Young people are said to have the enthusiasm, energy, and will to participate in nation building.
While they may often express the desire to be agents of change, they often feel lost in direction when
they cannot find meaningful ways of contributing towards a better society and country.
Rubaroo, in partnership with Commutiny - The Youth Collective, has been leading Samvidhan Live! The Jagrik
Project in Hyderabad. This campaign is a platform for youth to become active citizens by not only understanding
their constitutional rights and duties towards the country, but also living them in reality in their everyday lives.
This campaign journey aims to engage young Jagriks (Jagruk+Nagrik or Aware Citizens) between the age of 14 to 30
years to understand and get a hands-on experience of the Indian Constitution. Designed in the format of a real
life simulation activity, Samvidhan LIVE! has led young people to live the ground realities of the Constitution
through an unusual game, and to address their quest through fun and learning.
Over the last two years, more than 70 young people from 18 Educational Institutions including Roda Mistry
College of Social Work, BJR Govt. Degree College, AV College of Arts, Science and Commerce, and Govt. City
College have led the Samvidhan Journey in Hyderabad.
Samvidhan LIVE! was a first of its kind of campaign in Hyderabad. Spread over a period of three months,
the Jagriks undertook exciting and challenging 'Social' and 'Self' Tasks which were based on the Fundamental
Duties and Rights as mentioned in the Indian Constitution. Each week, the Jagriks came together to share their
learnings from the tasks done. After successfully completing the journey of 5 weeks, the program ended with a
felicitation of participants in a Closing Event.
One such powerful task was the Gender Wild Card task which required the Jagriks to exchange gender roles for
24 hours with a family member. One of our Jagriks, Rahul, inspired his fellow Jagriks by sharing about his
role at home. He shared about his mother who had been bed ridden for 7 years and he, being the eldest child,
performed tasks that are expected of women. Playing the role of his mother, including cooking, cleaning, managing
the household, and caring for his mother who had been doing this for the last 7 years along with pushing him to
get his education. He had taken up this role in spite of the social pressure from family and friends about
performing tasks which are usually meant to be done by women at home. This story gave them an opportunity to
reflect on the role they can play in creating a fairer and non prejudiced world for all genders by not having a
stereotypical gendered attitude towards others.
This campaign journey can be customized and contextualized as a programme with diverse spaces. The programme begins with an Orientation Workshop, and then team pairs conduct their tasks with a gap of 3-5 days over 2 months while meeting briefly to share their experiences. This programme can be integrated during academic hours and in curricula and becomes an interesting module for citizenship and understanding the Constitution.
Every year, the United Nations observes the
period from 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against
Women, till 10th December, Human Rights Day, as 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based
Violence. The campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and
girls around the world.
To express our solidarity with this world wide campaign, Rubaroo has been running,
‘Rubaroo with Gender’ (Face-to-face with Gender), a campaign in Hyderabad since the past
4 years.
Every year we host the campaign in a public space of Hyderabad, while focusing on various themes like Girl Child Marriage, Gender Roles, Gender Based Violence In Marriage and Gender based discrimination and stereotypes in everyday life. As part of this campaign, we host film screenings, open forum discussions, interactive activities, quiz setups and booths, personal reflection spaces, and social experiments exploring the theme of Gender Based Violence, Early Child Marriages, Marriages, to facilitate conversations on Gender vis-à-vis equality, identity, violence and human rights.
Over the last three years, through this campaign, more than 500 youth have directly been part of this space. British Deputy High Commission Hyderabad, AJWS, ARROW, Pravah, and MANUU are partners who have collaborated with Rubaroo for this campaign.
Rubaroo with Gender can be setup as a campaign, workshop, or an exposure module to help decode ‘Gender’, for participants to build a greater understanding of the thematic in everyday life. Students can lead Social Action Projects and campaigns to sensitize larger audiences.