GAHS President's social movement in the Himalayas

Ishita Khanna, the President of GAHS  is a young dynamic social entrepreneur. She is the Director of Ecosphere, a social enterprise she co-founded in the Himalayas in collaboration with the local community of Spiti and other professionals from diverse backgrounds. She is also the co-founder of Muse.

Her work experience at the grassroots and passion for the

environment and mountains has been the driving force for both Muse and Ecosphere which enable her to live her philosophy. She was voted as an Mtv Youth Icon in 2008 and has been featured in various magazines and articles as one of India’s 50 leading social entrepreneurs. She has been awarded the Real Heroes award by CNN-IBN and is also an Ashoka fellow.

Ecosphere aims to achieve a responsive synergy in establishing the crucial link between economic empowerment, development and conservation through their range of products and services. Ecosphere’s versatile initiatives range from eco-travel, health & organics, handicrafts and renewable energy to further their efforts towards conservation, livelihoods and sustainable development. 

Ishita promotes community-based eco-tourism in the Spiti Valley through a plethora of programs. You can experience the unique natural & cultural heritage and environment of Spiti: discover your spiritual side in the lap of   pristine mother nature, witness the wild habitat, volunteer to be part of climate change solutions, experience the adrenaline rush with various adventure activities and also the simple Spitian life.

Moment of revelation awaits you at Spiti... Experience nature at its serene best...

For details, Contact:

Apula Singh

Email: apula@ebd.in

Ph: +91 90-13-020763

Welcome Apula Singh

We are most delighted to welcome Apula Singh who has so kindly joined the GAHS Team. 
She will be the Hon. Exec. Secy. and will be connecting with all the members and partners. 
Apula will be at the GAHS Office every Saturday from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm, to assist our members and help in the development of GAHS as a major partner in YES (Youth Engaging Society) Projects.

Key areas of work for Apula:

1. Connect with the individuals

2. Collect subscriptions

3. Market the events of GAHS and the partners

4. Attend / work as Event manager

5. Take care of the PR and communication needs of GAHS

All GAHS members and Award participants doing the Gold can participate in the workshops and events. The Youth Leadership Week scheduled for Sept. 2012 and the Spiti Gold Solar Project 2013 are now our annual events, do sign up fast as we only take limited numbers. In addition you can also participate in the Youth Empowerment & Leadership workshops of our partner YES.


www.inyouth.org

Connect with Apula:
The office numbers are +911126493400 or +911126497154
Email: apula@ebd.in and you can also call her +91 9899415665

Team India all set for GAHN Singapore

To,

The NYAA Singapore
APAC Region and the IAA 

Dear James and all the key allies for the GAHN Workshop,

Much appreciation to the NYAA of Singapore, the APAC Region and the IAA for hosting the GAHN Singapore Workshop in the coming week.

Happy to share our Alumni website and all the resources for the forthcoming GAHN workshop.

Website: http://www.gahs.in/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gahsindia
Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tgahs

We are sending two of our finest young leaders Rohit Saxena and Devanjali Dutt for the GAHN Workshop and are certain they will add value to your efforts to help develop the GAHN Network. The delegates have many of the resources and formats in soft copy and have access to our data online too. They have both worked hard for the last few months and contributed a great deal to the GAHS and IAYP in India. Further most of the delegates attending the GAHN Network are on our social network and have followed us closely too. All this would not have been possible without the active support of the IAA and the IAYP India management, and for this we are most grateful to them.

Wish you all the best,

Sandeep Dutt
For and behalf of THE GAHS Executive Team

The Gold Award Holders Society (GAHS)

www.gahs.in

The Gold Award Holders Society has been established to support and further the objectives of the The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award in India.

