Showing posts with label LEADer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LEADer. Show all posts
LEAD Valedictory 2016 - Belagavi
 |
| Dignitaries visiting the project showcase |
On 23rd April, Belagavi's LEAD Valedictory 2016 was hosted at KLES Belagavi. The event included guest speakers, a project showcase of 36 of the year's top projects, student story sharing, and 8 awards presented to deserving students. Over 100 students and faculty attended the event.
During this event, Mr. Naveen Jha (CEO, Deshpande Foundation), Dr. S. V. Divekar (Dean of Infrastructure, GIT College), and Mr. Yuvaraj Patil (Lead Ambassador, VSMIT Nippani and Gram Panchyat Vice President, Nitawade, Kolaphur District) presided over the celebration.
 |
| Special guests with newly designated Master LEADers and LEAD Ambassadors |
LEAD Valedictory is also the time to start thinking about the year to come. 19 LEADers were promoted to Master LEADer in order to start their journey in promoting LEAD throughout their colleges and helping to unleash the leadership potential in those student around them. Four students were promoted to LEAD Ambassador, the next step in the LEAD levels and a great achievement.
 |
| Deshpande Foundation CEO Mr. Naveen Jha present token of recognition to unrecognized woman Ms. Chougala |
As the theme of the event was "Recognizing the Unrecognized", LEAD also recognized a woman in the community whose valuable work goes unseen. Special guest Ms. Madhavi Chougala, a cleaning lady at Maratha Mandal Engineering College. This act is a continuation of the successful International Women's Day project taken on by LEADers across the country.
One of the major components of the Valedictory is providing recognition and congratulations to the top LEAD students of the year from the respective area. Below are the winners of the 8 awards presented at the Belagavi Valedictory 2016.
Best Initiative Social Project - Divya Hiremath
Best Fundraiser: Vedanth M, GIT Belgaum
Most Active Prayanee: Vaishnavi Hatrote, KLECET Belgaum
Best Awareness Project: Suyash V, JCE Belgaum
Most Initiatives Taken: Chetan Kulkarni
Most Active Volunteer: Arpan Sathapathy and Manish Noola
Best Creative Team: KLECT Belgaum
Best Initiative in Education: GIT Belgaum
 |
| LEAD student sharing their leadership story and experiences |
LEAD Valedictory 2016 - Varanasi
 |
| Special guest Mr. Nasib Bamal visiting project showcase |
The event was organized to appreciate and award the college youth for their leadership initiatives that they took to solve the problems of the local community.
College youth and faculties based at Varanasi and surrounding participated to witness the exhibition of top 25 leadership projects and awards to the best leaders.
The guests of honour of the event were Wing Commander Mr. Nasib Bamal (Commanding Officer, 7UP Air Sqn BHU, VNS), Dr. P.K. Mishra (HoD, Chemical Engg. Dept. & Coordinator TBI, IIT BHU), Dr. P.K. Sharma (Program Coordinator, NSS BHU), and Mr. Ajay Suman Shukla (Functional Head, LEAD, Deshpande Foundation).
Out of 108 leaders who successfully executed their ideas into action as leadership projects, 7 leaders were appreciated for the remarkable leadership work that they have done to bring a positive change in the society.
 |
| Shabnam and Amrita receiving Best Leader Award |
 |
| Arya Roshan receiving Master Leader designation |
Awarded leaders include;
- Leaders Rishu Kumar and team (BHU) - Best Team Award for executing 10 leadership projects in the team of 12 members
- Leader Priyanka Srivastav (Rajkiya Mahila Mahavidyalay, DLW) - Most Female Empowerment Initiatives Award. She executed 9 leadership projects along with her friend Susheela to solve the problems of DLW surrounding community. Read more about one of Priyanka's projects here.
- Master Leader Uttam Dixit (BHU) - Best Leader Award for bringing tech solutions in promoting the education and ensuring 500 meters of road construction by motivating and ensuring the use of allotted fund to the village panchayat at Susuwahi. Read more one of Uttam's projects here.
- Leader Dharmendra Patel (BHU) - Best LEADer and Best Project Awards for executing four leadership projects (helped 150 people to get the Aadhar Card, helped 250+ villagers to get the ration card without any extra fee, helping 118 village women and youth to open their bank accounts in UBI). Read more about the projects here.
- Leader Anand Krishna (DAV College) - Most Daring Leadership Project Award for initiating and executing the project in four district jails to teach the kids below 6 years who live along with their mothers within the jail premises, executed same project for bricks Klein (Bhatta) workers' kids. Read more about the project here.
- Leaders Shabnam and Amrita (ABRPG College, Anpara, Sonbhadra) - Best Leader Award for raising the funds and cloths from the localities and helping the 100+ people living on the roads and in slum in winter season.
Four leaders were promoted to Master Leader to further enhance their leadership skills and spread to word about LEAD on their college campuses. The new Master LEADers for 2016/2017 are Uttam Dixit (FoSc. BHU), Dharmendra Patel (FoA, BHU), Arya Roshan (SHEPA College), and Priyanka Dey (VKM, BHU).
