My Experiences As A NGO Volunteer So Far

It was March 2014 I suppose; I was discussing my new goal of joining a NGO where I could work in volunteering capacity with few of my friends. We searched for NGOs that we could join on the net and I stumbled upon Citizens Association for Child Rights. We contacted Dr.Richa Singh, who explained the working of the organization, the need for more volunteers as well as of people who could spread the word through the net and I was hooked.

          The truth is that I never gave any thought to the plight of children who were not as privileged as me or the people I interacted on a daily basis. I volunteered to work for the organization by going to schools and spending 2 to 3 hours to teach the students basic computer courses. However, I soon realized that I was more interested in spreading the word about this organization via my writing skills. I contacted Dr. Richa and she appointed me as a volunteer in maintaining the blog.

How to get in touch with CACR

          Writing and editing the blog posts was a major exposure for me. The experiences shared by the volunteers told a horrific story of neglect suffered by the children in our country. We shared these stories on the blog which garnered an impressive response. However, it was not enough. The fight is to change the condition of children all over the country; we had to reach a larger audience to make a significant change. We decided to change the look of the blog and the technical team played a major role in that endeavor. Guest writers played a crucial role in branching out and spreading the information to a larger audience.

          I did not have a history of working with NGOs but CACR gave me a strong platform to help the organization spread awareness about its cause with my talents from day one. I understood the various fields in which we could help our society and the rising need for the efforts to make it a better place. It also brought in sharp focus the fact that for uplifting each section of the society it is necessary that the whole society works as a single body. For this the citizens need to know the problems faced by the various sections, and hence spreading knowledge about it is equally important as making efforts to solve the problems.

     CACR. The team working for is efficient in planning as well as execution of events and plans. The smiling faces of hundreds of children are a mark of their efforts and the milestones that this organization that CACR has achieved.Writing has become my passion and I am actively aware of the society I live in. This has been the gift of joining CACR. It has given me the incentive to fight for the deprived classes and to make the country we inhabit a better place to live. 
        Working with an NGO can be a frustrating experience if the organization is not organized to meet the demands. I am proud to say that I faced no such qualms while working for

-by +KAVISHA SHAH is a engineer by profession who loves to blog and volunteer with +Citizens Association For Child Rights 
website : www.ngocacr.com

Images : https://instagram.com/p/1j8KUTG2Rh/

The Sweet Delight of Working for a Child Rights NGO

My first brush with the world of child rights and its sorry state of the neglect, came one afternoon in college, when a tall, burly man walked in to talk to us about his organization, and how he had pledged to work towards upliftment of this cause.

Mr. Nitin Wadhwani addressing the CACR interns.

Soon after, almost all of my friends began to get involved with this organization. ‘CACR’ would be mentioned in almost all of our conversations and I would be bombarded with stories of the successful initiatives it had undertaken, and achievements that had accrued to it. And now, here I am, a little more than half a year later. The organization, the Citizens Association for Child Rights, that had taken HR College by storm is a place where I can proudly say I am a blogger and intern. That man, Mr. Nitin Wadhwani is now my boss. This is my story of how I got involved with a cause that deserves a lot of attention, but gets only a little.

The "sweet delight" of CACR (pun intended.)

I do have a history of being involved with NGOs and social issues in the past; I was in charge of the marketing operations of SevaConnect, an NGO which seeked to provide a platform for other organizations to interact, and also tried my hand at teaching underprivileged children, among other similar activities.

Sadly, all of these endeavors, while successful, were short lived. Poor coordination, waning enthusiasm, and a myriad number of other factors caused these to go south.

But after having completed one internship period at CACR, and on the brink of my second, I am proud to say that this is far from what is happening here.

It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that is gifted with a team of dedicated, and experienced individuals, that swear by its cause. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has successfully managed to create for itself a network of student interns, and a network of tie ups with respectable organizations such as the BMC, social service cells of other colleges etc. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has strived not only to sermonize about the cause they are working for, but has strived to actually make a difference.

The MustRun Marathon

Whether it is holding talks with the BMC, checking the quality of mid-day meals, or hosting marathons, dance sessions and organizing computer literacy sessions and other activities for underprivileged children, I am proud to say, CACR has the unique distinction of being an NGO that not only preaches a cause, but actually works extensively to support it.

