Grassroutes: The story - Feb 2009

Feb 2009www.grassroutes.in

A road-trip for social change www.grassroutes.inA road-trip for social change


A road-trip for social change

• A (non-profit) for-impact society called Youth Factor (www.yofa.org), registered in Hyderabad

• A bunch of 20-odd year-olds – Just out of college– See ‘travel’ as the best learning experience in life– Believe in the power of youth to make an impact– Understand the latent power of social media for

social change

Who are we?

http://www.yofa.org/



What is Grassroutes?

A Fellowship Program for Youth to

• Go on road-trips across India• Discover and work with change-makers• Document their work using social media• Make an effort to spread the change• Inspire more youth into social action



What do we look for in a Fellow?

• Entrepreneurial mindset• An appetite to experience change• Interest in social journalism• Ability to inspire activism



What do we provide the Fellows?

• Fully funded road-trip & assistance in planning

• Media equipment & Training

• Perspective– 2-3 week program of sharing resources on social

development– Culminating in a 1-2 day long orientation workshop– Social entrepreneurs, journalists, activists help build

perspective

• Skills and support– Running campaigns, using social media, sharing their

experience



How are we creating impact?

• Youth– Shaking off the inertia– Fun (road-trip) + Experience (immersion)– Opportunity to contribute to social change in

their own little way– Orient them on basic social entrepreneurship– Build youth communities on stories of change

• Non-profits– Social media kit– Outreach to youth volunteers



What have we done so far?



Orientation• 18 Dec 2008

– IIM, Bangalore

• 13 Fellows – 3 teams– From 6 different cities

• Speakers– Dilip D’Souza– Vishal Talreja– Rajiv Talreja– C S Sharada Prasad– Gaurav Mishra



Team 1: Hungry Fools

• Place– Nilgiris (Mudumulai

tiger reserve)– Chennai

• NGO– ACCORD

• Issues– Tribal lifestyle– Natural habitat vs

Neutrino Observatory– Rehabilitation of

displaced villagers



Team 2: Fabulinus

• Place– Pochampally, AP

• NGO– Akshara

• Issues– Dying art of weaving

Pochampally sarees– Weaver problems– Government apathy



Team 3: Sada Diesel

• Place– Bilaspur, Chattisgarh

• NGO– Jana Swasthya

Sahyog

• Issues– Rural health problems– NGO health facility– Scalable solutions



The road-trip element



In progress

• Travelogues– Video editing in progress– Watch trailers here

• Campaign planning– Build/support library for kids in Chemakuli (TN)– Support ‘2 eggs/day’ campaign in Bilaspur– Documentary on the ‘real story’ behind a

Pochampally saree

http://vimeo.com/grassroutes



Fellow-speak

• Getting introduced to something so different as Grassroutes … when I am at crossroads to decide what to do in life after college…. has taught me to look at things with a new perspective. My first ... in the social sector, and it has made me want more.– Nakul Jamadagni, Team Fabulinus, Grassroutes Fellow 2008

• What Grassroutes is doing, is letting us put our skills, be it journalistic, entrepreneurial, activistic or creative to test– Team Hungry Fools, Grassroutes Fellows 2008



Achievements

• India Habitat Young Visionary Award 2009– Anurag Dutta, Grassroutes Team Member & 2008 Fellow, is

chosen runner-up among thousands of candidates

– Grassroutes chosen among the best solutions to tap India’s youth energy

– Conducted by India Habitat Center & National Geographic



What next?



Grassroutes 1.0Summer of 2009

• Outreach– Screen travelogues in 10+ colleges, 1000+ youth– Involve youth in social media campaigns

• Perspective– Broad month-long online mentoring on social

development– Intense 2-day workshop

• Road-trips– Scale to 4+ road-trips, different developmental sectors– More focused and result-oriented social journalism

• Raise funding & grants– Organizations / Individuals



Join the tribe

• Site: www.grassroutes.in• Blog: http://blog.grassroutes.in • Twitter: @grassroutes (175+ followers)

• Facebook: Group (375+ members)

http://www.grassroutes.in/

http://blog.grassroutes.in/

http://twitter.com/grassroutes

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56902877976