Locations & Hours
Pune: IT Training centres in 2 schools Samtha and Janata, Community Centre: Mahila Bachat Group (Women Saving Group) and Women Vocational Training Centre: Beauty Parlour.
Hours: 12 pm to 5 pm
Mumbai: PIF Mumbai Office, India Beehive Office
Hours: 2 pm to 4 pm
Discussions Summary
There was a detailed discussion held with the Sancharaks (computer instructors) on the 15th in Pune, which mainly focused on the challenges faced while running the computer centres in the schools. The sancharaks had a lot to share in terms of their personal experiences, working with the children, gaining recognition for themselves and living as part of the Pratham family. But the most important topic of discussion of the visit was the ‘Beehive’. What is it? How is it going to make a difference to the people? How will the people have access to it? How will we promote it? The PuneBeehive….work in progress….was presented in the PIF office and various questions were answered, during the Mumbai visit on the 16th. The heads of the PIF’s various departments were present at this meeting.
Briefs
A two day visit was organized by Pratham Infotech Foundation’s Team, on behalf of One Global Economy, to give our guests Jaime Barclay and Cecily Joseph a taste of the local flavor – walking them through PIF’s work, spread across Pune and Mumbai.
The first day was spent in Pune where, Prem Yadav, Sikandar Lokhande and Tabita Fernandes accompanied the guests. The day began at 12 pm. The first places visited were two IT Training centres in two different schools, Samtha and Janata. Here, the visitors were introduced to PIF’s teaching content, syllabus, methodology etc.. The PuneBeehive was discussed here, in terms of how are the IT centers going to be used to connect the local population to the information on the PuneBeehive and how is the Pune Beehive going to make a difference to the masses.
Following this, a detailed discussion was held with the Sancharaks (computer instructors),which mainly focused on the nature of the work, challenges faced while running the computer centres in the schools and so on.. The Sancharaks had a lot to share in terms of their personal experiences, working with the children, gaining recognition for themselves and living as part of the PIF family. Both the visitors as well as the PIF team had a great time, being a part of this interactive discussion.
The next centres on the agenda were a Community Centre: Mahila Bachat Group (Women Saving Group) and Women Vocational Training Centre: Beauty Parlour. Some valuable time was spent here talking to the women, who seemed so enthusiastic about their work. These were the centres that were initiated by Pratham but now run on their own. This is an example of what Pratham strives to do – ‘encourage people, give them an opportunity, help them test their potential, thus helping them help themselves’. The visitors liked what they saw. They were amazed at the way in which the women from the underserved communities worked together in various ways to earn a living, thus building their own identity. They were looking forward to getting their employees involved in PIF’s numerous programs. This brought an end to the well spent day in Pune.
However, the most important topic of discussion of the visit was the ‘Beehive’. What is it? How is it going to make a difference to the people? How will the people have access to it? How will we promote it? And so on… which was discussed in depth the following day during the Mumbai visit. The PuneBeehive….work in progress….was presented in the PIF office. Various questions were raised by the interested visitors and were answered by the highly motivated PuneBeehive Team. The heads of PIF’s various departments were also present at this meeting. Key issues like ways and ideas to promote the PuneBeehive, corporate involvement, internships, fellowships etc.. were talked about during this informative session. Both Jaime and Cecily liked the idea of the ‘Beehive’ - working as a means to educate, inform and thus reach out to the people in need and seemed keen on Symantec being a part of this social initiative.