All across the world in 120 countries, more than one seventy three million citizens gathered at over 3,000 events, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. "Stand Up; Take Action, End Poverty Now!”. On October 16, 17, 18, 2009 in Batla House by members of ‘Social Transformations Organization’ and IYCN.
Delhi
October 16
1 st day-The Stand Up programme commenced with a performance by a Theatre group from Lady Sri Ram College reflecting on issues such as casteism, sectism and gender inequality in the degradation of the society and contributing towards poverty. Multitudes of little children attended the event and enjoyed the activities including painting competitions, clay modelling, face painting, story making and so on.
OCTOBER 17
2nd Day- Saw parents joining their little ones for a workshop on “usefulness of education in today’s time”. At the end of it the parents took a pledge to send their Children to school; this was followed by a film screening on ‘Waste Management’ directed by Mike Pandey. On the evening of the October 17, Diwali was celebrated with the slum children.
October 18
3rd Day- A cleanliness drive was organized which started from Batla House and covered a stretch of 3 kms .People were educated about the importance of hygiene and were taught ways of proper waste disposal. The evening saw people swaying to the beats of Indi-pop band ‘Manzil’ and with that the campaign came to a close with a few enlightened minds and hearts inhabiting Batla house. The three day event came to a close with a rally that saw the entire community participating and demanding their rights.
Thus, all the 8 MDGs were targeted in this exercise and the community is much more aware of their rights. It was evident from the rally that marked the culmination of the 3 day event.
KOLKATA
On the 16th oct, A group of young girls performed a play as part of UN campaign in association with Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) - ‘Stand Up & Take Action - Against Poverty and For Millennium Development Goals at the Saket Public School in Topsia. The play The Crazy Cockroaches explores issues of cleanliness, climate change and education. As we know, Climate change will hamper the progress of millennium development goals and the worst affected with climate change will be the poor sections of our society and hence the link between the two (climate change and poverty) cannot be ignored. The play involved a youth and children as they are the future of the country. During the course of the play Vibhu Sharma from NUJS; Aishwarya Chattopadhyaya and Mariya Salim from Human Rights Department of Calcutta University, and Sana Salim a second year student from Loreto College played the crazy cockroaches. During the course of the play, the group of girls who were enacting the cockroaches, interacted with the students and distributed stationeries, jute bags, soaps etc. tutored them how to incorporate these things into their daily lives for holistic and healthy living. As part of the UN’ Millennium Campaign Against Poverty, IYCN started this campaign. The play indirectly spoke about all the MDGs.
Alongside the campaign material talking about the MDGs were also distributed. The event was well received by the general public and attracted media attention as well.
BANGALORE
For STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY Campaign, Bangalore saw 1200 students of SBMJCE taking an oath to work for the realisation of the MDG's. 600 students of Jain University campaigned for the MDG's in the areas around the university campuses. 154 Saplings were planted in the Jain university global campus at Kanakapura Road, the engineering students of Jain university campaigned for MDG's in the nearby villages. IYCN and eco- brigade volunteers did the commitment signing campaign to promote MDG's at MG Road, Brigade Road, and Commercial Street, Bangalore Central etc. Eco Brigade volunteers campaigned for MDG's in Harohalli village and did a CFL campaign in the village police station, panchayat and primary health centre. Commitment campaign at Chinnaswamy stadium was done during Champions league T 20 tournament.
The following week, an array of activities were done for the international day of climate action that included plantation drives, installing CFLs, awareness creating workshops etc.
MUTHUPETTAI
The mangroves that guarded the coastal shores during the tsunami in 2004 now face destruction. Alayathi Kadu is one of the two known mangrove forest cover in Tamil Nadu. At a southern tip of the district is Alayathi Kadu, the mangrove forests of Muthupettai that border the lagoon created by the Koriyar and Bamaniyar rivers. This well preserved unique ecosystem of this region is a boon to human population in the surrounding areas and other regions where mangrove forests are fast depleting due to human activity. Alayathi means to “reduce the speed of the waves” in Tamil. True to their name the mangrove forests of Muthupettai did exactly that during the tsunami in 2004.The mangrove tree species Avicenia Marina with the trunks that can attain heights upto 30 meters (100 ft) covers 90 percent of the area around the lagoon .
Mangrove forests have several ecological, socio-economical and physical functions Their sturdiness and complex nature of their build combined with their location on the edge of land and sea make them strategic greenbelts that have a doubly protective function. Not only do they enable fish in the lagoon to thrive on nutrients trapped from inland freshwater sources that would otherwise have gone back into the sea, they also help in reducing the impact of natural disasters like Cyclones and tsunamis by acting as buffer zones.
The Stand Up and Take Action event here featured planting 50 Mangrove trees symbolising the need to protect the mangroves. Since the mangroves are directly related to the livelihood of the people in the area, it assumes a greater significance. The agricultural labourers who face seasonal unemployment are dependent on the lagoon that has 73 varieties of fish and thus acts as a livelihood option. Moreover the event also featured cleaning up the mangrove forests which is severely affected by human activities. Plastic bottles and bags left behind by the tourists are causing great damage to the fragile environment. The MDG to ensure environment sustainability targets to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources. These Mangroves are very essential for people who are dependent on it for livelihood and thus taking step towards the conservation of these Mangrove Forests will help a lot of people and other living beings who are largely dependent on them.
HYDERABAD
The Indian Youth Climate Network and Bhumi launched the waste management project in an underdeveloped locale of Hyderabad called Rasoolpura.
Rasoolpura is a slum located near an old runway but has been neglected by authorities for many years. Situated on both sides of an 8 KM sewage drain, the slum accommodates 1200 households within a 3 square KM radius. Mostly occupied by auto rickshaw drivers and masons,the story of plastic and waste in the slum is disturbing. With plastic clogging movement in the drain, rains cause a sudden overflow of the sewage that enters the low lying households. Thanks to the efforts of Bhumi, a not for profit organization, local leaders were identified and issues of health and sanitation have been taken up since 3 years.
October 18th, 2009. In the morning local leaders, youth and head of households came together to witness the launch of a waste management project and also debate the relevant issues facing the slum and how to eradicate them. The event saw around 200 members actively take part on a hot Sunday afternoon with the temperatures soaring to 40 degrees C. The following were present to address the gathering on the importance of waste management and the need for community action in Rasoolpura.
* Sada Keshava Reddy – Cantonment Board member, ward number 2, Corporator
* S.K Babu – CRPF, Hyderabad District, Convenor
* CH Srinivas – CPM leader, Cantonment Incharge
* M.D Mubeen – Youth President
* M.D Ajju – Ward Number 2, Congress president.
* Mr. Sai kiran, B. Srinivas and Suresh from Sukuki Exnora Foundation
* Naeem – Bhumi Foundation
Mr. Sai Kiran and his team from Exnora Foundation demonstrated the way waste can be segregated and helped the audience identify and differentiate the various types of household waste generated every day. Following the talks, a discussion ensued on the Millennium Development Goals, the need for the community to be aware of them and how it is relevant to them followed by a discussion on the general role of the community in the project. The discussion persisted amongst the leaders who proved to be the final stakeholders and not amongst the general public.
All the MDGs pertaining to general health, water and environmental sustainability was given a special focus.
Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) is a movement that believes that as youth we are the largest constituency in India. There is a need to use this strength to work with vulnerable and marginalised communities and bring the issues of these communities to fore. The campaign – STANDUP AGAINST POVERTY was to engage youth across to create more awareness about Millennium Development Goals by bridging the gap between awareness and action. The actions that were taken all across the country by young people reaffirm the belief that it is important to STAND UP and TAKE ACTION against POVERTY