LEAD India 2006 Highlights

LEAD Associate Training Activities

At the end of this successful GTS in Bhopal, 12 of our Cohort 11 Associates graduated to become Fellows of LEAD India. The graduation of 7 Associates were with held as they had not completed the required formalities for graduation. Subsequently after this GTS one more Associate having completed the basic requirements, graduated to become a Fellow. The other Associates would be completing their requirements with Cohort 12 to graduate.

LEAD-Like training offered to others

1. 5 days capacity building workshop for the community leaders on the issues of their basic needs and rights vis- a-vis Environmental Governance was held in district of Umeria, M.P. This training focused on developing connections between their needs and the need to conserve their surroundings, leadership skills and building a basic platform for negotiation and problem solving. A total of 30 participants were there
2. 3 days T 0 T was organized for the community based organisations and the academia representatives from three districts of Madhya Pradesh on Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building. The purpose of the training was to develop a team of trainers at the community level and to develop a resource base by involving various stakeholders. 28 attended.
3. 2 days workshop was organized in Madurai on Extending CSR towards sustainable development in collaborating with community based enterprises. 34 persons attended this. The purpose of this workshop was to:
   • Understand the emergence of CSR and its importance to corporations today.
   • Understand the changing need for companies to be socially responsible.
   • Establish drivers, values and issues for corporate- CBE partnership.
   • Way Forward to bridge the gap between the community based institutions and corporate houses through knowledge, experience and skill inputs.
   • To promote active engagement between corporate houses and rural communities as an equal partners in a common platform towards co-creation of ventures.
4. 3 days training program on “Enhancing Environmental Social Responsibility in the Mining Sectors: Engaging with Stakeholders” was organized in Goa for Mine Managers from 13 large scale mining companies of Goa. 28 persons attended this training. The purpose of the training was to make them aware of their changing roles and responsibilities and provide the opportunity to the mining personnel to review the environmental and social responsibility of their companies with attention to improving the relationship with various kinds of stakeholders interfacing with the business activities with an emphasis on learning the skills, tools and framework needed for an effective Stakeholder engagement.
5. Mr. Shailendra Joshi (Lead India Fellow of Cohort 1), imparted training for few selected participants, 12 in number, representing  LEAD fellows, Private entrepreneurs, donor agency, and  ONGC at Sanskriti Kendra, Delhi. The purpose of the training was to develop critical awareness of the participants about the national sustainable development goals and benefits of participating in Clean Development Mechanism and to develop necessary institutional capability and human capacity to design, implement and monitor projects under CDM.
6. 2 days workshop was organised as part of an ongoing research project of the LEAD India DRC in Trichur, Kerala. It looked into the role played by traditional tribal institutions (which basically includes community institutions of governance) in protecting natural resource based tribal livelihoods, and in ensuring equitable access to resources. It also looked at the various appropriate models of governance that would ensure just and participatory processes of resource management. A total of 40 attended this workshop.
7. LEAD India and Centre for Ecotourism and Sustainable Livelihoods, Uttaranchal jointly conducted a 6 days workshop on Ecolodge Planning and Design in Corbett Hideaway - Corbett National Park, Ramnagar, and Uttarachal. The workshop was conducted by internationally acclaimed ecolodge architect Mr. Hitesh Mehta from, EDSA, USA. The participants, 20 in number, included representatives from the Private sector, Architects, Officials from Forest and Tourism Departments and Civil Society Organizations.
8. A training module on Consensus Building and Conflict Resolution was prepared in Hindi. This module would be utilized while imparting training on the issue of Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building. The learning process contains group activities like games, discussions and analysis, case studies etc. The module can be adapted as per the level of participants.

