Greetings for the New Dawn! A Look at the Year that Was- Dreams for the Year to Come of Bringing together South Asia- Financial Inclusion of the Poor- Activism by School and College Students and Lots, Lots More!! Dear Colleagues and Comrades in Struggle for Peace and Justice Team COVA wishes you and your family a happy, eventful and fulfilling year ahead brimming with success! 2014 has amply shown the costs of conflicts raging all over the world resulting in genocide of communities, destruction of countries and forced displacement of millions across the globe. There are more refugees today than any time in the history of the world- including the period of Second World War. Let us take 2015 as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves with greater resolve to collaborate and strive to end conflicts, poverty and injustice to create a humane, just and peaceful world. COVA takes this opportunity to share with you some innovative initiatives and results during 2014 and thank you all for collaboration and support: Financial Inclusion: COVA initiated a Pilot Project with State Bank of Hyderabad and Syndicate Bank to give DRI loans to the poor at just 4% interest per annum. A total of Rs. 36,73,500 were disbursed by both the banks together to 231 persons with a repayment of 99.99 percent. Only Rs. 12,100 is to be recovered from the due amounts from 6 persons as on 31st December 2014! Abstract Statement of loans sanctioned and recoveries till 31st December 2014 is attached. Encouraged by such remarkable recovery, both banks have agreed to increase the number of loans to be sanctioned in 2015 and we hope to be able to reach 1500 persons in Hyderabad and 5 districts of Telangana to scale it up subsequently to the national level involving other banks. Syndicate Bank is processing loan application of 184 women for an amount of Rs. 68.29,000. COVA has also prepared a study titled “Critical Review of Financial Inclusion in G 20 Countries with Focus on India” that will be used for advocacy with the G 20 process and could be accessed at: _______ Hangout South Asia: COVA has started work to use the Hangout platform of Google to bring together people of South Asia for virtual interactions to promote understanding and peace in this most troubled region. We Plan to launch this program from February 2015. For more details please visit: hangoutsouthasia.org/ Project Work on Social Issues by School Students: The objective of the Program is to introduce and sensitize School Students to social issues in a scientific manner. motivate them to undertake Activism to solve Social Problems and enable them to become socially conscious and responsible citizens. Five topics selected for Project Work for 2015 were (1) Global Warming, (2) How to Make India Litter Free, (3) Citizens’ Charters and Their Functioning, (4)Speed Driving and (5) Understanding Begging and its Solutions. Over 300 Students from 40 schools of the old city areas of Hyderabad participated in preparation of the Projects. A Report on the Program by Times of India: Dec 19 2014 : The Times of India (Hyderabad) Students get into social activism Hyderabad TIMES NEWS NETWORK Social activism in schools of Old City is fast catching pace with students not only joining hands in awareness issues but also finding solutions for them. These students are studying, doing research and preparing projects on issues pertaining to the society. Almost 100 schools in the city, in association with Confederation of Voluntary Associations (COVA) and India Childrens Action Network (ICAN), are motivating students to undertake activism to solve social problems and enabling them to become socially-conscious and responsible citizens. Mohammed Turab, executive secretary of COVA, said: “The objective of such social activism projects is to make them independent in not only identifying the problem but also in solving them. Students chose issues such as traffic management, speed driving, citizen charters, etc. for their project and worked towards getting a solution for the same. We have identified student representatives from all schools who later presented their project work to the government officials concerned.“ Take for instance, Azmath Unnisa, a Class VIII student of Imam Baksh Memorial High School, who did a project on speed driving. “Since I was not aware about the topic, I met several traffic policemen to figure out what exactly the issue is. After some research, I figured out that there is a sensor in each bike that buzzes when the speed is too high. This sensor is used only in New Delhi as of now.“ It is only after working on the project that Azmath realised that if this sensor is used in Hyderabad as well, many accidents can be avoided. Azmaths teacher Abdul Rahman said, “These projects act as a platform for students to raise the issues to the officials concerned. Through these projects, our student representatives meet several senior government officials and discuss the issues with them.“ Social activism is performed through a structured methodology in all schools. Bal Adalat, a question-answer session between students and various noteworthy speakers of society, would soon be conducted to make students even more active. epaperbeta.timesofindia/Article.aspx?eid=31809&articlexml=Students-get-into-social-activism-19122014007024 For more information and reports on other COVA Programs, please visit: covanetwork.org/
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:40:37 +0000
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