Patna Jesuit Social Action Human Touch Empowering People ... · Patna Jesuit Social Action 4...

Patna Jesuit Social ActionHuman Touch... Empowering People... Building Communities

I am extremely happy to present this Profile of Patna JesuitSocial Action. This is the first time our men in Social Actionfield thought of gathering the fruits of our work among our people in

Bihar. The Profile of Patna Jesuit Social Action is an excellent workwhich crystallizes the work of Patna Jesuits in the field of Social Action.This gives us the vision, the mission, the history of our involvement inthe field of Social Action, the present status and a road map for thefuture.

Inspired by the 32nd General Congregation’s revolutionary idea ofthe preferential option for the poor and service of a faith that necessarilypromotes justice, our men ventured into the remote villages of Bihar tobe with the people to learn from them how to serve them. This immersioninto the lives of the people by the pioneers of Social Action in the Provincehas set into motion a new wave of enthusiasm among the young Jesuitsto work among our people. Our pioneers had to face the wrath of theLand Lords of the place, but nothing could prevent them from doingwhat is good for our people. We have engaged in adult literacy, non-formal education, legal literacy etc. to conscientise our people of theirinherent rights and dignity. Using the cheap and effective media ofcommunication, we have helped them to be aware of the exploitationthey undergo. Our men, with our people fought for the liberation ofbonded labourers and increase of the minimum wages. We havelearned a lot from our people. This new learning forced us to changeour life style and our way of involvement in different ministries. Theoption for the poor began to guide all our involvements and our ministries.We can be proud of the work we have done with our people. As the timechanges, we have to learn to read the signs of our times every day.

The present generation of young Jesuits involved in the SocialAction is well equipped with diverse skills they need to read the signs ofthe times and act accordingly. I am really happy to have such a bunch ofyoung men who are ready to launch into the new frontiers without lookingfor their personal security or comforts for serving our people in Bihar.Their enthusiasm is contagious and their stamina is unbelievable. Withsuch an enthusiastic team of Social Activists in collaboration with Jesuitsinvolved in all other ministries and with the active participation of ourpeople, I am sure that we will be able to change the face of Bihar. MayGod Bless all of us.

Joy Karayampuram.S.JProvincial of Patna Jesuits

Provincial Residence, St. Xavier’s School,Gandhi Maidan Marg W.

Patna, Bihar 800 001, India

Patna Province of The Society ofJesus

“The essential dimension of socialaction is its well-designed actionsthat will have a bearing on thetransformation of social structureswithin which the vast majority of ourpeople come to be poor, powerless,marginalized and excluded. Directcontact with the victims of unjustsocial structures, direct participationin their struggle for more egalitarianand just social structures are thedistinguishing features of PatnaJesuit Social Action.”

Patna Jesuit Social Action ● 1 ● Profile

Patna Jesuit Social Action Policy2010

ProfilePatna Jesuit Society (PJS) is acharitable organization, registeredunder society’s registration act 1860.PJS has a large network of educationalinstitutions and social service centersacross different districts of Bihar.

Patna Jesuit Social Action (PJSA) is awing of PJS that coordinates themanifold activities of socio-economicand political empowerment of the Dalitcommunities in Bihar. PJSA iscomprised of 9 social service centresorganized at three zones. XavierInstitute of Social Research (XISR),Patna provides much neededresearch and documentationassistance to our grass root centres.These centres are managed by agroup of diversely and professionallyqualified social scientists, socialworkers, activists and managers

Patna Jesuit Social ActionProfile


VisionWe envision an egalitarian and self-reliant

society founded on human values by developingself-confidence and leadership among theunderprivileged sections of our society

MissionIn solidarity with the struggling masses, we

commit ourselves to accompany and empower,the most excluded sections in society by enablingthem to affirm and uphold their dignity and rightsthrough a process of sensitization andorganization.

Priority groups� People whose basic rights and entitlements

are being denied and unmet; who live underchronic poverty, oppression and livelihoodinsecurity, like Dalits, Tribals, Women,Unorganized youth & Children

� Victims of natural calamities, disasters etc.