1

The historic GAHN Summit set the stage for GAHS

Spiti Gold Solar Project 2012

The 15 day Gold Solar project took off on 9th June 2012 from Shimla. The groups were randomly divided into two groups to increase interaction among them. After 3 days of travelling the participants settled into the Keyh monastery for the next 2 weeks.  On 13th June 2012 the participants started the first day of work. They were divided into groups and each group was given a separate task everyday which included farma work, mud work, path work, tank work and tractor duties. The groups were so formed that participants from different institutions were clubbed together in a group to enhance inter-regional interaction. On 17th the teams left for a 4 day trek early in the morning. The first day was an 8km uphill trek to a village called Komik. It was indeed a difficult task for the participants as it took some time to acclimatise to high altitude. After an overnight stay in Komik, the teams left for Demul the next day. This was a 12km uphill as well as downhill trek and they reached Demul late in the evening. The next day, participants trekked upto the highest point called Bhalari. Later in the day, the villagers had organised a cultural event for all the participants. After staying overnight, teams left for Lalung, a downward trek and visited the Sarkang temple also. Later they left for the Key monastery. The last two days during the stay at the monastery the teams did the plastering and painting and setting of the solar panel. This, according to the participants, was the fun part of the work. The completed Solar Bath was inaugurated by the King of the Spiti Valley in a ceremony held at the monastery. Later, the participants performed various skits and songs as a part of the “closing ceremony”. As reported by Surabhi Vaidya - volunteer and intern at IAYP

DofE.IN Server Sign-in restricted

Due to security reasons, we need to control access on the DOFE.IN Server, we will need to now have ONLY NAA team log in please. YES Centres need to use their own personal emails please. No YES Centre will get a DOFE.IN email address please. We are bound by guidelines and Programme needs as per the IAA code of security, thus restrictions on log-in and server use please. Thank you for understanding our limitations and we hope to offer continued support with more resources on the Blog and Facebook. Cheers, Sandeep Dutt National Director

Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Gold Award Holders' Society

The first AGM began with GAHS President-Ishita welcoming everyone, specially our guests and observers, Ms. Gilly Shirazi, Secretary General, International Award Association and Ms. Sue Walker, Asia Pacific Regional Director. She proceeded to introduce GAHS for the benefit of new members.

The Gold Award Holders’ Society registered on March 8, 2010 is the premier Alumni network for Gold Holders in India. With the motto of Cherishing Service and Relationship (CSR), GAHS is an effort to create more awareness about the Award in our country and to rope in exuberant Award Holders, who feel for the Award and are keen to give back. GAHS exists for the provision, promotion and preservation of the International Award in India. The GAHS Office runs currently from the National Office but has presence all across the country. With Honorary Secretaries currently in the South, West and East Zones, for better administration, communication and growth of the Award, GAHS supplements growth of the Award Programme as per the Strategic Plan of the National Office.

All Executive Committee Members introduced themselves. Vice President- Tripti Bansal, Secretary- Pranay Kapoor, Joint Secretary- Saachi Sarin, Treasurer-Sandeep Dutt, Member-Rohit Saxena, Gold Award Holder & Honorary Secretary- West- Juzer and Hon. Executive Secy-GAHS- Nivedita Samanta support President-Ishita Khanna to make GAHS a successful alumni network. The Executive Committee features Award Holders from over the years so that there is diversity of experiences for best possible growth. To supplement GAHS’ efforts to round up maximum members across the country, enthusiastic Award Holders and otherwise have been identified and function as Honorary Executive Secretaries. To date Bivujit Mukhoty (East), Juzer Shaikhally (West) and Sridhar Lakshmanan (South) are the Honorary Secretaries.

Ishita proceeded to ask all individual members to introduce themselves and say a few words about their Award experiences. This exercise reflected the great experiences that the Award allows every young people. Most people felt that the Award is the complete package for enhancing personality, to grow in a well-rounded manner. There were several comments from members who have completed all Award levels that they had experiences of a lifetime. Residential and Service Projects particularly allowed them to improve their personalities, become a team worker, learn about new things, and overcome fears through fun learning. Some felt that it is absolutely necessary to become volunteers to promote the Award in their schools, localities in an effort to allow more young people to go on self-discoveries, think beyond marks and academics and cherish the importance of small things.

