Third AGM of The Gold Award Holders Society 2012

Present: GAHS Executive Committee Treasurer - Sandeep Dutt and 64 members

Observers: Programme Manager- Mr. Bivujit Mukhoty

Communications Manager/GAHS Executive Summary- Ms. Nivedita Samanta

Office Manager- Mr. Chittaranjan Das

Parents of some GAHS members

Special Invitees: Mr. Ajeet Bajaj- Gold Holder and Adventurer 

Agenda

1. About GAHS and 50 years of The International Award in India
2. Approval of the Minutes of the last meeting held on 16^th May 2011 at Lok Kala Manch, New Delhi
3. Reappointment of the auditor and approval of audited statement
4. Any adoption or amendments of Rules and Regulations of the Society, if necessary
5. Any other matters- Introduction of Special Invitee and his address to the GAHS members about the importance of Gold Holders to be role models as committed citizens

Minutes

1. Meeting was called to order at 1635 hours by Nivedita Samanta on behalf of GAHS President-Ishita Khanna. She proceeded to talk about the importance of GAHS, its inception to address opportunities for Gold Holders post their Gold Awards. 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. GAHS will function as a completely independent set-up to assist in alumni relations and growth of the Award Programme as per the Strategic Plan of the National Office.

The GAHS has had a successful year in 2011-12 where members have represented the country at the International Gold Event in Kenya, in Israel Youth Conference and at key training and orientation events in India. 

2. Nivedita proceeeded to read the minutes the last meeting held on 16^th May 2011 at Lok Kala Manch, New Delhi. Anwesha Ghosh proposed approval of the minutes and was seconded by Ajeet Bajaj. 

3. Sunil Trehan, Sunil Trehan & Co. Was approved and re-appointed as auditor for GAHS by GAHS members Dinesh Gajendran and Juzer Shaikhally. Audited statements read where the income for the GAH is only through membership fees and training expenses of members is the primary expense. 

4. Members are free to apply as ad-hoc Executive Committee members by sending in a formal request with their resumes to Nivedita@dofe.in The Applications received so far are:

• Anwesha Ghosh
• Dinesh Gajendran
• Ankit Durga
• Shreya Ghosh
• Shubhankar Chaudhary
• Devanjali Dutt
• Shubhda Hirawat

In addition, Communications Manager Nivedita Samanta who has been acting as Honorary GAHS Executive Secretary would like to move on from her term and proposed current India Rep. and GAHS Member Rajarshi Banerjee as the Nominee for the post.


5.  Any other matters:

1. Calendar of Events available on website www.iayp.in, GAHS Members welcome to attend any event of their choice
2. Mr. Ajeet Bajaj was introduced as Guest Speaker for the evening. His biography is attached as an appendix to these minutes. (present in the Blog archives)

The meeting concluded with a round of applause for everyone. These minutes were made to the best of Nivedita Samanta’s knowledge and documented by Shubhda Hirawat.

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!

GAHN Summit Declaration

AIM

This Summit proposes the concept and implementation plan for the formation of the Gold Award Holders’ Network (GAHN), in India.

BACKGROUND
Under the auspices of the NAA, the Award has experienced significant growth. More young people are now participating than ever before and an increasing number of Award Holders now have the desire to form Award Holders’ Associations (AHAs). A Gold Award Holders’ Network (GAHN) can help to link, network and synergise active Award holders all around the world so as to provide them with a platform to serve the global community and create long-lasting links amongst young people. It will also encourage existing AHAs to work more closely with their respective Zones.

AIMS OF THE GOLD AWARD HOLDERS NETWORK
The Gold Award Holders’ Network is being established with the following aims:

a. Supporting the NAA. The GAHN will be able to support the development of successful AHAs, by having good working relationships with their own Zones. The support and recognition of the GAHN by IAYP India is crucial. In return, the recognised AHAs could support their Zones in a number of ways, as successfully demonstrated by some existing Gold Holders at the NAA office.

b. Sharing of best practices with NAA and AHAs. The GAHN presents opportunities to share best practices amongst the NAA and the AHAs. While noting the influences of culture on the various modus operandi, lessons learned from the different approaches can be beneficial. This open sharing will enhance the knowledge management payoff and synergistic gains of the network.

c. Development of links between AHAs. The immediate payoff of the GAHN would be its linkages to facilitate and build bilateral and multilateral links among AHA members. An example could be the bilateral cooperation between the respective AHAs and NAA around the country. Many collaborative projects can transpire from these linkages at the bilateral, regional and international levels and funding may be raised via NAA or other appropriate platforms.

d. Platform for representation at international events. The GAHN may give its representatives opportunities to fly the NAA flag at various regional and national platforms, such as events initiated by the IAA, the Commonwealth and the United Nations.

e. Feedback Forum to NAA. With the GAHN, NAA will be able to reach out formally to recognised AHAs and be informed of any feedback or proposals from the youth. This will form an additional means of communication for Award-related matters.