Other Activities

1. A meeting on Forest Governance was held on 8th April to review the relevance of ecosystem services and to look at ecosystem services from an environmental governance perspective. It was attended by eminent experts like Nitin Desai, V.B. Eswaran, Chairman, Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development, Sudhirendra Sharma, Consultant and LEAD Fellows Shailendra Joshi and Nalong Mize.  case studies on Forest and water governance were presented at the meeting. The meeting helped resolve a number of issues and queries regarding initiation of a project on ‘Valuation of ecosystem services for conservation and livelihoods’
2. A meeting aimed at inviting ideas for drawing up a proposal for ‘Environmental Governance through Valuation and Payment  for   Specified Forest Ecosystem Services in Uttranchal’   was   held   at    the   LEAD   India Secretariat on 13th May. It was attended by experts on the issue like Shri S.P Singh, Vice Chancellor, HNB Garhwal University; Pushpam Kumar, I.E.G, Delhi University; Mr. Sudhirender Sharma, Independent Consultant on Water related issues; Mr. Kathuriya and Ms. Haripriya Gondimeda from M.S.E, Chennai; Mr. Pradeep Sharma, Jawaharlal Nehru University and eminent  LEAD Fellows. On the basis of the discussions held, a proposal has been prepared.
3. LEAD India in partnership with International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) organized the launch of the Global Corporate Volunteer Council (G-CVC) for Corporate Volunteering practitioner. This one day conference was attended by leaders from different sectors of society, including volunteers from over 65 countries and corporates like UPS, Disney, Levi-Strauss, Citi Finance, Samsung, Intel, TCS, and Reliance etc. The forum gave an opportunity for the corporates to interact with the voluntary sector, and opportunities to forge new partnerships on resources, good practices and other opportunities of collaboration.
4. Drawing some 10,000 participants from over 150 countries, the Third Session of the World Urban Forum was held from 19th to 23rd June in Vancouver, Canada with the promise to move from ideas into action to help change the shape of tomorrow’s cities -- one building, one decision, one action and one idea at a time. The LEAD Fellows group was represented at the Sustainable Energy Systems for Cities Networking Event at the World Urban Forum III in Vancouver. Aim of the event was to draw together energy and urbanization issues, disseminate best practice models and identify gaps in the knowledge base or areas for further research. LEAD India was represented by LEAD Fellows Usha Raghupati C4, Mamita Thakkar C7 and Sandeep Dash C11.
5. LEAD India participated in a workshop arranged by the Himalayan Community Forestry Centre, located at Garsain, Chamoli, Gharwal, and Uttaranchal. The objective of this workshop was to focus on the seasonal use of high altitude pastures locally known as Kharak and the problems and prospects of the livestock holders of Dudhatoli area of Uttaranchal. LEAD contributed by providing them the information and probable potentials of valuation of Ecosystem Services in order to compensate the conservation practices of the Vanpanchayats.
6. LEAD India helped organize a workshop which was facilitated by a LEAD India Fellow in his organization BAIF, Pune for FAO – SARD (Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development) initiative. It was a one day national level workshop to discuss:
7. The SARD-Initiative in India the ways and strategies to scale up for agricultural practices.
   To discuss and prepare for the initiative in India. To select an organization that would steer this initiative in India.
8. LEAD India Fellow Prof. K.G. Saxena of Jawaharlal Nehru University was invited as the Co-Principle Investigators along with Prof. Richard N. Mack of Washington State University, Pullman to a workshop on Invasive Plants in Indian Protected Areas organized by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum at Corbett Hide Away, Ram agar in Uttaranchal. Dr. Rajeev Semwal shared his experiences on the topic of workshop from Terai Arc Landscape in India.  Several (25) distinguished scientists from various Universities/Scientific Institutions of America, Canada, and India presented their findings on the invasive plants during the workshop.
9. LEAD India was invited to the World Volunteer Conference held in Delhi from 10-14 November 2006. This was an occasion to understand and participate in Youth related activities and events and increase our exposure and outreach in this direction.
10. Institute of Management Technology, invited The Executive Director of Lead India to speak on Green Competitiveness for Sustainable Development at a seminar held in India Habitat Centre on 27th October, 2006.

Involvement of Fellows

An attempt has been made to show the involvement of Fellows during the year but being so numerous the list below is a sample:

Seema Bahuguna, C 2 has joined as Secretary General in Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation, New Delhi.

Dinesh Agrawal, C3 has been  nomination to ISO 26000 committee. He happens to be the only LEAD India Fellow as an expert on the ISO committee.

Milind Bokil, C4, has joined as Field Representative of Oxfam-Community Aid Abroad (Oxfam-Australia). Oxfam CAA is part of Oxfam-International and provides support to various development organizations He looks after the operations in North-Western India which focuses on Natural Resource Management and Livelihoods and Gender and Development besides advocacy, campaigning and humanitarian response.

A Ravindra Babu, C 4,  has been nominated to the working Group on Natural Resources Management for the XI five year Plan by the Planning Commission, Government of India.

Saroj Dash, C 5 has Joined  ActionAid International in Vietnam as the Thematic and Governance Manager.

K V Devi Prasad, C6 has been given additional responsibility of "Coordinator,Sustainable Development Programme" in his University

Veena Ravichandran, C 7  has taken on a new assignment as Senior Program Officer, Innovation, Policy and Science, International Development Research Centre in  IDRC, Ottawa. Canada

Ganesh Pangare, C 7 is doing a long term consultancy for a project called "Water Dialogues" based in London, and this project would go on till end next year. Ganesh has also come out with another book titled "Global Perspectives on Integrated Water Resources Management : A Resource Kit" in collaboration with FAO and UNESCO and this book would be officially released sometime in 2007.

