[Reader-list] [Fwd: PUKAR EZINE: January - March, 2012]

Fri May 11 16:15:56 IST 2012

FYI. Usual Apps 4 X-posting.

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: PUKAR EZINE: January â March, 2012
From:    "PUKAR" <pukar at pukar.org.in>
Date:    Fri, May 11, 2012 08:30
To:      patrice at xs4all.nl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are having trouble viewing this email please         click here. (
http://www.pukar.org.in/ezines/14.4.12/index.htm )

PUKAR EZINE: January  March, 2012

HEALTHY CITIES WEALTHY CITIES

Dean and Faculty of Harvard School of Public Health visits PUKAR

Julio Frenk, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) along with
fifteen faculty members visited, Kaula Bandar, PUKARs research site
on March 16, 2012. They sought to look at successful public health
models in India and the challenges and opportunities the country
faces.

On their way to Kaula Bandar, Professor David Bloom, Faculty of HSPH
and Dr. Anita Patil Deshmukh, the two principle co-investigators for
the Healthy Cities Wealthy Cities project, briefed the visitors about
the slum and the work done so far. On arrival at the location, they
were welcomed by PUKARs Barefoot Researchers. The entire team explored
various aspects of the community by walking through the slum and
visited the homes of two Barefoot Researchers who live there. They
raised several pertinent questions that were fielded ably by the team
of Barefoot Researchers.

-------------------------

In a congratulatory email sent to PUKAR after the visit, Dean, Julio
Frenk wrote

"I would like to thank you for taking the time to meet with the HSPH
delegation last month and organize a tour of the Kaula Bandar
community. Since the trip, we have heard from many of the guests about
how impressed they were with the PUKAR Team. It was an honor to learn
about the efforts of an alumna promoting public health. Our afternoon
together was an enormous educational opportunity for us to better
understand slum communities."

We, at PUKAR, are proud of the fact that our research has led to two
significant changes for the community. We were successful in
initiating community health camps provided by the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai once a month.

We were also successful in aiding the local Corporator to bring piped
water in this fifty-year-old community. The construction of the pipes
is now complete. We hope to expand our Research for Action to
the neighbouring slums and help bring about similar changes in those
extremely marginalized communities.
-------------------------

HCWC team's OP-ED in the Hindu:

PUKAR researchers discuss the 'silent epidemic' of water contamination
in Mumbai's slums.
Read it here. (
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2947011.ece )

MYTHOLOGIES OF MUMBAI

Visitors at PUKAR

Phase II of the Mythologies of Mumbai project is well and truly
underway. Apart from the Media Access Survey, the team has also
embarked on a number of activities that would help promote its
research through a variety of media. For starters, the construction of
the Media Lab, that will provide all media-related services both to
PUKARs own researchers and to the community at large, has begun. It
is slated to be completed in the early part of the next quarter. In
addition, the project has elicited interest from various people both
nationally and internationally and has played host to several visitors
since January, 2012.

Mythologies of Mumbai project, supported by Ford Foundation, was
visited by Jonathan Barzilay, Director, Freedom of Expression, Ford
Foundation (USA) on  January 30, 2012. The team gave a comprehensive
presentation of the both the work done in Phase I and the work
currently undertaken in Phase II. He was also given an introduction to
the Media Access Survey of 300 households comprising 886 individuals
that is currently underway. Jonathan Barzilay, acknowledging the
teams effort, expressed his admiration for the project and also
anticipated that the final data might have significant policy
implications. Further, the team took him to Dharavi where he visited
different media access points, understanding their significance to the
community. Importantly, he was impressed by the peoples
entrepreneurship and initiative in optimizing the use of the limited
availability of space.

-------------------------

Rahul Mehrotra, Chair of Harvard Graduate School of Design and one
of PUKARs trustees, visited PUKAR along with his students and Loeb
Fellows on February 13 - 14, 2012 for a design studio. The team took
them around Girangaon and Dharavi to explain to the design students
the challenges faced by the urban poor in Mumbai. The team also
participated in a daylong workshop on The Development Plan for
Greater Mumbai 2014 -2034. The experience provided the team with a
qualitative interaction with design students and faculty.

-------------------------

The Mythologies of Mumbai team is busy sharpening their tools of
dissemination to spread their research findings on a large scale. This
has meant the team engaging in training to develop a variety of
skills. Jyotindra Jain from Centre for Indian Visual Culture (CIViC)
conducted a three-day workshop with his team for the Mythologies of
Mumbai team on image curation and understanding social construction
through popular visual culture. Through CIViCs own work, he
explained the process involved in image curation and also discussed
use of various media platforms for dissemination like through a
virtual museum. nation like through a virtual museum.

-------------------------

On March 22, 2012, Professor Setha Low, Anthropologist from the City
University of New York visited PUKAR to engage with the Mythologies of
Mumbai team. Both parties were looking forward to the prospect of a
collaborative effort in the future.

YOUTH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME

Research Jatra, 2012

This year's Research Jatra was collaboratively organized by PUKAR,
Akshara and the Youth Fellows. Conducted on the umbrella theme of
Gender, it was held on January 22, 2012, at the YUVA Centre at
Kharghar. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Jyoti Mhapsekar of
Stree Mukthi Sanghatna. Around 200 youth attended the day long event.

The Research Jatra was conceptualized as one of a string of events in
the Youth Fellowship Programme that would help sustain the initial
zeal and enthusiasm for the research process throughout its duration.
The Jatra provides a platform for the fellows to share their trials
and tribulations related to the research process with other fellows
and engage in debate and discussion on a variety of topics.

-------------------------

Jyoti Mhapsekhar, Chief Guest for the occasion, inaugurated the
days proceedings. She initiated the discussion on Gender, Gender
Equality and Gender Sensitization among the 200 youth fellows who
attended. Akshara conducted several games that provoked heated debate
and discussions on gender sensitivity. There were also video
documentary screenings addressing specific Gender issues. These
documentaries included those made by Akshara, Hamsafar Trust and
community members under the able guidance of Kapil Chavan, PUKARs
Youth Fellowship coordinator. Critical dialogue around gender issues
were also conducted with activists like Bhim Raskar of Mahila Raj
Satta Andolan and Mridul Bharadwaj, an Activist and trainer. Bhim
Raskar spoke of the special role women play in the Panchayati Raj and
the challenges and opportunities that women face when in positions of
power.

Mridul Bharadwaj explored the critical agency of the youth,
encompassing not only a comprehensive conception of youth but also
establishing the need to develop independent, critical thinking. Youth
Fellows had made visual presentations of their research process so far
and had exhibited them in the space provided and informal discussions
around these emerged. The day was concluded with the play, MulgiZali
Ho, a critical look at gendered society, written and directed by Jyoti
Mhapsekhar.

PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research)

Address:: 272, Municipal Tenements, Shivaji Nagar, BMC Colony, Kher
Wadi, Bandra (East), Mumbai  400 051
Telephone:: +91 (22) 6574 8152
Fax:: +91 (22) 26474872
Email::pukar at pukar.org.in
Website:: www.pukar.org.in ( http://www.pukar.org.in )

PUKAR is an  independent research collective and an innovative
urban knowledge producing institution that aims to contribute to the
discourse on urbanization and globalization.

_____________________________