GAHS till today: GAHS organised the first GAHS Summit on 23rd December, 2009 in New Delhi. This first effort brought together some Gold Holders from generations and introduced to them the National Strategic Plan for the growth of the Award Programme in the next three years. With the challenge to grow, especially in the 18-25 age groups, and introduce half a million young Indians to the Award, garnering Gold Holders, the best ambassadors for the Programme, as volunteers and Award Leaders will successfully create a network of people trained to ensure quality and service our society. Since, volunteers at the National Office have worked towards the registration of the Society with the Registrar of Societies in India and with the efforts of Accountant- Mr. Sunil Trehan of Sunil Trehan & Co., GAHS was registered on March 8, 2010. Over a few small meetings with the President, Treasurer and GAHS Members an event to bring together Award Holders, Award partners and potential partners from education, government, corporate and social sectors was felt necessary. The CSR Summit held on June 23, 2010 was successful in bringing together different stakeholders of the Award Programme to collaboratively engage youth in our society. Sunil Trehan, Sunil Trehan & Co. functions as auditor for GAHS. Audited statements will be made available soon. Every member of GAHS can look at statements on formal request.

Plan ahead for networking and Award development. Some ideas put forward and agreed on included:

• 
  
  Annual/bi-annual events like a trek or Residential Projects or Service projects for GAHs in collaboration with Volunteer Organisations and/or Service Providers


• 
  
  Each zone can do pilots on a section of the Award Programme Events like music concerts that may help provide finances to sustain future events.


• 
  
  International exchanges/events can follow once we can prove sustainability.


• 
  
  GAHS Members as Award Ambassadors NEED to talk about the Award to create more visibility Share Award stories and experiences on all Public Relations/Communications Mediums. As PR/Communications are at a nascent stage, it is important to lay ground work collectively and record Award stories to National Communications Team


• 
  
  Try to help Bronze, silver to complete Gold and to ensure better Gold completion rates in Award units in all zones.


• 
  
  To create more word about the Award, get young professionals/interns involved in Communications and PR strategy.

Confirmations to work together- give support and introduce at least 5 other Gold Holders to register with GAHS in the next one year

The meeting concluded with all members sharing their Goals for the year. T-shirts for all Gold Holders were distributed and new Gold Awardees headed for the Presentation Ceremony at the Vice President of India, Residence.

GAHS January News

WEST ZONE 

Meeting with Ex Students from Campion and Greenlawns twice at Garware Club House
( am free to met the IAYP members on all Wednesday from 6 pm on prior appointment , since I have to sign them in ) and once at Cafe Day.

YMCA follow up not yet done, since the person concerned was not in town

2 New schools approached

1) Children Welfare Centre High School & Junior Collage, Versova 

2) Hill Spring International School, Tardeo

Conducted  3 IAYP Camps in the month of January, 2011

2 Bronze camps at Pune and One Gold around Matheran.

Called up GAH from West Zone and send mails to remind them to join the GAHS and to inform them on the forth coming GAH Kenya get.together

Juzer

Femco Tours
Outbound Camps,Adventure & PackageTours, & Hotel Bookings
177-79 Nagdevi Street,Mumbai 400003.India
Mob: +91 99205 44171

SOUTH ZONE

Monthly Report - January 2011

●      Introduced the Award programme to fellow engineering students at SRM Easwari Engineering College.

●      Registered two participants from southern districts of Tamil Nadu (Chidambaram and Thanjavur/Tanjore)  for the Gold Level. These students will spread the word in their districts and hope to extend the reach of the Award. Have provided them with brochures and copies of Award World/India.

February 2011 - Goals

●      Registration of at least 50 participants.

●      Have got TAFE’s (Amalgamations Group) Financial Officer’s contact - he is interested in CSR opportunities and working with Young People. Will introduce the Award to the organisation and hope to rope in as a partner.

●      Organise a GAH meet in the South to bring together volunteers and plan events for the year, extend to universities and other institutes.

Rahul Shanker
rahul@dofe.in
GAHS South India

Annual Gold Event 2010

Annual Gold Award Holders' Summit will be held in December 2010. We welcome suggestions and will be happy to partner with young people and friends to make this  a big success.