PJSA undertakes its developmental andorganizational works in the state of Bihar, one ofthe most backward states in India. Presently, weare operating in seven districts, namely, WestChamparan, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Patna,Rohtas, Gaya, and Aurangabad under three zonesthrough nine Social Service Centres. Moreover,Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti (BDVS), an independentdalit organisation founded and supported by PJSApersonnel, is working in 11 districts of the stateexclusively for Dalit issues.


SOUTH ZONE CENTRESREAP, Sasaram-zonal CentreSVS, AurangabadJeevam Sangam, Gaya

CENTRAL ZONE CENTRESManthan, Patna-zonal CentreAsha Deep, MuzaffarpurPrabhat, MadhubaniBDVS, Patna

NORTH ZONE CENTRESREAD, Bettiah-zonal CentreJan Shiksha Bhawan, GaunahaSewa Sadan, Rathanpurwa

BDVS: AREA

Where we work

Broad strategy

Legal aid, Capacity building,

Educationalmainstreaming of the deprived

sections SocialExclusion

led Poverty

Grass rootDemocracy &Governance

Women empowerment and

Sustainable livelihood

Research&

Advocacy

Ourvalues

Gen

der

Equi

ty

Accountability

Democracy

Solidarity with the Poor

Integrit

y

Soci

al Ju

stic

e Transparency

Thrust areas


● Socio – Economic and Political Empowerment

● Promotion of Quality Education

● Promotion and Protection of Human Rights &Gender Equity

● Expansion of people’s access to entitlements

● Strengthening of good local governance

● Enhancement of human, social and culturalcapital

● Protection of natural resources

Thrust, Strategy andValues

Right based perspective:It is our firm conviction that poverty must be viewed

in the larger context of social exclusion and multipledeprivations. People should have equitable access toresources and services as well as rights and entitlements.

Participatory:PJSA strongly believes in community participation

in implementation of its programmes. The poor are notjust the passive beneficiaries but they are the activeparticipants who own up the responsibility to shape theirown future.

Partnership and networkingPJSA is committed to meaningful and long term

collaboration with local organizations, governmentagencies, networks and alliances. Our partnership isbased on equality, transparency, accountability and mutualtrust and respect.


Our approach

Advocacy:Our advocacy efforts spring from our grass root

interventions and not an isolated effort. We do not advocateon behalf of the poor, but with the poor and led by them.This is to ensure that advocacy and grass root experiencehave perfect correlation and in the process the poor arecapacitated and enabled to fight for their rights andentitlements.

Who we work withWe undertake interventions, projects that address

the needs and rights of the poorest and the most excludedsocial groups with particular focus on women andchildren. Therefore, we promote, collaborate and networkwith grass root movements and people’s organisations.We welcome partnership and collaboration withorganisations and agencies sharing a similar vision andare willing to address the issues of our priority groups.

Historical overview ofPJSA

GenesisThe genesis and existence of PJSA to be partof the struggles of the marginalized peopleof the area is directly associated with theoption made by the Patna Jesuit Provincein particular and the Jesuits in General wayback in 1970s. It was a decade ofawareness-liberation of the third world,especially of the oppressed. This attemptto be part of the poor in their lives andstruggles has come to be known as socialapostolate. Translating our option for thepoor in the Indian Context, we came toidentify the Dalits, the Tribals, women,children and unorganized sector workers asthe poor. Keeping this in mind, social actioncentres as well as social institutions werefounded to address the issues of thesesegments of Indian Population to work forstructural change, structures that boundthe marginalized communities toexclusion, exploitation.

Bihar of the 1970s was infected with lowlevel of grass root organization, illiteracy,discrimination and exploitation of women.Hence, the founding of various socialservice centres was an outgrowth of thissocial and historical process. Ambedkar’s“educate—agitate- organize and Frieirian“Methodology of conscientisation throughcontextualized problem posing and life-oriented education’ were the ideologicaltools of social change that various centresof PJSA adopted initially. Thus from thebeginning PJSA worked with themarginalized landless, Dalits, and Tribals,with particular emphasis on children’seducation and women empowerment.


