Call for Applications: Nayi Dishayein: Summer School on Rethinking Development by Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics [May 25-June 5]: Register Now!

Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics is calling for applications for Nayi Dishayein: Summer School on Rethinking Development.

About Sambhaavnaa Institute

Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics nestled in a small village called Kandwari, in the lap of the mighty Dhauladhar mountain ranges in Himachal Pradesh, is an alternative learning and living space for those concerned with social and political change.

Founded under the aegis of the Kumud Bhushan Education Society in 2004 Sambhaavnaa’s main mission has been to nurture value-based leadership by encouraging individuals, especially the youth; to discuss and develop a critical perspective on the ideals and ideas that define a just society.

About the Program

Sambhaavnaa Institute has been organizing a participatory, reflective, and perspective-building program called Nayi Dishayein: Rethinking Development that explores ‘development’ and seeks to understand its history and origins, it’s working, and its ramifications on people and the planet.

In this program, we work with young people to:

1. Deconstruct and critically examine the notion of development: Where did it come from? How and why have we bought into it so uncritically?
2. Examine the root causes of growing inequality in the distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunities and its impact on nature and people
3. We are, to start with, a society quite fractured along the lines of gender, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and knowledge: Does this kind of development heal those fractures or further deepen them?
4. Can we have infinite growth on a finite planet: analyze and lay bare the compulsions for this ‘extractivist economy’ and GDP growth-oriented economic system and their impacts on climate, ecology, and society.
5. Finally, how have people been countering these onslaughts, if at all? What role and impact do these peoples’ movements have against this juggernaut? Are they in any way able to contribute to a more just and sustainable society?
6. What can be my role as a young individual towards all this? 

About the workshop

The program will be held at Sambhaavnaa Institute, Himachal Pradesh from 25th May to 5th June 2023. The workshop deploys a mix of lectures, classroom discussions, exercises and presentations, field trips, theatre, film/documentary screenings, songs of resistance, and sharing of lived experiences by activists and scholars.

Who is the program for?

This program is open to anyone in the age group of 21-28 years who is – 

• seeking to engage with the above questions
• someone figuring out how to frame the questions themselves
• seeking to make sense of the contradictory world we live in
• grappling with one’s own role in a humane and sustainable world.

Resource Persons

Aswathy Senan, Moggallan Bharti, and Praveen Singh.

Language

This program will be conducted in English and Hindi. Basic proficiency in both is preferred.

How to apply?

• Method 1:  You can make a brief video, look into the camera, and articulate your experiences, specifically as per the requirements of the exercise.  The video has to be at least 3 minutes long. You can share this video on WhatsApp with us – at +91 889 422 7954; OR
• Method 2:  Write about your experience and learnings from the field exercise. We are interested in your reflections, interpretations, and analysis of ‘social realities’.  (Please note that we will not be assessing the exercise on the basis of language, grammar, or efficacy of presentation). Please write in no more than 500 words.

Field Exercise options

• Exercise 1: Interview an informal worker in your area (peasants, domestic workers, migrant labourers, etc) and write a note about how they are treated/used/compensated/cared for by the current economic system. You can also cover elements of their personal, physical, psychological, and family conditions- and how the current economic system brings these about; OR
• Exercise 2: Follow the garbage trail from your place of residence to the final place where it rests. Locate one person in the life-cycle who manages your garbage, and speak to them about the nature of their work, their wages, their family and who else earns in their family, the living conditions of their family, and so on. Provide a description of the garbage trail and any insights you obtained from it. Share about the garbage worker as well as your reflections on his/her life and working conditions, and if and/or how it could be changed for the better.
• Exercise 3: (?) Visit a government school in your neighbourhood. What did you see about the infrastructure, social class of the students, and the teachers and what can you make out of the quality of education being imparted? How does it, if at all, differ from the kind of school you went to?

Contribution to the Program

• We request participants to contribute an amount of Rs. 9500/– towards workshop expenses, inclusive of all onsite workshop costs: boarding, lodging, and all the materials used in the workshop.
• Do not let money be an impediment to your application. Need-based fee waivers are available. We have a limited number of scholarships so please apply for a fee waiver if you really need it.
• Do remember that there may be others who need it more than you. The fee waivers will be offered to people from marginalized groups and non-funded social, political, or student movements.

Workshop Dates

25th May to 5th June 2023

Clcik here to regsiter.