Ajit Kumar Jha, C 7, launched a new 48 pages daily English paper, Qatar Tribune, from Doha, the capital of Qatar in the Middle East in September, and is the Editor of this new newspaper.  

Thomas Chandy, C8  was promoted to the rank of Chief Conservator of Forests

Aanchal Kapoor’s, C8 Kriti  film club has received acclaim with media reports describing it as a movement of sorts where Kriti has moved on from a place to watch films to a space where filmmakers ask for their works to be screened. Indian Express and CNN IBN recently carried reports on this initiative.

Bharat Kakade, C 9 has been promoted "Vice President" of BAIF.

Pallava Bagla, C9, has been awarded the `National Award for Outstanding Effort in Science & Technology Communication in Print Medium'. The new award is the highest of its kind in India and is given by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi.

Pushkin Phartiyal, C 9 has won the second prize of GIAN-N & BCT Best Grassroots Innovations reporting Award 2006 presented by Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network-North(GIAN- North) and Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT), India for his article on low cost, community managed material ropeways that was published in ICIMOD Newsletter (No 49, Spring 2006)

Pankaj Sekhsaria, C 9 has been  awarded the National Foundation For India (NFI) Media Fellowship 2005-06 for writing on issues of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Abhay Vaidya, C 10 has been promoted as Assistant Resident Editor, Times of India, Pune.

Kapil Mohan, C 10 Was awarded McNamara fellowship for one year and is presently at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, USA. He is working on Science,Technology and Environment policies.

K Malmarugan, C10  resigned from Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd and has joined MARG Constructions Ltd, a leading realty company in Chennai as Vice President - Infrastructure Business Unit. He has also written a 250 page book titled Evolution of an Integrated Urban Facility : The IT Corridor Story.

Kulbhushan Balooni, C10 has been awarded the Sustainable Tropical Forestry (SUTROFOR) Erasmus Mundus Scholar Scholarship to work at the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen for three months.

Chandra Mohan B, C11, has joined as Collector of Karur district, Tamil Nadu.

Girija Godbole, C11 has been selected for Commonwealth Professional Fellowship and will work at International Institute for Environment and Development at London for three months.

Nalong Mize, C11 has been appointed as advisor to the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

Sanjay Deshmukh, C11 Dr. Vijay Khole, the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor of the 150 year old University of Mumbai appointed Sanjay as Academic and Adminstrative Head of the Ratnagiri Sub-Centre (the only Campus of the University of Mumbai, outside Mumbai). The Sub-Centre coordinates all the activities of the University in two of the five coastal Districts where University has its jurisdiction. The total no. of students studying at the University are about 4,50,000.

C N Anil, C 11  Would be joining  Aga Khan Foundation in March next year as Community Development Advisor, Badakshan, Afghanistan.

Raising LEAD India’s visibility

A short 6 minutes documentary film was taken out from the 40 hours GTS shoot commissioned to Krishnendu Bose (Fellow Cohort 3) titled ‘Creating LEADers’

Cohort 12 recruitment advertisement were released in Economic and Political Weekly and on their website also and also in Down to Earth magazine. We also uploaded our recruitment advertisement in various other placements and organisational websites like Vani India, Devnet Jobs, Wes net, Solution Exchange, One World South Asia (Ek Duniya-Environment), Ads for India, Biz Classifieds, Direct Kerala, ISAP and many others.

A 27 minutes documentary film on the GTS titled The Change Makers, commissioned to Krishnendu Bose Fellow of Cohort 3, has been made ready. A simple but attractive in house two colours CD Jacket was designed and printed.

LEAD India came out with two compilations in a book form during the year. These were on Stakeholder Participation in Environmental Governance - Corporate Social responsibility, and the other on Forest Governance.

Plans for 2007 and Beyond     

LEAD India will promote sustainable development through training of leaders (and in the process develop human resources) in a manner that more people are sensitized to the environmental and social costs associated with present-day development. The environmental conflicts that are arising owing to scarcity of resources, high intensity use and poor governance need to be urgently addressed.

Beginning December 1st 2006 for a period of six months Heinrich Boll Foundation has agreed to support LEAD India for research and development of tools for valuation and payment for specified forest ecosystems services in Uttaranchal.  Along with the LEAD India secretariat LEAD Fellows from all over India would form the part of the committees along with specialist from that sector.

Major Opportunities for LEAD India
 
LEAD India has been pioneering the concept of Environmental Governance in partnership with the British Government (Foreign Office) for the past one year along with other partners like HBF, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Environment and Forests.
 
The Global Training Session in March 2006 laid the broader concept of environmental governance, LEAD India has been exploring workable strategies at the local level. This is an effort to bring it down to a practical level where possible implementation can be taken up by LEAD Fellows and other partners.