My personal experience too has been one providing few matters to complain about. Being active in various spheres of academics and extracurriculars, I wasn’t fortunate enough to dedicate myself completely as a volunteer, but could only find it in myself to contribute to this organization through helping in handling the blog of CACR.

This has provided me with a wealth of knowledge on many issues, and has helped me hone my writing and content creation skills. Having a relatively free reign in choosing of topics to write upon, I discovered a number of topics and issues that I previously knew nothing about, and this strengthened my desire to be more involved.

I am truly proud to be a part of this organization. Not only am I gaining invaluable experience and honing my skills, but I also feel I am able to contribute, no matter in how small a quantum, to a cause that deserves the attention of every person who has a heart.

-By Anand Banerjee

Anand is a creative intern at the +Citizens Association For Child Rights , handling the CACR blog.

Website :www.ngocacr.com
Face Book : www.facebook.com/citizensassociationforchildrights

Images from :

www.facebook.com/citizensassociationforchildrights

A memorable experience

As a member of Enactus H.R College of Commerce and Economics I am happy to have volunteered for the  computer literacy program organized by Ngo CACR  in BMC (inner city) schools of Mumbai. The program, created by IIT Bombay, aims to bridge the digital divide in India, imparting basic IT skills to school and college students.

Volunteering for the program enabled me to embark on a memorable journey of unadulterated joy and inspired me to such an extent that I will fondly remember this experience forever. 

Our batch of three volunteered at the Adarsh Nagar municipal school ,Worli and taught the students of the 6^th Standard. The enthusiasm and zeal of the students was truly breathtaking!

HOW WAS IT DONE?

Our first step was talking to the  headmaster and explaining how our program would benefit the students.  He was receptive to our ideas and gladly agreed to co-operate. We were subsequently introduced to the computer teacher, who would be present with us during our program and who would assume responsibility after we had fulfilled our commitment of  9-10 workshops in this school. 

 Our aim is to make the school authorities independent to carry on and move on to cover the next class/school.   

DAY 1-We started our session   with 6^th standard students who were surprisingly well versed with the basics of computers. They were familiar with the components of a computer and were adept  at basic functions such as ‘Cut Copy Paste’, but when asked to come forward and demonstrate, they were hesitant and appeared slightly perplexed about the procedures to be followed. We showed them a few videos on how to maneuver the software.This was held in the school’s Audio-visual room. The students took down notes and made a list of all the steps and instructions shown to them, since they were told that they would have to do it themselves the following day.

THE Audio-Visual Room

DAY 2- The Practical session-it was time to put the knowledge that they had acquired on the previous day into action. We divided them into groups of two and started it off step by step. A vast majority of the students had their books open and were tirelessly trying to achieve the desired result, although some of them were reluctant to do anything unless  ‘Didi’ or ‘Sir’ (the terms used to address us) was standing next to them. It soon turned into a jolly competition as to who could format their document better. 

They used our teachings to good effect and we noticed that they knew a lot more on their departure as compared to their arrival. Once all of them had created the document, we conducted a mini test. We asked them to show us how they did it, and surprisingly all of them were able to answer our questions satisfactorily. They smiled every time they heard a "very good" or a "bahut acha". Subsequently they saved their documents and rushed to the AV room where we had a small quiz session. Every correct answer fetched them a couple of chocolates...and we witnessed a marvelous sight! All the students had their hands raised up, ready to answer and even demonstrate if necessary! Their computer teacher sat there with a smile on seeing his class. He said they were never that enthusiastic about studying before.

In Summation 

The principal, who was present during the quiz, said that he was glad to see us make a difference in the lives of his students in just 2 days.

He clicked a few pictures for his school book with the chirpy children and as we left he said “ए क  दिन ये बच्चे आस्मान छुएंगे और आप जैसे लोग उनकी मुस्कान के लिए जिम्मेदार होंगे ” {One day these kids will reach the sky and do-gooders like you will be responsible for their smiles}. 

We were ecstatic at hearing these words from such a reputable and dignified man.

Happy Moments with Volunteers

In conclusion, I would like to say that CACR  through their CLP is changing lives and building future entrepreneurs. Computers are the basis of today’s modernized and technologically fast-moving world. By introducing these little children to the basics, we feel like we are making a huge difference to their lives by taking them closer to a brighter and more promising future.

It gives me great pride in saying that I was a part of this initiative and I hope a lot more of us are able to contribute to projects like these.  If our program has inspired even one child, then I will regard it as a success.