We began our journey of socialtransformation with massive adult literacyprogramme in collaboration with the central andthe state governments. An important componentof this programme was fighting the issue ofbonded labour by identifying, releasing andrehabilitating the victims. As an example, one ofour centres, Sevasadan, Rathanpurwa, after 15years of persistent struggle got released andrehabilitated over 900 bonded labourers of WestChamparan.

This was followed by involvement in non-formal education with special focus on girls,enrolling many thousands of poor or deprivedchildren to the near-by government schools.

Another major thrust of our involvement hasbeen the empowerment of women. SHGs havebeen used as a platform for social transformationand economic upliftment. Simultaneously thecenters addressed issues of human rightsviolations through legal assistance and legalawareness programmes.

A few of our centers functioned as DistrictResource Unit (DRUs) as well. Collaborating withgovernment agencies, networking with otherlikeminded CSOs on the issues that affect the poorhas been the hall mark of our approach.

Journey down the years...


Today the main focus of our activitiesis centered around creating a pool ofhuman resource among the mostdisadvantaged communities, suchas, Musahars, Doms, Dhankads andBhuiyas and enlarging people’saccessibility to entitlements andrights.

Over the years many of our centershave come to represent thecollective voice of the poor. They havebeen looked upon by the poor,government and other agencies ascenters of integrity, transparency,commitment and expertise. Theyhave evolved into well equippedresource and training centers withsufficient infrastructure facilities.


A glimpse of our presentinvolvements…

b) CBDP & DRR

Besides this, in the perennially flood affected zonesof Bihar, we have been engaged in community baseddisaster preparedness (CBDP) and disaster riskreduction (DRR).

c) Our centres are engaged in thefollowing interventions as well:

● Legal Aid and Human Rights Advocacy

● Networking with government agencies and otherNGOs

● Rehabilitation of migrant child laborers

● Grassroots advocacy

● NIOS Residential programme for girl children

● Prevention and alternatives of child labour

● Mainstreaming stone quarry child labourers toschools

● Promoting good governance

a) Enhancement of human capital &community mobilization amongmahadalit communities

We have been making a concerted effort in all ourcentres towards creating a pool of human resourcesamong the most disadvantaged communities of Biharwith specially designed educational interventions andcommunity mobilisation. Through community specific,innovative educational models of accelerated learningdeveloped by our social service centres, we educatenearly 6000 Bhuiya-Musahar children and organise nearly13000 women through empowerment action and micro-financing enterprises. Various activities to enhance health,hygiene and human capital within these communities areintegral part of this focused intervention.


Our present activities are revolving around the realisation of:

Child Rights... Women’s Rights... Human & Dalit Rights...

PJSAZones & Social Service Centres


NORTH ZONE

SOUT

H Z

ON

E

CENTR

AL ZON

E

PJSA

READ

BETTIAH

JAN SIKSHA

BHAVAN

GAUNAHA

SEVA SADAN

RATANPURWA

REAP

SASARAM

JEEVAN

SANGHAM

GAYA

SVS

AURANGABAD

MANTHAN,

KHAGAUL

ASHA DEEP,

MUZAFFARPUR

PRABHAT

MADHUBANI

XISR

PATNA

BDVS

PATNA


● Large number of training programmes usingthese tools facilitated the emergence ofconscientious leadership at various levels

b) Increase in the enrollment and retention of childrenin govt. schoolsThrough hundreds of non-formal education centers,PJSA has spread the awareness of educationamong the poorest of the poor, especially, girlchildren. Many thousands of children including childlaborers have been enrolled into govt. schools.

c) Networking & Partnering with Govt. schoolsWe have made honest efforts to motivate andcapacitate the government school teachers of ouroperational area to ensure a friendly learning climateand better education for the children of the sociallyexcluded groups.

d) Innovative Educational Initiatives for MahadalitsOur centers have evolved an innovative educationalmodel to facilitate accelerated learning for childrenbelonging to the deprived communities. This modelis being successfully implemented in many of ourcenters with outstanding results.

