AMAN SAATHI
Volunteers and Interns for Justice, Caring and Peace
A volunteer programme of Aman Biradari and Centre for Equity Studies
Be the change you want to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Darkness can never drive out darkness. Only light can do that.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference
- Elie Weisel
As we witness the values of equality, justice, peace and secular democracy in siege and collapse all around us, people of all ages, gender and backgrounds, especially young people, need to join hands to defend and reclaim the dream of a more just and humane world.
But young people are growing up in difficult and troubled times. There is a crumbling of political certainties, a climate vitiated by the poisonous politics of manufactured hatred, growing inequalities, and the synthetic gloss of globalised consumerist dreams.
In the bewildering cynicism of these times, there are people everywhere searching often alone for alternate ways to relate with the world around them, to understand, combat and hopefully reverse its injustice, inequality, inhumanity, despair and hatred.
It is for people like these that Aman Saathi, a programme of volunteers for peace, caring and justice, has been constructed. It seeks to draw in young people from schools and colleges, but also those excluded from educational institutions because of economic or social barriers. It includes working people, and those in search of work, retired senior citizens and home-makers. It has dispossessed and impoverished people working shoulder to shoulder with their more privileged brothers and sisters. It aims at the widest diversity of religions, faiths, gender, class, caste, language and region. It strives to help bind them closer by an active commitment to the universal values of humanism, justice, peace and truth (insaniyat, insaaf, aman, sachai).
Aman Saathis are part of a larger Aman Biradari or community of peace, bound by shared belief in the idea of a pluralist, humane, secular India and world and linked mainly by active opposition to communalism, dalit, gender and class inequities. The internships and volunteer opportunities are in the Centre for Equity Studies, which aims at public policy, law and civic action which is equitable, humane and just.
Agenda for Aman Saathis
There can be many levels and modes of engagement of Aman Saathis in diverse issues of hunger and homelessness, exclusion and discrimination:
- Part time but long term volunteering along with studies and work
- Internships
- Long term whole time engagement
- Vacation volunteer programmes
The volunteers will select not only their specific areas of interest and time commitment, but also the preferred nature of their involvement, whether it is direct grassroots work, research, analysis or advocacy. Volunteers would be invited to consider joining the fight against homelessness, hunger, exclusion, discrimination and hate:
We offer a range of volunteer and internship activities, based on skillset and interest:
a) Research (policy reform, right to food, communal, caste and sectarian conflict etc);
b) Teaching and youth-care (English, computers, life skills, arts etc); and
c) Direct community engagement (urban homeless shelters, feeding programs, conflict survivors etc).
These are elaborated theme-wise below:
Ø Dil Se: A campaign for responsible caring citizenship, focussed on the rights and protection of urban homeless children (in Delhi, and Hyderabad); volunteers to teach children curricular subjects, English, computers, sports, music, theatre, dancing, the arts; health care, child documentation; managing of community hostels; foster care to young children; mobilising volunteers and resources in cash or kind; working with homeless children on streets, and research and documentation.
Ø Work with the urban homeless, for shelters, feeding programmes, health care and legal entitlements, de-addiction services, legal support to those charged with begging, and support on the streets
Ø Research support for policy and law reform proposals around issues such as of tribal and dalit rights, urban poverty, child rights, minorities and social protection, and bonded labour.
Ø Participatory research and caring citizen support for the right to food and people living with hunger and social exclusion
Ø Research support for Supreme Court Commissioners in the Right to Food case
Ø Nyayagrah: A campaign for legal justice and reconciliation for the survivors of the carnage in Gujarat 2002, and with survivors of communal pogroms and riots in Delhi (1984), Nellie (1983), and Bhagalpur (1989) and those affected by the cycles of violence in Kashmir. The work would include staying with survivors, assessing the challenges that remain for them to rebuild their lives and social relations; working with or helping establish and supporting local units for legal justice and reconciliation; internships for legal justice, research, documentation and peace building work; and long term work with these units for legal justice or reconciliation
Inviting National and International Students: In the diversity of volunteers and interns in the Aman Saathi programme, we welcome also international interns, who spend time with us for periods ranging from one month to one or two years. We welcome both Indian and international students, from universities and schools, and offer them all the opportunities of engagement with research, teaching and youth-care, and community engagement described above.
