Gujarat Cell Session

1
Gujarat Cell Session

• Why Gujarat Cell Brief Summary
• Brief update on key initiatives and partnerships
  in Gujarat
• Short Long term goals for the cell
• Presentations on Overview of Economics in
  Gujarat Adivasi Issues, Projects
  Resources Communalism Issues, Projects
  Resources Water Issues, Projects
  Resources
• How volunteers can join and contribute

2
Why a Gujarat Cell?

• Large State with Multitude of Issues
• Large industrialized bed interspersed with acute
  poverty
• Water crisis
• Forced displacement
• Ecological degradation
• Severe communal tensions
• Significant population of marginalized dalits and
  adivasis
• Gender imbalances

3
Why a Gujarat Cell?

• Resources to Address Issues
• Excellent NGOs that AID has partnered with in
  Gujarat-- including DISHA, BSC, Bhasha, Utthan,
  Marag, Sarvodaya Kendra, Anandi, Lok Samiti,
  SPRAT, SAMPARC, SEWA, Ganatar, Sahiyar, etc.
• Presence of AID Saathis including Swati, Michael
  and Paulomee
• Two extremely dedicated volunteers Shivani and
  Avani who are spending several months in Gujarat
  working with various groups

4
Why a Gujarat Cell?

• Gujarati population in US
• Significant proportion of the Indian diaspora in
  the USA hails from Gujarat
• Traditionally a community with strong ties to
  respective hometowns/villages
• Opportunities for AID for awareness building,
  outreach and fundraising

5
Short Term Goals

• Oversee the disbursal of remaining funds in
  Gujarat pool by year-end. These funds need to be
  sanctioned and transmitted within the framework
  of commitments evolved through the last 3 years
  of consultations/fieldwork
• Have study groups within the Gujarat cell for
  various issues (Regular conference calls for
  updates from sub-groups and with NGOs in
  respective areas)
• Documentation, construction, positioning launch
  of the For Gujarat cyber portal in an
  autonomous organizational space to reflect
  multifaceted human networks/realities for the
  purpose of awareness/fund raising about
  sustainable, empowering development of the region

6
Long Term Goals

• Survey of all AID projects executed so far in
  Gujarat-- what has their distribution been in
  terms of subregion, issues covered, etc? Is that
  distribution a fair response to the kind of
  problems that exist on the ground, or do we need
  to focus more consciously on some issues?
• Keep alive the For Gujarat Initiative and
  collaborate a regular newsletter
• Study specific aspects of main issues facing
  Gujarat and collaborate through the NGO network
  to convert to specific projects
• Through cross-participation in the tribal, water,
  women, Pluralism, Bhopal, Rajasthan other
  cells, strengthen the Gujarat cell
• Leveraging a Gujarat state cell to do targeted
  fundraising with the Gujarati Samaj's in the US

7
Presentations