Thanks,

Rochelle Soares

Enactus -H.R. College of Commerce and Economics.

Part of social initiatives department of HR college. 
To know about our work click HERE

Happy Faces and Bright Smiles..My Volunteering Experience

Happy Faces and Eager Eyes awaited our return each time-

"Teacher when will you come again. We all will wait for you", said a 12 year old in his enthusiastic voice.
 All of us volunteering for the Computer Literacy project were motivated and moved by witnessing  the drive of these small kids going to Municipal schools to learn from us.
Even though they came from poor background without access to technology, their desire to pick up a new skill was far reaching. 

Citizens Association for Child rights also got student volunteers from H R College of Commerce and Economics on board to volunteer in this initiative. 

Saachi Jain Jaiswal, Director of Enactus H.R College of Commerce and Economics and also our esteemed volunteer, shares her account of implementing the Computer literacy program in BMC schools

The Beginning

"Collaboration of CACR with Enactus H.R College provided a new experience not only for me but also for other students of my college. Working in the D.N Nagar municipal school and teaching children of 6th and 7th standard computer literacy was an enriching experience.

To see them understand and comprehend what was being taught,to empower them with computer literacy so that they could improve their future, and the feeling of self satisfaction for investing energy and time trying to make all this happen was truly gratifying for me.

A wonderful experience and a step towards an educated India!

The Rationale'

Computer Literacy is really important in today’s world. Before teaching these students, we attended a training sesion to understand the entire process of executing this program in schools. This session happened in the premises of my college and was truly enriching and fun. I was confident enough to go right ahead and teach these students. 

The first day was surprising because my assumption that these kids had no idea about computers was proven wrong.Lot of the students knew about power point /excel,but when it came to executing and working on the computers, they hesitated as their practical experience was limited. They weren’t sure which keys were used for what purpose.

So How was it done?

I conducted the training, three days in a row in the DN Nagar Municipal School. 

Day 1:

We started off with the basics of computers- for example the start button, the keyboard, desktop and so on. The students took keen interest and wrote down notes as we continued further into the class. We also conducted a small quiz session where the students were awarded chocolates for correct answers. We tried to make the session as interesting as possible.

Day 2:

We went a little deeper, trying to explain how to cut, copy, paste,and also some of the most important uses of word document. As the video continued, we would sometimes pause and explain to them in greater detail and also do some practice on the word document so that they understand better.

Day 3:

A practical session was conducted wherein all the students were taken to the computer labs and asked to execute step-by-step all that they had learnt.

We guided them at every step and also let them try out new things. We set a format in which they executed each and everything that they had learnt in the previous two days.

This session was a success and the students were excited to learn more. 

This initiative by CACR is truly wonderful as it is empowering the youth. These learnings will give the children a better tomorrow and a better future. Computer has become mandatory and need for the day. Even a normal job requires the basic understanding of computers.

 

HR College volunteers training students in Basic IT Skills at DN Nagar school 

A brilliant project by CACR that will truly transform the future of these children.All is needed is the right support and enthusiasm.

I am proud to be a part of such an initiative and hope to continue working towards its goal. "

Thanks,

Saachi J. Jaiswal 

H R college of Commerce and Economics 

Bridging the Technology Divide

 We cannot create a level-playing field for children unless we take concrete steps to bridge the digital divide. Today the privileged generation-Y seems to have a innate ability to adapt to changing technologies where the disadvantaged lot don't even know how to switch on a computer...

Citizens association for Child Rights-CACR decided to step up and help to create awareness and mitigate this huge technological gap  by introducing  Computer literacy project in Municipal [inner city] schools .   

One of our volunteer's Dr. Wagle describes his experience on the project execution:

"We live in a world today that is increasingly moving to a service economy where computer literacy and inter-personal communication are pre-requisites to landing a job (even as a shop attendant). Computer Literacy and Spoken English are two skills that will help the under privileged (BMC)Municipal  primary school students to bridge the widening gap between themselves and the private school students and give them  a chance to live a better life.

It was in July, 2013 that I stepped for the first time in a BMC school to conduct my first lesson in computer literacy. I had no prior knowledge about the students, teachers, curriculum, building or equipment, hence there was bit of trepidation at what I may discover. First impressions are important. The new, spacious building of BMC Petit school in Bandra (W) is as good as it can get as a healthy teaching environment (granted there is no playing ground). Students in uniform also help as a study enabler. Spacious computer room well furnished for a set of desktops means the infrastructure for teaching computers is there.