Meeting on the 14th Sept 2010

GAHS executives meet at The Studio, New Delhi. Please contact Tripti for further information.

Volunteer Teams being built up

Volunteers > Interns > Managers > National Director

1. Communication - Ankit (Intern)
2. Programme Development - Interns - Devanjali, Jyoti, one more?
3. GAHS - Intern ???
4. Training - Intern ???
5. Office - Intern Ridhima

Total need:
7 Interns (paid Rs. 5000 per month, commit 50 hours), work five months in the year minimum.

20 Volunteers - participants or simple volunteers, need to commit 10 hours a month.

3 Managers ( two in place); need ONLY a fully paid Programme Development Manager, four to five years experience, passion to work in social sector, and gets about fifty thousand a month.

Gold Holders and Individuals keen to support are welcome.

First Gold Holders' expedition to explore, preserve and build in Spiti

Tentative Dates: late August to early September, 2010. KAZA, Spiti

National Award Partner- Ecosphere and the Gold Award Holders' Society of India are proud to present a "Meaningful trek" exclusively for Gold Award Holders and Gold Award participants. This expedition spanning a total duration of 15 days will include 4 days of travelling, 5 days of active volunteering and 6 days of trekking and sightseeing.

Route: Delhi - Manali – Spiti – Manali – Delhi.

Maximum Altitude: 5000 metres above sea level.

We invite you to a different kind of holiday that makes travel meaningful through active discovery of the magic of Spiti valley while contributing to the development and conservation of the region. Home to some of the oldest Buddhist monasteries and temples in the world, this Trip provides an interesting insight into Spitian life, culture and Buddhist heritage along with the opportunity to be part of reducing the impacts of climate change. During this journey you will be assisting the local community in the construction of a solar bathing facility. You will participate in the actual construction of the solar passive structure and will be assisted by a dedicated team of a qualified mason and representative from Ecosphere. During the trip you will also be hiking along some of the highest villages in the world, across rolling meadows which are the grazing pastures of the local livestock and the hunting grounds of the Snow Leopard and Himalayan Wolf. Each village along this trail is adorned by unique and ancient Buddhist monasteries and temples dating back to over a 1000 years, encased in legend and folklore. The home stay accommodation along the trail further enriches the experience by giving one an authentic understanding of the life and culture in a Spitian home. Your hosts are the local people of Spiti, accommodating you in their homes to enhance your sojourn in Spiti.

Highlights

• A carbon positive trip where by building a solar bathing facility for the local community, you will help reduce carbon emissions and enhance health of the local people and also offset the carbon emitted on your journey to Spiti.

• Experience rural life in the Himalayas by living with the local community and becoming a part of their daily lives. This is one rare opportunity to learn about local cultures, agriculture, ecological and socio-economic issue first hand, while making tangible contributions.

• Make lifelong relationships with real people in one of the remotest corners of the Himalayas. A journey that makes you part of a family and the community as a whole, their day to day lives, their relationship with the environment, their daily chores, religious strivings, struggles and celebrations.

• Hiking deep into the vast open spaces of this rugged backcountry. A great way to learn about the ecology and bio-diversity that is nurtured amidst this unique desertscape.

• Visits the ancient monasteries dating back to over a 1000 years preserving a living Buddhist tradition till date.

• Get insights into the local development and conservation issues and a peep into Ecosphere’s initiatives to ensure the sustainable development of this Trans-Himalayan region.

Significance of the Project in this Trip

The construction of a solar bathing facility is of great significance in Spiti as large amounts of fuel wood, coal and LPG are burnt for heating water throughout the year which contributes to Carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions. The latter has far more damaging effects on the melting of glaciers and snow at a local level. Through the set up of a solar bathing structure, we will not only enable the local community to cut down on emissions (especially those of black carbon), reduce their fuel wood consumption and hence the money they spend on it per annum, as well as enable them (especially the women and children) to enhance their levels of hygiene.

Contact the GAHS Team at the National Office by July 31st with your confirmed participation and get more information. Come be a part of a historic effort to relive Award Journeys, share experiences and make a difference to your community. All while having a great time!