THE GOLD AWARD HOLDERS NETWORK (GAHN)

The Gold Award Holders' Society of India will assist the NAA and the IAYP India Team in the growth and development of the Award in India. Will comprise of GOLD HOLDERS only, and there will be one national body.

The seven members needed to form a Society and complete the paper work will be Ishita Khanna, Tripti Bansal, Pranay Kapoor, Saachi Sarin, Sandeep Dutt, Rohit Saxena and Juzher Shaikhally.

The founding team will sign the Memorandum and Articles for the Society and the registered office of the Society will be the same as the working address of IAYP India (596 Asian Games Village, New Delhi 110049).

A CALL OF ACTION

We the Gold Award Holders in India affirm to support the NAA and take ahead the programme which highlights practical experience and exceptional efforts as drivers along life’s journey and where through our programme we give young people the opportunities and confidence to keep learning, do more, and go further. This encapsulates the original vision of our founder, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
We affirm to support the work of the AWARD PROGRAMME FOUNDATION, Administering Trust of The International Award for Young People, India (The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award) a Public Charitable Trust Reg. No. TR/27951, registered in India.

__________________________
Signature of Gold Award Holder
Date:
Venue:

Gold Award Holders Network First Meet- 13th December, 2009 at the India Habitat Center

IAYP India is proud to announce the First Gold Award Holders Network (GAHN) meet at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi India

Date: 13th December 2009
Theme: Define The Future. The Award And National Development.
Time: 11 am to 4 pm
Venue: Mahogany Room, India Habitat Center

Come and be involved in group work, case studies, presentations and subject matter experts on how to best engage and add value to the Award Programme.

Please note that all Participating Gold Holders must bring along a copy of their certificate or any suitable proof to confirm their certification. Wear your Gold Award Badge for the first ever GAHN event.

Also, please complete all registration forms by 7th December 2009

The Award this Week

TATW top stories:

• The Trustees meeting
• Award Volunteers Meeting 26th July 2009
• The Open Award Centre
• The NTW Coimbatore - Train the Trainer
• "Role of Volunteers" - New Delhi workshop

 

1. Trustees support the Development Plan

 

The most important event of the week was the Trustees meeting at Mumbai, held on the 22nd of July 2009. There was a broad consensus on the draft Development Plan. For this we need to thank all the members of the Award Programme Foundation Trust.

 

• Aim

 

Make IAYP, India a premier youth programme for inclusive social growth.

• How we will do this?

 

1. Set up Open Award Centres – to facilitate build up of Volunteers and encourage the participation of youth in the 18 - 25 age groups.

 

2. Programme inclusion by enrolling more students from vernacular / government schools, from the current near 375 largely private sector schools.

 

3. Raise the annual enrolments for the program from 15000 to 500,000 in Year 3 of operation

 

4. Set in place a mechanism for fund raising; have Friends of the Award.

 

5. Partner with other NGOs, Volunteer groups and even look at the PPP Model for build up. Use the CSR approach and the Community outreach.

 

6. Set up a national centre that can undertake training for volunteers and award leaders from India and the APAC (ASIA PACIFIC) region.

 

• The role out

 

1. Plan that raises enrolments in stages.

 

2. Set-up volunteer committees that comprise eminent personalities in the various streams.

 

3. Have in place one national centre.

 

 

• 1. Raise enrolment in stages

 

Year 1:

 

70,000 (set forth the seed in model government and vernacular schools; spend time in getting model right for mass implementation; work out sponsorships/ third party funding routes)

 

Year 2:

 

200,000 (massive rollout, focus on timely and accurate implementation on a mass scale)

 

Year 3:

 

500,000 (massive rollout)

This has to be broad based in terms of geography, mix of students, gender. Should not be heavily biased towards anyone area. Further the roll out will be at a measured pace and will be governed by the availability of resources. The APF welcomed the idea of NLO - National License Operators and encouraged the NAA to build the programme on a franchise model with partner bodies.

