ahhhh....MV Foundation

I am now at the M Venkatarangaiya Foundation:

"MVF was established in 1981 in memory of educatationist and historian Prof. Mamidipude Venkatarangaiya. Starting out as a research institution on issues relating to social transformation, the Foundation later involved itself into mobilizing communities for abolition of child labour. This endeavour is principally through its belief that no child msut work and all children have a right to education. Over the years the work of the Foundation has expanded to cover more and more villages both through direct implementatin of the programme and as a resource centre supporting other NGOs and government. MVF utilises existing government institutions and follows a conscious policy to include the official machinery into its programmes without setting up parallel institutions. This approach of MVF has also largely contributed to the replicability of the programme in other areas." (MVF)

So far I have learned so much and seen so many different aspects of the NGO! Initially, I was just reading as they have a huge resource centre and library. I also went to two meetings, the first between various NGO's and the National Commision of Child Rights who were discussing how the commision can improve. The second was the State Summit on Child Rights and comprised of around 1000 NGO's, teachers, activists and government. Now I am in a small town 3 hours outside Hyderabad with 6 development studies students from Mumbai. (Their department is divided into two degrees: the first called Development Studies and is primarily theoretical and the second is called Social Work, which is more focused on field work, research and project organization). We are staying at the training centre, but travel to the villages, bridge course camps (accelerated learning camps for those children who have been working), project/government offices and schools.

Here's the main site: http://www.mvfindia.in
And MVF in BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4240702.stm