Major achievements ofPJSA


Rural Education and Conscientisation

PJSA, through its various social service centers, hasmade yeoman contributions in the field of rural educationand conscientisation. Through numerous ruraleducational programmes, trainings and non formalcenters, thousands of adults, children and youth werebrought to the light of literacy and education.

a) The massive adult literacy programmes andawareness creationThe massive adult literacy programmesimplemented in our centers, has contributed notonly to the growth of literate adults in the state, butalso initiated irreversible social transformation inthe following manner:● The idea of justice and rights was introduced in

a highly feudalistic and oppressive society. It hadits impact on wages, bonded labour, womenoppression etc,

● A large number of women had been organisedto come out of the clutches of patriarchic andfeudalistic oppression

● Various tools for social analysis were used foranalyzing the social relations and existingunequal power equations in society.


Research and publication of ruraleducation materials

a) Teaching-learning materialMany of our centers were District Resource Unit(DRU) for a decade. We have produced wellresearched, contextualized texts books and othereducation materials that are meant to promotecritical awareness among the oppressed and investin them self-respect and self-confidence. ‘Chirag’vol 1&2- Hindi and Mathematics (Text books till 5th

Std) are very well appreciated and received by peopleand agencies alike. Chirag is the main text bookused by UNICEF, Bihar, and many other NGOs fornon-formal education even today.

b) Awareness songs, street plays and audio/videoproductionsAwareness creation and social mobilization hasbeen the hall mark of all the activities. We haveproduced awareness songs, street plays; puppetshows etc and used them extensively in all ouractivities.

Community mobilization and institutionbuilding

All our centers have made outstanding contributions inthe area of women empowerment, community mobilization,nurturing leadership and organization among women and menof the deprived sections of society.

a) Grameen Mahila Vikas SamitiWe have had recognized the role of women as communitybuilders and social change agents from the verybeginning and incorporated various programmes aimedat their socio-political and economic empowerment. Ourwomen SHGs were a force to reckon with for the corruptofficials and exploiters as they took up many issues ofhuman right violations, gender abuse, rape etc., apartfrom achieving greater economic self- reliance. Formingsome of the SHGs into clusters and cooperatives, manygroups have initiated livelihood enhancement throughentrepreneurship activities.

b) Training and capacity buildingAnother notable contribution has been in the area ofcultivating conscientious and committed social changeagents. Our centers have carved a niche for training andcapacity building of community animators, social activistsand development agents etc. It is a matter of great pridethat PJSA has contributed immensely to the growth andcapacity building of committed CSOs.

Legal Aid & AwarenessWe have had full time lawyers and legal team to provide

legal support, spread legal awareness and have taken uphuman rights violations on a consistent basis. With thiswomen and oppressed groups were able to stand up tofeudalist oppression and mindset.

NetworkingDalit human rights campaign under NCDHR has been

initiated by us in Bihar. PJSA has been part of many networks,such as ATSEC, Bihar; Bihar Panchayat Nav Nirman Abhiyan,PUCL etc Also we are networking under a larger umbrella of70 likeminded organisations in Bihar named- Bihar SocialForum.


