh festival in Mumbai, the Kala Ghoda Culture Festival and at various college fests and activities.
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Population First, organised a unique college campaign called “One Minute Movie (1MM)”, involving two of the most important agents of social change - Youth and Media. Through Change Makers Clubs, students were encouraged to reflect on their own gender perceptions and values to raise pertinent questions about gender inequality and violence.
The challenge was to present the question through the creative medium of film making and convey the message effectively in a one minute movie (1MM). College students produced seven films in the 1st edition on the theme of violence against women. The films were premiered on 11th Oct 2012, during the celebration of the First International Girl Child Day and were telecast on Zee TV for 25 weeks.
The theatre workshops were conducted by Mr. Manjul Bhardwaj, founder, Experimental Theatre Foundation (ETF). Theatre workshops with students have resulted in a number of plays. ‘Laadli’ which evolved out of a theatre workshop with students of Sophia College at the launch of the Laadli campaign in 2005, was performed by the ETF members across the country. It has had more than 500 shows between 2005 and 2014 and dealt with gender discrimination and violence in the life cycle of a woman.
The play “Beti Bachao” has also evolved from a theatre workshop, with NGO representatives and young people, focusing on the PCPNDT act and its various provisions. This play was performed in a number of locations during Ganeshotsav. A number of theatre workshops were conducted with students under various programmes over the last few years by Mr Bhardwaj for Population First.
Curriculum Based
Activities
Population First, has been making an effort to ensure that gender sensitivity becomes an integral part of the curriculum transaction in class rooms. To help teachers engage the students in a dialogue a resource CD was developed, that addressed the topics of the foundation course using attractive presentations, audio-visual material, statistics and details about NGOs working on the issues. It was disseminated widely through the Women Development Cell of Mumbai University.
Some other important initiatives include, surveys conducted by students of Sophia College, S. K. Somaiya College, and K. C College, on gender stereo-types, gender discrimination and violence and gender sensitivity in media organizations.
Academic conferences were organized by Sophia College, Amlani College, K. J Somaiya College in collaboration with Laadli on issues related to gender and women.
The research study ‘Media- How Gender Sensitive, How Inclusive’ on gender sensitivity and inclusion in media organisation and advertising agencies was conducted with support from UNFPA and in collaboration with the Gender Issues Cell of KC.
Click here to read the study
Click Here
Workshops and Training
Programs for Teachers
It was observed that to mainstream gender discussions into classrooms it is imperative that teachers have the required facilitation skills. Population First in collaboration with SNDT University’s Women’s Resource Centre and Department of PGDSR, developed four modules to promote facilitation skills among the teachers, which were disseminated widely among the teachers.
Click here to read the module.
Fund & Support: To organize these training programs in your college please contact us
Laadli has been collaborating on an on-going basis with NSS - department of Mumbai University - which supported the cause by allocating 40 - 80 credit points to the students participating in activities related to Laadli. The annual NSS festivals took up the cause of girl child with the support of Laadli.
Other college fests like - ‘Tarangan’ of Thakur College, ‘Ananya’ of Sophia College, ‘Prerna’ of Elphinstone College, ‘Pratibimb’ of Siddharth College, ‘Udaan’ of Khalsa College, ‘Mood Indigo’ of IIT-Bombay - also have had Laadli as their theme/cause partner and organized various events/activities around it.
We were the Social Cause Partners for IIT Bombay Tech Fest 2014-15.
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Laadli Change Makers Club was launched on 27th September 2011, at Patkar Hall, SNDT. It signalled a change in strategy with the NSS and WDC departments to organise gender sensitization programs in colleges with the support of Population First. The aim was to initiate a dialogue between college students on gender issues and allow them to take further initiatives on the cause.
A number of activities are undertaken by the Change Makers Clubs viz., Debates, Panel Discussions, Workshops on Gender and Gender related issues, showing 1 Minute Movies followed by group discussions, organising Street Plays, Street Play Competitions, Poster Making Competitions, and much more.
Fund & Support: To organize these training programs in your college pleasecontact us
Population First, in collaboration with BEST and Hewlett Packard organized Laadli Joy Ride to mark the 5thanniversary of the Laadli Campaign on 9th June 2010 to spread awareness about the girl child. Two open-deck double-decker buses emblazoned with thought-provoking and attractive ‘Save the Girl Child’ graphics done by JJ School of Art students rode between the Gateway of India and CST via Marine Drive. Ms Geetu Hinduja, of The Fine Art Company composed a song “Angel” for the occasion. A street play exhorting the audience to provide equal opportunities to the girl child and break gender stereotypes was performed by the students of Guru Nanak College at Gateway of India and Marine Drive.
Song writing and puppet making workshops were organized for college students. A CD containing the peppy songs on gender discrimination developed by the students were distributed among the Ganesh Pandals while the puppet shows were performed across the city during Ganeshotsav
Laadli Songs
Wall painting: On 5 th December 2010, International Volunteers Day, 35 students from J.J School of Arts and St Xavier’s College painted the compound wall of Stanislau’s church and school with interesting pictures and messages on the theme of Pre-Birth sex selection.
Wall Paintings
Udaan—Pragati ki Oar: A five-day street theatre was conducted for 25 students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Facilitated by Mr. Manjul Bharadwaj, the students performed the play across the city initiating conversations on violence against women.
Work Shop at Dongri Correction Home: A two-day Gender Sensitization workshop was organized for around 40 boys in the age group of 12 to 16 years, lodged in the Observation Home at Dongri. The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Manjul Bhardwaj and Dr Sharada, Director of Population First, on 31st July and 1st August 2014.
Bhajan Sandhya: In collaboration with Mr. Prem Rawat from the Chetana Musical Troupe, a collection of Bhajans with messages against gender discrimination were written and set to tune. The CDs containing the Bhajans were widely disseminated in the community.
Fund & Support: To support these activities please contact us