• 2. The select volunteer committees

 

A. Industry
B. Brand and Communication
C. Educationists

  

• A. Industry

 

Representatives from one or two industry bodies such as CII, TiE etc., banking industry (SBI)

 

The Industry body will communicate with their member/affiliate network in procuring assignments for the volunteers across different industries/service firms as well as tap on to the CSR initiatives of different business entities across India.

 

Need to create programs that dovetail into organisations. For example -- SBI is big on rural banking and reaches out to many communities in far off areas. Plan specifically for SBI so that they can absorb students in bulk.

 

• B. Brand and Communication

 

Youthful Brand ambassadors that are publicly known who actually completed the course, Branding and Communication specialists including those in non English streams, one or two large media houses that can provide coverage for free across regional media.

 

The Brand and Communication team will be responsible for creating brand awareness of IAYP, keeping a strong communication with existing enrolments to further awareness within the student community, work on media coverage across modes of media, create content namely brochures/pamphlets to reach out to government/vernacular schools in the latter language.

 

 

• C. Educationists

 

Eminent hardworking educationists; who have the clout / connect with leading government / private education systems. The Educationists will be people who are well connected to schools across different geographies and can open doors for you. This has to dovetail into the numbers/geographies that you are tapping in the strategy highlighted above.

 

• 3. The National Centre
The centre has to be one fixed place that is needed 365 days a year, but at start could NOT be a fixed place; can be used as and when the need arises for a program.

 

 

2. Meeting of the Delhi AV Team

 

Award Volunteers Team scheduled for today, 26th July 2009 at Barista, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110001. Excitement in the air, and expect a good response.

  

AGENDA

 

Make an Executive Team and nominate Award Leaders for colleges

Work on the AHA (Award Holders Association) formation

Workshop plan - ROLE OF VOLUNTEERS

Events and opportunities for the Award Volunteers

Discuss the idea of the Award Holders Summit in December 2009 at British Council

 

3. National Workshop at Coimbatore

9-11 October 2009. The venue is Chinmaya International School.

 

Concept

TRAIN THE TRAINER

 

Participation in Coimbatore:

Total 30 = North, West & East will have 5 each, 5 for NAA and 10 for South

30 numbers includes faculty and trainers (NAA 5 will cover that).

The faculty will have two Award Volunteers, two trainers and one Director.

 

The Trustees of the APF have nominated the National Director to be the QA (Quality Assurance) Member on the trainer’s faculty, for the Coimbatore workshop.

 

The Zones are free to decide the five participants and may need to do rail bookings ASAP. Zones to please start the search for the 5 participants in each zone. The South will have 10 nominations.

 

4. Role of Volunteers

 

NAA will conduct 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 initiative is being chaired by Mrs. Lata Vaidyanathan and Malini will help in execution please.

 The AV Team and partner agencies will work together; the event will be in September 2009

  

5. Regional Training Workshop

 

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

 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.

 

1. 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

 

2. 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.

 

6. The NAA plan for 2009-10

 

August 09 - Open Award Centre, Delhi

September 09 - Role of Volunteers, workshop at Delhi

October 09 - Train the Trainer, Workshop at Coimbatore (9-11 October)

November 09 - Regional Training Workshop at New Delhi

December 09 - Award Holders Summit

January 10 - Annual National Workshop, host South Zone at Ooty

February 10 - Award partners meeting at Delhi

March 10 - proposed National Directors Strategic Alliance meeting.

 

7. Facebook and the website

 We now have 285 fans and friends on Facebook. (www.facebook.com/iayp.in)

 Website is building up and we are now ready to accept advertisements for http://www.iayp.in/

 Your blog offers information and updates http://www.bookspro.in/

 

 8. PR and Meetings this week

 

21st July: CCS School, Mumbai - meeting of the Zone representatives with the National Director

22nd July: The APF Trustees meeting in Mumbai

22nd July: Archanna Das, VP HSBC Team to work on partnering for the 18-25 employees.

22nd July: Aparna Dubey an award holder in Mumbai, to brainstorm and work on business development.

23rd: Tel con with HSBC Team and the International Council Brand Task Force

 

25th: Informal meeting with Sir Richard Stagg the British High Commissioner in India. Hon'ble HC offered full support and assured us use of services of the  British Council for the developement of IAYP.

 

9. What is in store next week?

 

Visit of National Director to London for the IC Brand Task Force and a visit to the International Secretariat. Followed by a two day stop over to catch breath in Dubai!

 
More from Dubai next Sunday....Cheers!