Future Dreams


The challenges facing us are numerous andcomplex. However, we have identified thesevere dearth of human capital among themost disadvantaged sections of society,such as, Musahars, Doms, Dhankads &Bhuiyas that hampers their socio-politicalempowerment and perpetuate their socialexclusion, as the immediate task thatdeserves our complete attention. Hence,PJSA has identified the need for buildingup human resources within thesecommunities to initiate the process of selfsustained social and economicempowerment. The following are themajor components of this focusedintervention in all our social service centersfor coming 10 years:

●●●●● Expanding the Educational Base of theFocused Communities

●●●●● Creating a diversified talent pool withinthese communities

●●●●● Developing conscientious womenleaders as community builders andagents of social transformation

●●●●● Gathering and preserving the fadingcultural memories, myths etc, for arenewed identity


PJSPresident

PJSTreasurer

PJSACoordinator

PJSSecretary

Zonal DocumentationIncharge

Zonal MonitoringOfficer

Zonal Accountant

Project Staff Administrative StaffOffice assistant/ Accountant

PJSACommission

Zonal Programme Coordinators

Unit ProgrammeCoordinators

Social Research Unit

XISR

PJSAAdministrative Structure


Contact Details

Contact Address Anto Joseph S.JSocial Action CoordinatorSt. Xavier’s, Gandhi Maidan Marg,Patna-800 001, Bihar

Registration No. 195 of 1930 - 31

Phone Number 0612-2219677, 2211487,09471828633

E- Mail [email protected]@hotmail.com

Website www.patnajesuits.org

Legal Holder of PATNA JESUIT SOCIEY,any Project St. Xavier’s, Gandhi Maidan Marg,

Patna 800 001, Bihar, India

Bank Name Canara Bank Main Branch,South Gandhi Maidan, Patna

Account Number 0 3 5 2 1 0 1 0 1 3 4 0 1

Swift Code C N R B I N B B C F D

Finance Officer Johnson Kelakath, S.J


Details of the Social Service Centers


Important Publications1. Bihar Subaltern Study series:

a) The Nishad community of Bihar (Hindi)b) The Nats of Bihar (H)c) Dalit Folk culture and resistance (H)d) Tharus: A unique Tribal community (H)

7 REAP Sasaram(Zonal centre)

New Area, Sasaram,Rohtas 821 115

Society’sReg.481/ 91-92

Blocks 6 Panchayats 27Villages 175

8 Jeevan SanghamGaya

Dumuhan, BodhGaya, Gaya 824 234


9 Sampurna VikasSamiti Aurangabad

Gayatri Path, Near By passChowk Aurangabad 824 101

Society’sReg.826 /93-94


10 BDVS Patna Administrative OfficeRukunpura, BaileyRoad, Patna 800 014

Society’sReg.172/85-86

Districts 11Blocks 28 Panchayats 86Villages/wards 504

11 XISR Research Unit Digha Ghat Patna800 011

South Zone

4 READ Bettiah(Zonal centre)

READC/0 K. R High School,Bettiah, W. Champaran845 438

Society’sReg.30 / 87-88

Blocks 6 anchayats 30Villages 120

5 Jan ShikshaParishadGaunaha

Rampurva village, Gaunaha (PO)West Champaran 845 102

Block 1 Panchayats 18Villages 70

6 SevasadanRathanpurva

Ratanpurva (P0)Via Ramnagar,West Champaran 845 106


North Zone

1 Manthan, Khagaul(Zonal centre)

Catholic ChurchKhagaul (P0)Patna – 801 105

Society’sReg.462/ 89-90


2 Asha Deep,Muzaffarpur

Subhash Nagar,BibigunjBhagwanpurChowkMuzaffarpur 842 001

3 Prabhat Madhubani Prabhat Bhawan Purani Bazar,Sakri, Madhubani 847 239

Blocks 4 Panchayats 37Village 53

Central Zone

SL. No Name Address Registration Operational Area


2. Human Rights studies:a) People, Law and Rights (H)b) Child human rights in Bihar (H)c) Dalit Rights in Bihard), Women human rights in Bihar (H)e) Children’s Rights in Bihar (E)f) Dalit Human Rights and Media (H) etc

3. Primary Education in Bihar (H)4. Bihar Panchaythi raj campaign (H)5. Issues of the common man (H)6. 20 Research articles on issues affecting Bihar, etc

