Programme

IRN FORUM 2009

VENUE: VIDYA BHAWAN CAMPUS, UDAIPUR

Background This note provides specific details regarding what has been planned for certain sessions spread out over the five days of the forum. These sessions have been designed in order to provide participants the opportunity to explore what is of most interest to them and also to harvest and share the meaning that emerges through all the conversations and activities that will be taking place in the broader context of the workshop themes and the field visit. The harvest will be turned into a document that can be sent to all participants in the event (or put on the website as a pdf).

The following sessions/activities will be included:
• Video-interviews
• Photographs display
• Milan Mela
• Open Sessions
• Weaving it together
• Reflecting on field visits
• The workshop report

Video-interviews On the Sunday (registration day) local youth will be involved in conducting short interviews of around 30 participants. The interviews will be seeking very short answers to the question "what do you hope to be able to give and what do you hope you will be able to take from this workshop". The responses will then be compiled into a short video that will be presented back to the participants during the Milan Mela (the following morning).

Milan Mela ( Milan roughly translates to friends meeting, mela means a fair with stalls and in India friends meet at Melas!! )
The Milan Mela will function as an opportunity for people to interact with each other and for participants to create the agenda for the open sessions. It will take place in a large hall at the back end of which will be a large timetable showing the various sessions (pre-scheduled and open) planned out for the following days. Around the sides of the rooms the various organisations who will be hosting visitors on Wednesday will have their stall set up (with posters, material and someone who can explain a little bit about the organisation and the visit it will be hosting). be asked to give a brief (1 minute maximum) description of their session to help participants make an informed decision. The session then blends into lunch so people can continue having conversations with each other and thinking about which session they would like to participate in after lunch.

Khula Manch (Open Sessions)  The Khula Manch are open sessions that are an integral part of the workshop experience. They provide the space for the participants to explore issues or questions of concern to them - or else to carry out workshop or interactive sessions - around (broadly speaking) the proposed themes of the day. It is important to note that while it is encouraged that sessions should be related to the theme of the day, it need not be strictly the case.
Participants will be invited at specific times (such as the Milan Mela) and also more generally to post up suggestions for either conversations or interactive workshops that they would like to host/propose. The number of open sessions will correspond to the availability of space for a given time-slot. Participants will be asked to sign up for any of the proposed sessions (the list of options will include paper presentations and pre-scheduled  workshops).  It is also planned that film session will be reserved each day for participants who have brought short movies/documentaries made by or about their work or their organisations. Accordingly, participants can bring any such materials and to be prepared to show them and then host a short discussion on the same. Interested participants are encouraged to inform the conference organisers as early as possible, providing information regarding the length of the film they would like to show to facilitate grouping of films. If feasible/practical, the film festival can be merged with the video session - it all depends on the participants' response.

Weaving it together At the end of each day, given the diversity of conversations that will be taking place, there will be a need to bring together the diverse threads of meaning that will have emerged. At the end of each day there is a Weaving it Together session intended specifically for this purpose. Various methods will be used to help people weave together their conversations and identify emerging ideas, themes and questions. The results will be captured on chart papers.

Reflecting on field visits On Thursday morning a session is being organised to enable the participants to reflect on their field visits in a more structured manner. The idea is to give participants the opportunity to take stock of what they experienced and learned during the field visits and to think over their experiences in light of the discussions/experiences that have taken place over the preceding days

Samappan The final day will end with a special variation of the Weaving it Together session. It will begin with a short speech from the facilitator sharing some reflections on the overall workshop process and experience and will then proceed with John Bryden's closing speech. After this tea will be served and participants will be free.

The forum report A workshop report will be put together based on notes, charts, interviews, photographs produced over the course of the event. It will also include material from all the open sessions insofar as this is possible. Emerging themes, ideas, questions, etc. will also be presented, structured around the four key themes. 

Field Visit details are being put up shortly 

The websites of the agencies who are hosting field trips are listed below.  Delegates will be able to select a field visit that interests them.

www.jatansansthan.org        www.sadhna.org      www.sevamandir.org            www.aajeevika.org       www.arth.in        www.fes.org.in www.jjvs.org     www.astha.org   

Click on this link for programme details   Forum programme aug 22.pdf