Next Future Magazine - Educating the Individual

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Good reading from Sri Aurobindo Society.

There are times when I feel like writing nothing at all, not for the lack of something to say, but because there is immense contentment within. To write, to think, to breathe - all seems too much of a distraction. On the other hand, there is also a pressing need to share the source of this contentment for it cannot simply be consumed for oneself. It needs to go out there, be absorbed, be multiplied, be scattered in the wind to be picked by those who tend to take in their breath with a sense of expectancy.... read on the Next Future Blog

Open Award Centre is now on!

The first OPEN AWARD CENTRE (OAC) has been inaugurated successfully at the Sri Aurobindo Society , on the 5th of September 2009.

The Agend of the meeting / launch ceremony:
1. Orientation for the new AWARD participants.
2. Enrolment at the OAC.
3. Plan for the Award Holders Association (AHA).

The meeting itself saw hoardes of participants and volunteers alike.

The students and staff members of the society also attended the ceremony with abundant enthusiasm. It started with a formal introduction and a speech by the head of the society, Mrs. Daljeet Wadwa.

Mr. Sandeep Dutt then officially introduced the programme to the audience. Starting with light discussion about the achievements and goals of IAYP so far, he moved on to explain the role of the programme.
“It is in fact 90% trust and 10% effort. It can find even that tiny miniscule of positive energy in you and enlarge it to that degree that it makes you do grand things. And you will be left with glorious
memories that will last you a lifetime. Why did the award come into being?? It is simply there because we want to motivate you, want you to enjoy the present moment and get rewarded for it, thereby making your life somehow more meaningful. It is presented to you not because you secured the highest position or the grand trophy but because you are showing an initiative. You come first , you receive the award .. you come last , you STILL receive the award . Because you get rewarded for doing whatever it is that you are doing , in a positive way.” Thus by captivating the crowd with his speech which was delivered in a jocund manner , he proceeded to inform the audience about the required fields of the award.

Next, Saachi Sarin, enlightened the audience about her experience receiving the gold. This
programme is considered the highest accolade for an achiever.

Moreover the institute members also showcased many dance pieces, plays and instrumental performance to entertain the crowd.

Following this the interested candidates were registered for the programme and briefed about the coming events. All in all it was a fruitful day.

We are most grateful to Ms. Daljeet Wadwa, Directos of SAIMA, for not only being our host but for assuring us of full support towards the OAC project.

Karisma Rawat

Minutes of the meeting at OAC on 23rd August 2009

TIME: 4:00PM – 6:00PM
VENUE: Open Award Centre
               Sri Aurobindo Society, Adchini, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, New Delhi 110017

PRESENT: Chaiman and Executive Trustee- Admiral Suren P Govil
National Director- Mr Sandeep Dutt
Youth Reprisentative- Ms. Shloka Vaidialingam & Mr. Rohit Saxena
Volunteers
Participants

To begin with the committee members introduced the ‘The International Award For Young People’, speakders were : Admiral Suren P Govil, Mr Sandeep Dutt, Ms. Shloka Vaidialingam.
Once the participants understood what was required of them, they were registered with the award by
Sachi Sareen (Open Award Center Team Leader).

The following is the list of participants that have been officially registered with the award:
NAME SCHOOL/COLLEGE
1)Divyangana Dhankar Faculty of Law
2)Sahil Cordeiro St. Stephens College
3)Arshiya Singh Takar ---
4)Gauri Mehta DDV(Delhi University)
5)Ishaan Bhatia St. Stephens College
6)Karishma Rawat St. Stephens College
7)Gursheen Ghuman Jawaharlal Nehru University
8)Manvi Gutam Lady Sri Ram
9)Gayatri Talwar St. Stephens College
10)Sarthak Vyas St. Stephens College

Meanwhile Mr. Dutt addressed the team of volunteers, assigning them to various divisions as per their strengths and interests.

In the following is the list of Volunteers with their respective duties:
1. Training - Devyani (Works in Award Office)
2. Communication - Shloka (Youth Rep NAA - assist in PR and Communication)
3. Open Award Centre - Saachi (OAC Team Leader)
4. Event Management - Sanya (Works in Award Office)
5. Web and IT - Samriddhi (Will help Priyank)
6. Programme development - Freya (Works in Award office)
7. Award India - Karisma (Will assist Mrs. Jyotsna Govil)
8. Alumni - Rohit (Youth Rep NAA - assit in IT and Alumni)
9. Office Assitant - Chittranjan Das (Works for Book Cafe, handles the Award desk)
10. Award Office - Kritika (Volunteer Team Leader)

The meeting was concluded by Rohit Saxena who heads Alumni and Facebook initiatives. He addressed those present through a power point presentation, focusing on how the award has been progressing in india since it was initiated as well as ways in which we as key users of networking sights such as Facebook,can aid in the further spread of the award.