It took a month to get to know the following things:

1. Four mediums (Urdu, Marathi, Gujrati and English),

2. Four schools within the building,

3 Friday is a half day and Saturday a full day for the Urdu medium,

4 Availability of only five desktops (but of latest vintage from Acer),

   and many more new things to assimilate.

Since we were teaching the students directly, our contact with the teacher was minimal and only to the extent of requesting them to send their class to the computer room.

The students were the biggest surprise. Their enthusiasm to learn and work on a computer is infectious. It has not diminished even after 8 months we have been with them – as soon as one of us voluntary teachers enters the school students from different medium and standards (4 to 7 which we cover) clamour up asking if today they can come to the computer room.

We had to decide on the pedagogy to be used. IIT, Mumbai has developed software called Spoken Tutorial with funding from the HRD ministry to teach computer literacy which essentially means teaching the Libre Office suite of Writer, Spreadsheet etc. I found the IITB spoken tutorials good, but not tailored for the level of BMC school students. I had to therefore look at an alternative.

CACR has various volunteer groups to teach at multiple BMC schools, mostly in H-West ward. These groups have been autonomous in selecting the pedagogy and thus there has been lot of experience with different methodologies including teaching using IITB software.

I accepted the definition of computer literacy to be student's ability to use Office Suite (Open Office, Libre and Microsoft are three such suites, of which the first two are free). I ended up writing lessons for teaching at Petit and quickly wrote up a mini-book so that other volunteers could use it to teach. After four months, when I had run through the Office related lesson I felt the need for more lessons and decided that in today's age Computer Literacy (CLit) must include lessons on internet. I added four lessons in that category. Fortunately or unfortunately due to lack of any infrastructure to connect the multiple desktops to the net, no lessons were actually delivered.

By November, 2013 and after much study we finalized on the pedagogy for Spoken English (SpE) based on a set of eight animation DVDs made by Tata Interactive.

By November, 2013 I had enough experience and data to know the student population (possibly representative of any BMC primary school) reasonably well in terms of their education level, their knowledge of English, and their class behaviour, their differing talent to learn and urge to study. The picture other than normal spread of talent as in any group was dismal. Most students even upto 7^th standard, had difficulty reading English alphabet and in differentiating the use of capital letters and when to use them. The vocabulary was virtually absent which means that any word in piece of text is nothing more than a sequence of letters. Teaching CLit often became frustrating and seemed hopeless.

In January, 2014 a development took place which in retrospect was for the better. When our organization, Citizen Association for Child Rights (CACR) started teaching at BMC schools the desire was to be able to get volunteers who had to go to a nearby school. Since Bandra (W) was the closest to us (I and my wife Archana) living in Mahim among the initial set of schools we had been going to Petit school there. In October, CACR decided to take on additional schools, made representation to BMC's education department and got permission to teach in more BMC schools.

Dharavi Trasit Camp (DTC) school was in that new set. It is a very large school group with over 10,000 students studying there in primary alone. Going to Dharavi is fraught with poor transport (narrow and crowded roads being one reason). I started going to DTC from December, 2013. By then, I had realized that I was pegging the CLit at a level higher than needed. What was basic to CLit is an ability to type and edit,with calculations (spreadsheet) not being as important.

I completely revised my approach to CLit and began with asking the students to type in simple two paragraph text in multiple repeat lessons. Not withstanding having taught upto Presentation tool at Petit, I started this approach at Petit too. By the end of January, 2014 I began to see the benefits of my new pedagogy. Students across 4 to 7 standard and across medium were on the whole were beginning to type and edit the text given to them on a piece of paper. I then got them to graduate to a more complex and longer piece of text to type and edit. Finally, I got them to save the text to a file of their own and re-open it to check.

Today, at the end of current academic year and before the students at both Petit and DTC schools go on summer vacation, I have the satisfaction that the students have become computer literate even if it is only to type and edit.

There was one major difference between Petit and DTC. At DTC there was BMC appointed full time teacher for teaching computers. He was a part of mass adoption by BMC to use the IITB software with 100+ teachers so appointed. This teacher was not able to teach anything other than letting students play with Paint tool till I volunteered. He then learnt the use of Writer program while I taught and then used that knowledge to teach other medium and other standards which I could not teach directly in my limited 2-day per week schedule. This teacher also made a regular schedule of such lessons for the entire week.

