Introduction
The Norwegian volunteer service, Fredskorpset (Fk) believes “partnership for development” is the way to strengthen understanding between North and South in a globalised world and to increase expertise in international questions. To achieve this goal Fredskorpset facilitates exchanges of young professionals between Norway and countries of the South. Participants live and work in another country for approximately 12 months and it enable young professionals to use their skills in working for a partner employer in another country.
In June 2002, Fredskorpset started a South-South exchange programme built on the same concept. This programme facilitates exchanges between partners in different countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The rationale behind initiating South - South Exchange Programmes is to meet the great demand for exchange that cannot be satisfied in Norway in relation to the needs of the South. The first Fredskorpset exchange programme among Asian countries started in May 2003.
All participants in Fredskorpset programmes complete mandatory preparatory courses run by Fredskorpset before they start their assignments in their host countries. Participants in South-South exchange programmes are trained in the region in which they are going to do their assignment. The preparatory course is intended to prepare Fredskorpset volunteers for living and working in the host countries in the region.
This proposal is submitted to organise Fredskorpset Preparatory Course for South – South Exchange Programme 2007-08, specifically for the participants from Asia and Africa.
Christ College
Started in 1969, Christ College is an autonomous educational institute run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Fathers (CMI). This is one of the premier educational institute in India accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and is graded A+ for the quality of education. The institute caters to about 8000 students and has 250 teaching and 200 non-teaching faculties. With state-of-the art infrastructure facilities, Christ College also organise various exchange programmes and academic courses with several overseas universities and organisations.
Being an educational institution, Christ College strongly believes in providing holistic education to the students, which will enable them to become socially responsible individuals. This is strategically emphasized in the Core Values, Vision and Mission of the College.
Centre for Social Action (CSA)
CSA is the developmental centre of Christ College initiated in 1999 to operationalize the Core Values, Vision, and Mission of the college on a sustainable basis. It is a Students Movement for a Humane and Just Society with Child as the Focus. CSA was initiated as a result of various students initiatives backed by the faculty and management of Christ College. CSA in collaboration with various developmental organisations in India and abroad facilitates various developmental programmes and project for the students and marginalised sections of the society. Presently CSA works with various educational institutions, four slums and 35 villages in Bangalore and 15 villages in Andhra Pradesh. In these areas, CSA implements sustainable development programmes in Child Development, Women Empowerment, Capacity building, and Economic Development and Natural resource management.
Fredskorpset and Centre for Social Action
Centre for Social Action is an active exchange partner of Fredskorpset for the past five years. The organisation is associated with Fredskorpset through Fk UNG Programme and the Fk network of Indian partners. In Fk UNG Programme, Fredskorpset facilitates the exchange between Christ College and Sund Folk College Norway. Twenty-four students from India and Norway have benefited out of this programme.
Relevance and advantages of organizing Fk Preparatory Course by Christ College, CSA
The South – South exchange programme was initiated to meet the developmental needs of exchange in southern countries that cannot be satisfied in Norway. India being a southern country with social and cultural similarities with other southern countries in the exchange programme can provide exposure on various issues and problems persistent in northern countries. This will help the participants to identify and relate with the issues and problems of the host countries of exchange. The country also has a good number of Fk exchange partners and alumni who can be effectively used for the training sessions. Bangalore, the metropolitan city where Christ College is situated is well connected with other national and international destinations and has immense number of resources in cultural and developmental context. Christ College with the training and educational resources and the infrastructure facilities is ideal for the course. The rich grass root level experience of CSA along with deep association with the Fredskopset and the Fk network in India will provide the required mileage to the course. Some of the highlight of Bangalore, Christ College and CSA are listed below.
Bangalore
- Metropolitan culture: a cross section of globalised urban centres in developing countries, known as the silicon valley of India, presence of various nationals and cultures, well connected with national and international destinations.
- Easy Accessibility of resources: National and International centres of various developmental organisations, Premier Educational institutes and Centres of Academic Excellence.
- Ideal climatic conditions, known for its greenery and salubrious climate.
Christ College
- One of the premier educational Institute in India; ranked A+ by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) India.
- Excellent Infrastructure: Well equipped, training and panel halls, auditorium - biggest in the Bangalore city, open spaces, computer centre and library – open round the clock throughout the year. Campus wide connectivity.
- A campus spread over a sprawling 80 acres of beautiful landscape with well-maintained lush green lawns and an open-air training facilities.
- On campus guesthouses which facilitates easy interaction between the participants and the Christ College student community.
- Distinguished faculty with doctoral qualifications and full fledged resource centres
- A vibrant multicultural, multilingual student community; representation from over fifteen countries and about fifty languages.
- Academic tie-up and exchanges with various overseas universities and organisations
Centre for Social Action
- Active involvement of a hundred and fifty students volunteers in the age group of
16-25.
- Deep organisational knowledge and understanding on Fredskopset vision, aims and objectives, twelve CSA alumni with FK exchange programme experiences.
- Coordinating agency of Fk Indian Partners’ Network and active involvement in network programmes and activities.
- Strong network with various organisations working in the developmental context, issues and problems.
- Rich grass root level work experience: developmental interventions in four slums and forty-five villages in an around Bangalore
- Experienced in organising exposure visits, trainings and exchange programmes for participants from various foreign countries.
- Organisational capacities and experienced faculty and resource persons for organising seminars and training programmes.
Fredskorpset Preparatory Course for South – South Exchange Programme
Objectives
· To introduce participants to Fredskorpset and its vision
· To prepare participants for living and working in Asian countries
· To provide participants with information regarding development issues in the Asian region, and
· To enable the participants to learn through collaboration and peer discussion.
Participants
There will be 25 participants from Asia and Africa in the age group of 22 to 40 years. Expected participants are working in micro finance and business development, health research, and issues on peace, conflict reconciliation and communication.