The next official meeting of volunteers and participants will be held on the 5th of September,2009 where the Open Award Center will be launched.

There after the team will meet every third Sunday of the month at the Open Award Center.

Special thanks to Chaiman and Executive Trustee- Admiral Suren P Govil,whose energy and young spirit stems to inspire the youth of today towards taking this award across barriers. We are most grateful to Ms. Daljeet Walia, Director of SAIMC, for not only being our host but for assuring us of full suppport towards the Open Award Centre Project.

TATW

Weekly Award update

1. AV Team (Award Volunteers Team) Meeting will be on the 23rd August 2009
Venue: SACAC (Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Culture)
Please visit website for details and location, http://www.saimc.com/

AGENDA
• Orientation of new Award participants
• Enrolment at the Open Award Centre
• Plan for the Award Holders Association

Award holders and volunteers are welcome, for more information please contact:
AV Team Leader - Devyani Dutt
LSR Award Leader - Kritika
St. Stephens Award Leader - Saachi
Hans Raj College Award Leader - Meehak
JMC Award Leader - Freya

2. The National Office will host the IS supported National Workshop.
The Workshop originally planned for Coimbatore 9-11 October 2009 has been relocated to New Delhi, as a part of Capacity Building and Training, supported by the International Secretariat.
The venue now will be Sri Aurobindo Centre http://www.sriaurobindosocietydelhi.org.in/

National Training Workshop (NTW), New Delhi India, 9-11 October 2009
Theme: Growing Confidence
Format: TRAIN-THE-TRAINER
Building on the core competency and capacity building in India, the focus will be on:

 Train the trainers and award volunteers
 Offer a snapshot of the Award experience
 Responding to an enhanced national agenda

NTW will carry forward youth engaging in society, and work on ways to deliver the Programme for the 18-25 age groups

Format & Key Topics
The NTW will incorporate group work, case studies, presentations and subject matter experts on how to best engage and add value to the sections of the Award Programme.

Outcomes: Confidence and capacity building to meet the draft plan objectives
 To demonstrate the Award’s usefulness to society and drive development, Participants will interact with Trainers and volunteers.

The Trainers
The trainers for NTW2009 will be from the National Office and Zones.

The Participants
The participants sought for NTW2009 must be Award Leaders and Trainers in the Zones / Units. We are seeking participants with a demonstrated interest and/or involvement in extending the Award into the wider community to meet a higher need.

The NTW 2009 participants will be five from each Zone, please contact the nearest Zonal office for further details and for expression of interest.

In addition, it is aimed to have a group of external high level resource people – to work with each of the groups and then form a panel for a series of group presentations.



3. As a part of capacity building and training, NAA will do an add-on session to the Coimbatore Workshop in Delhi and focus on "Role of Volunteers". The workshop will help draft the Volunteer Management Policy. This will be developed after the meeting at the Open Award Centre on the


4. Nominations called for RTW 2009 in November, last date is 1st Sept 2009.
Asia Pacific Regional Training Workshop, New Delhi India, 23-29 November 2009
The details and forms available with the Zonal office.

Theme: Define The Future. The Award and National Development.
RTW will carry forward youth engaging in society, an umbrella challenge for the Region 2009-10.

Format & Key Topics
The RTW will incorporate group work, case studies, presentations and subject matter experts on how to best engage and add value to these six (6) sectors:

Education/academic
Local community
Youth
Government
NGO/international sector
Industry

The Participants (Selection Criteria)
The participants sought for RTW2009 will have to be experienced hands and individuals with roles in policy, administration and youth engagement in the Zones.

We are seeking participants with a demonstrated interest and/or involvement in extending the Award into the wider community to meet a higher need.

The RTW 2009 participants from each Zone (two per zone) will work in six pre-selected groups. Each delegate will be asked to give inputs as a part of the RTW2009 registration process, and be involved in one or more of the six sectors and area of particular interest. The need for previous experience is important.


