LEAD India 2007 Highlights

The year 2007 was a successful one in terms of generating projects and organizing trainings. A brief synopsis of the year’s main activities is given below:

1. Cohort 12: The theme this year for the three national trainings was “Building Competencies for Environmental Governance”. Each of these sessions explored the overall edifice of the tenets of environmental governance through the three sub-themes namely Forest Governance, Water Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility and addressed issues that affect all sections of society. At the end of the Third National Training Session eight of our Associates graduated provisionally while two would graduate after they completed certain necessary requirements.
2. Thin Green Line: We have produced a film series titled Thin Green Line in collaboration with Aradhana Kohli Kapoor of Cohort 5, which was aired on a National Television channel, Doordarshan. The Series focuses on discussions with school children and eminent environmentalists on issues related to Animal Rights, Human and Wildlife Conflicts, Economic Development & Environmental Degradation, Closure of Polluting Industries & Labour Problems, Eco Tourism & Environmental Degradation. These films were screened at various functions over the year, and were very well attended.
3. Henreich Boll Foundation (Forest Ecosystem Services): Heinrich Boll Foundation is supporting us for research and development of tools for valuation and payment for specified forest ecosystems services in Uttaranchal. This project mainly aims to identify Ecosystem Services and Stakeholders, determine spatio-temporal dimensions of the identified services, and document past and present trends of resource utilization in various forest types and document functional attributes of different forest types including biotic stresses. The book launch was held on the 23rd November. The findings will further be communicated through workshops, seminars, panel discussions, and through distribution of the research findings to like-minded, individuals, organizations and networks.
4. Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (Next Generation Development Programme): We have entered into a contract with LEAD International to undertake the HSBC Next Generation Programme in India from the 17th to the 23rd of February 2008. The objective of HSBC’s Next Generation Programme is to deliver a global leadership development program that optimizes engagement and develops skills required by future leaders. It also aims to develop a commitment to and understanding of the principal of sustainable business practices, and to understand the impact business has on stakeholders. We will undertake the planning and coordination of the entire program and will contribute through providing local expertise and knowledge. We have also been responsible for the identification of suitable sites for the completion of the Next Generation Challenges in India.
5. British High Commission Project (Local Environmental Governance): The British High Commission has been supporting us to explore the concept of Local Environmental Governance, with particular reference to Stakeholder Participation. We undertook the documentation of community/panchayat leaders’ experiences and perceptions on what needs to be done to establish mechanisms at grass roots level that help achieve conservation and development goal in a sustainable, equitable and efficient manner. The exercise was carried forward in different relevant parts of the country with the help of a large network of individuals as well as institutions representing different sectors. A comprehensive analysis of these grass roots experiences and perceptions on issues related to forests, water and corporate social responsibility from various parts of the country was then shared with key stakeholders in a National level consultation. Our findings have been compiled into a book for widespread distribution, which was launched by the Minister of Panchayati Raj, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer on the 18th of December.

As can be seen, LEAD India is now on the road to diversification into other trainings apart from the Cohort training, which will allow us to make a greater impact on sustainable development. There are a number of projects in the pipeline, scheduled to be undertaken in the upcoming year. A short description of these planned activities is provided below:-

1. Cohort 13: Cohort 13 associates would undertake leadership training for a period of one year on the Theme: Building Leadership around Global Change. Global change encompasses issues namely Climate Change, Biodiversity loss, Habitat Fragmentation, & Biological Invasion. The training would focus on critical and constructive evaluation of policies and institutional mechanisms designed to minimize and sometimes targeted to alleviate the impacts of Climate Change.
2. Thin Green Line: We are exploring the possibilities of translating Thin Green Line into Hindi so that not only the children of the English speaking schools but also the children from the Government Hindi speaking schools could also benefit. A proposal to this effect has been submitted in the Chief Ministers Secretariat and is currently under consideration.We have also through our Fellow submitted a proposal for the making of a film on Mercury and Electronic Waste which is under consideration.
3. Greening the Young Minds: We, in collaboration with Winrock International India (WII), WWF India and Centre for Environmental Education are building a program called “Greening the Young Minds” in order to develop a critical mass of change agents from amongst the teachers and children, who will be in a position to provide leadership in the future.
4. Corporate Social Responsibility: The material used during the three National Training Sessions for Cohort 12 instigated a lot of interest with some of the Fellows. We are now in the process of developing a consortium of fellows to build capacities of some industries in field of Corporate Social Responsibility . LEAD India has also designed a workshop called ‘CSR Essentials’ based upon which training shall commence in 2008.
5. British High Commission Project (Climate Change Leaders): Working with LEAD International we have received support from the The British High Commission for a project titled Climate Change Leaders Initiative: an innovative model from India. The purpose of this is to help build a responsive and representative network of leaders for bringing regional climate change priorities onto the national arena in India. The pilot project will concentrate on issues from two regions in India. A comprehensive media strategy will also be developed to disseminate project outcome, document case studies, action plans to encourage and to support replication in other countries as well as in other regions in India.
6. Voluntary Carbon Market: We realize that it is important to build awareness and capacities of the community through trainings by initiating interventions in the process of mitigating climate change. The key objective of this project is to make sure carbon finance reaches poorer communities and so encourages them to join the battle against climate change. Our partners in this project will be Emergent Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. and VERpool Ltd. Latest discussions and other communications indicate that LEAD India would identify and build capacities of community based organizations in order to generate ideas and opportunities for CDM projects; EVI would support the PDD development, facilitate validation, host country approval and registration. Post registration VERpool would either buy the carbon credits or look for a potential buyer.