32 1800 1690 8450 17450700 800 300

28 1600 1000 13000 15600600 500 500

24 700 2600 13000 16500250 150 300

1276 1178 2600 125000 128737783 500 2559

47 1765 900 13325 15990900 700 165

35 1020 1800 14100 16920545 225 250

41 1485 7425 8910740 700 45

30 2650 1300 19750 237001300 1200 150

Proposed centre for Human Resource Development

37 589 1227 9080 10896266 223 102

Staff Strength& volunteers

No. of Beneficiaries of the Present Programmes

Rural Educational ProgrammesTotal Women

EmpowermentIndirectbeneficiaries

Total No. ofBeneficiaries

Boys Girls Youth


Profile of the Jesuits inSocial Action

Sl. No Name Present Responsibility Educational Qualification Experience in Years

1 Joy Karayampuram President LL.M (National Law School, 10Bangalore)

2 Dr. Anto Joseph State Coordinator PJSA M.A (Economics) PhD 8

3 Philip Manthra Human Rights, B.A, B.Ed. 30PUCL State President

4 Dr. Louis Prakash JRS, South Asia Coordinator M.A, PhD 15

5 Dr. Jose Vadassery Director BDVS M.A, PhD 20

6 Dr. Tomy Nishant Head- Research Wing M.A, Sociology, PhD 13

7 Jose Kariakkat Director, Jeevan Sangham, M.S.W 19Bodhgaya

8 Sudeep Chacko Director, SVS M.S.W 15

9 Martin Poras Research Scholar M.S.W, PhD 5

10 Joseph Sebastian Director, READ PGDM-Rural Management 3(XIM, Bhubaneshwar)

11 Stephen Raj Administrator, Prabhat M.S.W 5

12 Joseph Srampickal Director, M.S.C Mathematics 30Jan Shiksha Bhavan,Gaunaha

13 Sumit Edwin Menezes Asst. Director, M.A, Sociology 18Jan Shiksha Bhavan, Gaunaha

14 Tony Pendanath Director, Prabhat, M.A, Sociology 20Madhubani

15 Siji Varghese Director, REAP M.S.W 6

16 Victor Virendra Administrator, Madhubani B.S.W 3

17 Jesuraj Director, M.A, Philosophy 3Kulandaisamy Asha Deep Muzaffarpur

18 Stanislaus Ranjan Barbigha M.S.W 12Lazarus

19 George Joseph Director, Sevasadan, B.A, PGDC- Manila 4Ayyankanal Rathanpurva

20 Prashant Pius Ass. Director BDVS B.A, LLB 12

21 Jose K.P Ass. Director BDVS M.A, LLB 10

“Empowerment of the poor throughanimation, mobilization and capacity building tochannel their collective power to collective actionto transform the unjust structures is the core ofPatna Jesuit social Action”

In broad terms, the focus of our actionaimed at the empowerment of the poor wouldinclude:

1. With focus on children - creating a pool ofwell-developed human resources for thepoor through planned, participatory,collective and innovative educationalprograms;

2. With focus on women - enhancing fearless,creative and enlightened leadership;enhancing social consciousness andentrepreneurship of women throughanimation and mobilization, training andcapacity building, and initiating economicactivities.

3. With focus on community - enhancing thesocial capital of the poor through effectivemethods of conscientization to make thevillage community responsible and capableof protecting human rights, environment andPanchayath Raj institutions.

4. With focus on our vision of a new social order- developing a socio-economic ideology andparadigm; developing analytical tools,through painstaking and rigorous socialresearch and collective reflection.”

Patna Jesuit Social Action Policy 2010

Way ahead

Be a partner with us in building the lives of the poor.....Social Action Coordinator, St. Xavier’s, Gandhi Maidan Marg, Patna 800 001, BiharPhone : 0612-2219677, 2211487,Mobile : +91 9471828633, +91 9471864233Website : www.patnajesuits.orgE-mail : [email protected]

Patna Jesuit Social Action Human Touch Empowering People ... · Patna Jesuit Social Action 4...

Documents

Transcript of Patna Jesuit Social Action Human Touch Empowering People ... · Patna Jesuit Social Action 4...