Ethical Rules: Since a great part of the work of the Centre for Equity Studies centres on direct engagement with very marginalised children, women and men, disadvantaged by hunger, homelessness, caste, communal and gender-based discrimination, the Aman Saathi programme is founded on a range of ethical rules – to ensure respectful, egalitarian, responsible and non-extractive engagement.
Aman Saathi Declaration
I believe in a country and a world in which all human beings can live with their heads held high, with peace, dignity, mutual understanding and respect, and without fear. I am convinced that every human being should enjoy equal rights in every way, regardless of whether they are women or men, which god they worship, their colour, caste, class, ability, language or region.
I am deeply disturbed by ideologies of hatred that seek to divide our people. I am anguished that amidst the abundance of wealth and weapons in our country and the world, hunger, homelessness, unemployment, disease, war, strife, discrimination and despair abound. We will counter these ideologies of hatred by understanding and celebrating, variety, difference and our plural lives, and regarding injustice to anyone as injustice to me.
I wish to join hands with people of peace everywhere in an ever-growing Aman Biradari or community of peace, and to join millions in the centuries old journey to create a more just and humane society. My active solidarity is with all democratic, non-violent struggles for justice and peace, and my active commitment is to the universal values of humanism, justice and truth (insaniyat, insaaf aur sachai).
For any further information, please contact:
Aman Saathi- A volunteer programme of Aman Biradari and Centre for Equity Studies
105/6A ,Opp.Cafe Coffee Day,Adhchini,New Delhi-17
Email: volunteerdilse@gmail.com
Mobile: 9891121333
Aman Biradari Volunteer Protocol
Need for Volunteers in Aman Biradari
During the first week of the month, Aman Biradari will post the details of the volunteer requirements on its website, blog and will advertise the positions in colleges and institutions.
Date: 1st – 7th of every month
Application
Candidates who are interested can apply for the open positions throughout the month.
Application would be accepted only in the format as suggested by Aman Biradari. The template of the application can be downloaded from the following URL:
Date: Throughout the month
Group Discussion/Personal Interview
Shortlisted candidate would be asked to appear for a round of group discussion/Personal Interview (depending on the volume of shortlisted applicants). The schedule for this discussion/Personal Interview would be on every 2nd Monday of the month after 2 PM.
The details of the interview schedule would be communicated to the candidate over phone or /and email.
Date: 2nd Monday and 2nd Tuesday of every month.
Selection Procedure
· Candidate should show significant level of commitment and dedication for the cause of Aman Biradari in the GD/PI
· Candidate should be aligned with the values of Aman Biradari
· Candidates would not be preferred on the basis of cast, creed, religion and gender.
Orientation/Induction
· Candidates selected for the volunteer program at Aman Biradari would be notified within two working days after the candidate had appeared for the GD/PI.
· Candidate selected would be joining the program on 3rd Monday of the month.
· Candidates joining would undergo a Orientation/Induction process for two days
Supervisor
· Volunteers would be paired with a supervisor to whom the volunteer would report.
· Volunteer would escalate any problems that they face to the supervisors
· Supervisor will provide with all the necessary arrangements to the volunteers for their work
· Supervisor will also give monthly feedback to the volunteer about his areas of strength and areas of improvement.
· Supervisors would be always approachable by the volunteers
Evaluation
· Volunteer would be evaluated monthly on the basis of work he has done and the amount of commitment he has shown.
· Volunteers would be also evaluated on the basis of completion of task within schedule.
· Feedback from supervisors would be considered during evaluation
Final Feedback/Exit Interview
· Final feedback would be provided to the volunteer at the time of completion of the volunteer program.
· Volunteer would be required to fill an exit feedback document
· Certificate of appreciation would be awarded to the volunteers who have successfully completed the program.
Volunteer Package
Volunteer will receive the following documents at the time of orientation:
· Brochure
· Latest Newsletter
· Code of Conduct
· Contact details of management team
· Identity Card
Note: Volunteers who are working has to commit for 4 hours weekly for minimum duration of one year and non working volunteers has to commit 8 hours weekly for a minimum duration of one year.
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