Program Structure

The program will start on June 15, 2013 and end on June 23, 2013. It is a full-time residential program and will take place in Kanpur Rural (approximately 70-80 km away from Kanpur City), Uttar Pradesh, India.

There would be leadership sessions with people who have pioneered solutions for rural India; interaction with local authorities in order to understand the problems in a better way and what stops in execution of potentially great policies.

First deadline to apply is 15th April and last date to apply is 19 May, 2013 12PM (IST). Results would be declared on a rolling basis.

Gramya Manthan (rural immersion program) is divided in three stages:

Part 1: Induction and Case Studies of model villages of India (first two days)

Part 2: Living the way villagers live (a day with a village family)

Part 3: Work in a village and address one of the prevailing problems coupled with group reflections, sharing and leadership forums

Part 4: Follow up with the villages and to see the progress of projects (This will depend on the choice on participants, we recommend participants to come back in December to witness the progress )

For one day, everyone will have to live with a village family to experience villager’s regular life, this familiarity will help in enhancing empathy.
From day 4 till day 8, cohort will be divided in groups of 5-7 people, who will start working on their identified / assigned issue/problems.
We will have routine monthly follow-ups in the villages and also a meet in December to see the progress. It is not just a 9 day immersion program we will continue to work on the project for nearly 5 years to map the change.

During the day times groups will live and work in villages, the whole cohort will assemble every night for reflection, sharing and leadership forum.

On day 9, every group will present its holistic experience with cohort about the problem, solution, suggestions and future endeavours if any.

Candidates who are interested to stay after the program will be given full support with food & stay

The villages are chosen based on issues varying from migration, education, livelihood, health & sanitation and to no electricity. Groups will pick up one of the issue and work on them to address it at grass root level.

For Example :

Issue: Migration / Employment

Possible solution: After conducting a baseline survey and understanding feasibility of various solutions a group can come up with idea of convincing a group of women from that village to start a SHG and make good quality paper bags which can be supplied to shopping malls in City or any other vendor. This will help them in enhancing their livelihood and support their families.

Issue: No Electricity

Possible Solutions: Setting up of Solar Lamps on streets so that people can benefit from it or students can study at night. Setting up of a small charging station where people can charge their solar lanterns/mobiles.

Note: The project design might change a bit depending on the conditions prevailing. All rights are reserved with the Youth Alliance team to decide the final program structure.