Spending just two hours per week in a social cause such as teaching in BMC schools should be no problem for any person even when he or she is working. But despite sizable population among us of senior citizen (who should have plenty of spare time) getting voluntary teachers is the most difficult problem that we have faced. This problem has remained unsolved and constrains CACR from expanding its school coverage.

CACR also believe that it is best that the school teaching is best imparted by school teachers rather than through the crutches of outside teachers. In DTC, both these goals came together. There is a clear pointer here. Get BMC to appoint full-time teachers for CLit (and also for SpE). Train the teacher (and be guide in some of the lessons he or she teaches) and you reduce your need for voluntary teachers and get BMC to do its own work. I suggested this requirement to the AO of H-West ward and am happy that a full time computer teacher has been identified at Petit for the next academic year.

The Petit and DTC models are potentially scalable. 100 teachers have already been identified (BMC has 300 school buildings and therefore the need is for 300 teachers and trainers and mentors for each of them). Lot more planning will be required and it may take another full academic year to get the scaling up right. But at the end of it 80+% of BMC students would be computer literate (and that would include spreadsheet and possibly more).

 I hope CACR is able to persuade the BMC education department to go along and put its will behind this experiment."

Dr. S.Wagle _CACR

That First Experience..

 Everyone has thought of a fixed path in life—A good career in a fortune 500 company, money, and an early retirement to start something new. Volunteering comes into picture only after retirement for most of us.

There is no time for anything else in our busy life. As it is our Social life, traveling, family, Job, keep us occupied so volunteering is not even part of the equation. Leisure time is spent meeting with friends, eating and drinking, and shopping. Social responsibility is left to the corporate companies with big pockets and resources,rights? 

This belief changed when I was struggling to get a job. As the famous saying goes “An empty mind is a devil’s workshop”, I decided to volunteer for namesake, when an old friend told me about some computer literacy project with IITB. 

I had decided in the beginning that if it became too difficult I would give some excuse and leave. Difficult situations can be handled only in jobs where there is incentive of promotion, money, and recognition which clearly is not the case with volunteering.

So charged with that notion in mind I went to the nearest Municipal (BMC) School with a colleague. After observing the surroundings and from the conversation with the Head Master-HM, I could infer that school had only two computers for a classroom of 40 students!  My resolution strengthened that it was waste of my time. I remembered all the conversations that I used to have with my colleagues, families, relatives, friends that it was hopeless to have any kind of expectation from the Government. We are mere citizens and not superheroes. So I realized I couldn’t change a thing, and nobody could either Best course of action would be to leave and start in another school.

But when one of my fellow volunteers decided to continue even with two computers, I was surprised. “Nothing is impossible” and “I’m possible” are just quotes for text books we read, I knew in my gut.

But disagreeing in public has never been my style, so armed with my colleague’s enthusiasm we decided to call two students at a time and teach one topic spending approximately 10mins with them.

We started with naming different components of a computer, followed by how to switch on and off a computer, with finally how to open, close, and save a Libre Office word document. As we continued teaching more and more students, we observed some were faster and some were slower in learning, but the common thread was that all were eager to gain knowledge. Most of the students didn’t have access to computers; few who did were trying to remember their forgotten computer class conducted a year ago.

As we progressed further, the students who had finished learning would stand and observe the next batch of students and help their classmates who got stuck on a particular step. This continued with other students too. As we finished for the day, they asked us the most important question “when were we coming back”. When we replied next week, they thought it would be too late. They were so eager to learn more. Their enthusiasm was infectious!

Their feedback and bright faces made us realized that sometimes achievement in terms of helping others is greater than monetary compensation or promotions. The happiness that you feel makes you realize that words of the old wise men are true-‘Happiness cannot be measured with money’ 

We cannot always wait for the system to change; sometimes we also have to take a step in that direction.

   We may not be able to bring a drastic change in the political scenario, but we can bring a change into the life of others by that one hour of volunteer work. It may take time and it does take because a seed cannot grow into a tree within few days. It takes time to nurture it, but it’s the end result that is fascinating.

With this, I hope all my fellow friends also give one hour of their time to volunteer. Let’s not wait for retirement or that feeling of making a change to perform such acts.

---The author of the article JZ has earned her Engineering degree and MBA from Mumbai University and still continues to volunteer on weekends along with her current job.