Workshop approach
The approach used in the workshop will be participatory and experimental focusing on the practices and principles of effective training. The approach will afford all the participants the opportunity to discuss, interact and reflect on various issues.
A. Activities
Apart from the regular classroom activities, CSA will introduce activities such as Host Family, Buddy Programmes, Village visit- home stay and exposure programmes, Host Country Information Programme, Organisation visits and Outdoor Team Building Activities in the course. These activities are included with a purpose of reinforcing the classroom activities of the course.
Buddy Programme: A student volunteer from CSA is assigned to each participant as a ‘buddy’. This helps the participant to get over the hurdles in a new place with relative ease and get inputs on course. This will also pave way for the participants to interact with the multi-cultured student community and CSA volunteers of Christ College and to make use the resources of the institute in an effective way.
Host Family: The participants are assigned to Indian - host families and will spend two evenings and nights with these families. The volunteer families are usually of CSA volunteers and most of them have the experience of receiving foreign students in relation with other exchange programmes of CSA.
Rural Home Bound Programmes: Another important activity included in the course is the Rural Home Bound Programme. The participants will spend two days and two nights in the project villages of Christ College. The participants will stay with village families and will get an opportunity to observe and to learn about various regional and local developmental issues and interventions happening in rural India. The rural homebound programme will also help the participants to experience the lifestyles and challenges in a cross-cultural setting.
Host Country Information Programme: This is to provide information and familiarity to the participants about the culture and norms of the host country where the participants are being exchanged. Students of Christ College from the respective southern countries and specific regions of India where the participants are exchanged will act as the facilitators of the programme.
Organisation visits: The programme will also link the participants with various national and international organisations working in Bangalore. The participants will be provided an opportunity to visit organisations related with their field of specialization in the exchange programme and to learn about various innovative strategies and programmes practiced in the field.
Out Door Team Building Activities: In the initial days of the training programme, the outdoor team building activities are introduced in the course. These activities will help the participants to know each other in a better way and to make the learning more effective and participatory.
B. Methods and Strategies
The workshop methods used are short presentations, individual and group-based tasks and discussion, peer learning, role-plays, games and reflection on participants’ own ideas and experiences. Videos on selected topics will be used to reinforce learning and to motivate discussion, and participants will be expected to utilize fully web-based resources.
Participants will also be assigned each day to review and summarize the previous day’s sessions. They will also make individual presentations in some sessions. These sessions are also intended to assist in building participants’ confidence in speaking before groups.
Course venue
The course will be conducted in Christ College. The multi-cultural community of Christ College comprising eight thousand students and two hundred faculties from various countries and diverse cultural contexts of India provides a unique environment in which participants can interact and learn.
The participants will stay in the on campus, Christ College guest rooms for the duration of the course. Rooms at Christ College have all basic amenities necessary for the comfort of the participants. Training rooms are equipped with all audio-visual equipment necessary for the workshop. During the course, participants will be provided with computers connected to internet.
Christ College is ideally located near shopping and recreation centers, and its beautiful park-like campus is serene and relaxing. It also has cafeteria and sports facilities including a gym, basketball and football courts, etc.
Course resource persons and facilitators
The resource persons for the course are selected based on their knowledge and experience on the particular topic and their experience of cross-cultural learning contexts. They are informed about the relevance and context of the training. The resource persons and facilitators involved in the course will be Christ college-CSA faculty, external resource persons, Fk exchange programme alumni and foreign students of Christ College (Section IV & V Profile of resource person)
A. Christ College faculty: There are 210 Faculty in Christ College working with various streams of knowledge such as professional social work, law, education, media, management etc… Faculties with relevant experience are selected for conducting the sessions.
B. External resources: The external resource person for the course is selected from various premier institutes and Centres of Academic Excellence in India. A few resource persons from partner organisations of Fk exchange programme with specialised knowledge on the module are also included.
C. Fk Exchange Programme Alumni and Christ College Foreign Students: The Fk Exchange programme alumni of Christ College and other Fk partners in India and the foreign students of Christ College will act as the facilitators for the course, mainly in providing country information for the participants on host countries and other necessary inputs.
Management aspects
A. Pre-course Activities
CSA will work in close consultation with key officers of Fredskorpset concerning all aspects of the proposed training package, procedures and support services.
Fredskorpset will invite the participants to the course, and will provide CSA with names and CVs of participants at least one month before the beginning of the course. Processing of participants’ visa to India will be facilitated by CSA.
Upon receipt of the confirmation of the schedule, pre-training activities and finalization of arrangements will immediately commence to assure the smooth conduct of the training programme. Reading materials, presentation handouts and training kits will also be prepared.
Pre-departure briefing information will be provided to participants. This will cover details of the programme, country brief, provisions of the programme and other pertinent information.
B. Implementation
To ensure the successful management of the course, CSA will appoint a Coordinator and a full-time Course Director. The Course Director will be responsible for ensuring the integrity, continuity and relevance of the course content, and the day-to-day concerns of course implementation. The Coordinator will take care of the administrative support services.
Effective communication among all participants is the prime concern of the training, and module facilitators will be chosen on the basis of their ability to manage diverse groups of trainees. When necessary, translators/interpreters will be provided to assist participants in understanding presentations and in being more responsive during discussions, as well as in sharing ideas and views.
Evaluation will be carried out throughout the programme, and adjustments made as required. An end-of-training evaluation will also be conducted to measure the effectiveness of the methods, materials and sessions, the competence of the resource persons and the overall management of the programme. Daily feedback from the participants will also be solicited to ensure effectiveness of the programme.
Accommodation and meals for participants at the Christ College cafeteria and during outdoor activities will be arranged by CSA.
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