5. Proposed AHA (Award Holders Association) Summit in December 2009, send in your suggestions to Rohit Saxena please. He is our moderator on Facebook; we hope to have a group of 1000 individuals on FACEBOOK by then. Rohit Saxena is our NAA Youth Rep. and is working on this. He will contact the Zones to form chapters in each Zone, Namrata Daga in South, Swati in East have volunteered to assist. Rhea and Utkarsh, Gold holders in Delhi will support Rohit in his efforts.


6. Facebook and the website very active; and we now have near 340 fans and friends on Facebook.


7. South Zone to host the Annual National Workshop in Ooty in January 2009. The design and delivery will be done by the South Zone Team alone, with necessary inputs from all the Zones.


8. The OAC (OPEN AWARD CENTRE) pilot project of the National Office - details above in Para 1
How will we do this?
•On the 23rd of August 2009 Shloka will do a road show for new entrants.
•The OAC will be run and managed with the help of the AV Team.
•The final AV Team will be in shape in the coming few weeks.
•In Sept 2009 the AV Team will attend the ROLE OF VOLUNTEERS workshop.

The Open Award Centre is a pilot being done by the National Office and will register participants / individuals who cannot make it of any of the North Zone units. In addition the National Office will License Corporate bodies and Social organisation to operate the Award Programme.

The National Office is working with the AV Team and will run necessary training and development.


9. In the coming week the National Director to attend meetings at:
The British Council - to work on plans for partnering
The Modern School - to update NAA members and Award Volunteers on development so far
The British High Commission - seek support from the HC

Cheers, more until next week!

Way ahead

Finally back to Delhi from Pondicherry and Chennai... moving ahead from the last update of 28th June 2009... we are all set to build the Award brand in India.

The National Office of the Award will only work on the three P's:

PR (Public Relations)
Partnerships
Policy.

PR -
1. Have started a dialogue with PR agencies.Norshe PR is a boutique for small business and social awareness, will make a presentation for approval of the Board on the 22nd of July 2009.
2. In July, Sandeep to attend the Brand Task Force meeting in London.
3. Meetings in Chennai, and Delhi with the Zonal Chairpersons.
4. Meeting with Ms. Mandira Moddie of the UN Millenium Project.
5. Meeting with Mr. Anubhav Nath of RNF.
6. Meeting with Mr. Sanjay Roy or Salaam Balak Trust.

Policy -
Web Plan - www.facebook.com/iayp.in got going to a roaring start and Rohit has taken this project to new heights.
http://www.iayp.in/ is evolving with Priyank's efforts and good inputs from Rohit. We need News and updated from zones and photos too. Kindly email to itm@ebdmail.com.

The ERP plan will be developed by the group - Rohit, Srikant (SZAA) and Priyank. Recommend a Skype call this week to take this ahead. We are getting inputs on the National IT Policy from other countries too.

Volunteer Management - work on a plan to enrol motivate volunteers. Devyani will work the modalities with her group of Gold Holders in Delhi.


Partnerships
Aurobindo Society of Pondicherry will adopt the programme for national implementation, and we are putting in place a plan.

HSBC will implement the programme, the HR team is working on the strategy.
North Zone Working with the Hero Group and the JCB School, will sign up soon.

An MOU signed with Ramchander Nath Foundation (RNF)
Ramchander Nath Foundation (RNF) strives to be a think-tank on development and restoration of the arts – paintings, motor cars, antiquities, visual arts, architecture, writing, music and theatre; and to capitalize on the arts as a source of rehabilitation and fundraising for the under privileged.

Aims & Objectives
• To sponsor and facilitate talks, lectures, symposia and workshops in the arts.
• To collect funds for and to provide financial and other assistance to underprivileged children.
• To facilitate organizations working for the under privileged in fundraising; particularly utilizing the arts.
• To initiate and assist in mentoring underprivileged children, for their holistic development.
• To give or corporate in giving and organizing awards, grants, fellowships and scholarships in the arts.
• To felicitate and commemorate notable contributions in the field of arts.
• To advise, assist and contribute in any manner to the promotion, restoration and development of the arts.
• To disseminate information, knowledge and awareness on arts and their restoration.
• To provide a forum for free and frank exchange of views on all matters related to the interest of the embers, particularly related to the arts -- their development and restoration.

RNF will operate the Programme as a unit of the North Zone for the prison inmates at Tihar Jail (18-25 years) prisoners and motivate them to come out with skills and a positive mind set.
North Zone will use this as a service Project too, and Malini is working on this. Please contact Malini with ideas and for more information.