Who are the grassroots?
Who are the grassroots? He asked…
We are the grass roots’ they replied in unison
This question was posed to 30 NGO’s at one of the first Wake Up Pune meetings I attended. Everyone agreed that in order to wake up Pune to the high prevalence rate of HIV in the city we all need to work collectively, pull our resources together to not only empower others but also empower ourselves, the local charities and NGO’s of Pune to make a difference.
Wake Up Pune was to be the first city wide HIV awareness campaign in Pune, reaching out to all stratums of society, not only the socio-economically disadvantaged. It was a very exciting time, jam-packed with rallies, awareness sessions, and rock concerts... However I wish Han’s question had stuck more rigorously in all of our heads…that the grassroots is not comprised of ‘others’ needing empowerment…we too are the grassroots. If we really want to make a difference, we must come together and stand united under a common aim, we must find some mutual ground that is worth fighting for…only then can we enter the battle. This will mean swallowing ones ego and sidelining personal objectives…but in the end it is worth it. It is in this way that I believe participatory NGO’s of the campaign lost sight of themselves as key stakeholders at the grassroots level of the Wake up Pune campaign.
We all have our personal agendas, I my self have several for getting involved in the campaign and working at DGS. Collectively within our individual charities and NGO’s we will have agendas. Agendas being a meeting point between motivations and pressures. Whilst motivations can unite organisation, pressure only divides. These pressures may include financial and human resources, overloading of responsibilities, deadlines and reports, in effect the mundane everyday reality of working in the social service sector. This constant friction between motivations and pressures was extremely evident in the involvement of the different organisations within the campaign.
From each organisation those involved in Wake Up Pune would have had numerous additional responsibilities, thus despite sharing the motivation they were constrained in realising it. These constraints played out in terms of the poor number of sessions conducted, questionnaires distributed and Wake up Pune events and meetings attended. We must all find some way of negotiating our individual organisational pressures with the collective motive of decreasing the level of HIV in the city.
Wake Up Pune still has a long LONG way to go, not only in terms of raising awareness about HIV, battling stigma and discrimination and prompting attitude and behaviour change, but in regards to making Wake up Pune a sustainable coalition not ‘for’ but ‘of’ the ‘grassroots’. Local NGO’s need to realise their need to be empowered, to stand united, to share resources and together challenge unequal structures of power. We must lay down the groundwork, a stable platform upon which we can fight the battle, only then do we stand to make our voices heard.
We are the grass roots’ they replied in unison
This question was posed to 30 NGO’s at one of the first Wake Up Pune meetings I attended. Everyone agreed that in order to wake up Pune to the high prevalence rate of HIV in the city we all need to work collectively, pull our resources together to not only empower others but also empower ourselves, the local charities and NGO’s of Pune to make a difference.
Wake Up Pune was to be the first city wide HIV awareness campaign in Pune, reaching out to all stratums of society, not only the socio-economically disadvantaged. It was a very exciting time, jam-packed with rallies, awareness sessions, and rock concerts... However I wish Han’s question had stuck more rigorously in all of our heads…that the grassroots is not comprised of ‘others’ needing empowerment…we too are the grassroots. If we really want to make a difference, we must come together and stand united under a common aim, we must find some mutual ground that is worth fighting for…only then can we enter the battle. This will mean swallowing ones ego and sidelining personal objectives…but in the end it is worth it. It is in this way that I believe participatory NGO’s of the campaign lost sight of themselves as key stakeholders at the grassroots level of the Wake up Pune campaign.
We all have our personal agendas, I my self have several for getting involved in the campaign and working at DGS. Collectively within our individual charities and NGO’s we will have agendas. Agendas being a meeting point between motivations and pressures. Whilst motivations can unite organisation, pressure only divides. These pressures may include financial and human resources, overloading of responsibilities, deadlines and reports, in effect the mundane everyday reality of working in the social service sector. This constant friction between motivations and pressures was extremely evident in the involvement of the different organisations within the campaign.
From each organisation those involved in Wake Up Pune would have had numerous additional responsibilities, thus despite sharing the motivation they were constrained in realising it. These constraints played out in terms of the poor number of sessions conducted, questionnaires distributed and Wake up Pune events and meetings attended. We must all find some way of negotiating our individual organisational pressures with the collective motive of decreasing the level of HIV in the city.
Wake Up Pune still has a long LONG way to go, not only in terms of raising awareness about HIV, battling stigma and discrimination and prompting attitude and behaviour change, but in regards to making Wake up Pune a sustainable coalition not ‘for’ but ‘of’ the ‘grassroots’. Local NGO’s need to realise their need to be empowered, to stand united, to share resources and together challenge unequal structures of power. We must lay down the groundwork, a stable platform upon which we can fight the battle, only then do we stand to make our voices heard.
posted by Volunteer at 2:59 am
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