As the theme of the event was "Recognizing the Unrecognized", LEAD also recognized a woman in the community whose valuable work goes unseen. Special guest SurShakti cooks the midday meal and cleans the campus at a local primary school, all while raising her family on her own. This act is a continuation of the successful International Women's Day project taken on by LEADers across the country.
 |
| Ms. SurShakti receiving recognition |
LEAD Valedictory 2016 - Hubballi
 |
| The event started with a showcase of 50+ of the best projects from the year |
 |
| Guests of honour watering the plants for inauguration |
Many LEAD students were awarded for their accomplishments this year (see full list below).
Manjunath Gogi from KLEIT Hubballi won Most Promising LEADer for his dedication and work in his project TALAASH, a competition for technical ideas to win seed funding and startup mentorship, now in its third year. You can read more about Manjunath's story here.
 |
| AKSF Fellowship winning Best Team |
 |
| Kush from NTTP Dharwad receiving Best Innovative Idea from Mr. Laxman Uppar |
Best Awareness Project: "Career guidance program"by Varadh Kulkarni, Veerashaiva College Ballari
Best Adult Education Project: "Darkness to Bright Future" by Jyoti Hanagi, Jigulur Womens College Dharwad
Best Children's Education Project: "Destitute Children Hampi Trip" by Saibindu & Shashi, Veerashaiva College Ballari
Most Initiatives Taken: Sardharganesh H V, Veerashaiva College Ballari
Most Creative Project: "Canteen Renovation" by Raghavendra & Shushant, KCD Dharwad
Best Community Project: "Painting Road Breaks and Bus Stand" by Sampath & Abhishek, GFGC Kalghatagi
Best Innovative Idea: "Head Mouse" by Kush, NTTF Dharwad
Most Promising LEADer: Manjunath Gogi, KLEIT Hubballi
Best Fundraiser: "Help the Needy", Veerashaiva College Ballari
Best Team: "Wearing Helmets Saves Lives", AKSF Fellowship Hubballi
My Story: Arpit Srivastava
MY STORY: Arpit Srivastava, Amity University Uttar Pradesh
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”
In this context, I, LEADer ARPIT SRIVASTAVA, from spiritual city Varanasi, will present my leadership story. It’s a phenomenal fact that behind any positive implementation there are nurtured ideas whose existence defines valuable humanity. For me the biggest challenge was my attributes, as I don’t know about my internal properties and in consequences. Every time I feel myself weak in different field like communications or academics, I saw myself as just an average which forces me to feel as a failure and lose my self identity.
But, by joining LEAD program after an orientation at IIT-BHU, I got courage and confidence and I realized that I do have many choices; many doors are now also open for me in form of opportunities. Thus I took a valuable decision for myself and I have done two projects “SAMANVAY” & “VRIKSHAROPAN”.
 |
| Vriksharopan project |
“VRIKSHAROPAN” is near to my heart as I feel direct connect with nature. I used waste materials like large drums and containers which were in stores in a useless way. Thus, I took an initiative to give identity to those useless non living materials to protect living beings. I planted many plants in those waste materials and I also used my roof area to plant small herbs and vegetables like coriander leaves, tulsi, garlic, chilli, lemon, tomato, beans, and aloe vera. I this way I am contributing my efforts in protecting the environment and nature, and I think that our society will also look forward in contribution on their own level and can help in conserving nature in a sustainable way. “Everything present on this Earth has its own identity, it’s just a way of perception”; which gives me enough strength to prove that I do have potential to make things alive.
 |
| Playing with slum children in Varanasi |
As an Social Media Intern with LEAD, I also got to observe things which were new for me from all the four sides. It has given me an innovative experience; forces me to think from all the sides.Thus for me as an Intern I do realize that both quality & quantity were necessary to exemplify the attributes. So now I know my attributes, now I know how I can evaluate myself; to implement positive ideas for society, by society and to society.
 |
| Winning my award for "BioDex" |
Being a LEADer & an entrepreneur, as well as a LEAD intern, I am using my academic & social strength for the betterment of society & “what was my weakness, today that is my strength”. The outcome is now positive for me; it teaches me that how to inculcate, evaluate myself on a socio-technical platform, it teaches me how to explain my views in a professional way. LEAD, not only gives me a platform but also it gave me an identity which cannot be earn by other means.
”If nature exists, then only we exists”.
My Story: Manjunath Gogi
My Story
Manjunath Gogi, KLEIT Hubballi
Hi, I am Manjunath Gogi. I began my LEAD journey in the November of 2012 and since then it has been a constant learning experience of over 3 years. When I think about how it all began, the first thing that strikes me is that I was always passionate and involved about my technical ideas and wanted to work with them. However, the urge to join LEAD arose only after I began watching my enthusiastic friends who stayed busy with different LEAD projects. Soon I joined LEAD and got a good platform from where I could pitch my ideas and also could get involved in the social issues. After joining LEAD, over time my ideas and thoughts over the various issues, my perspective to see things and eventually my mindset at large has changed.
-
I have done three social projects in LEAD and out of these three; I would like to talk about one. It is about giving security helpline number to women. I believe that women should be always respected and seeing them getting eve teased and harassed bothered me. I wanted to do something. So I took a step and launched my first project ‘Women Security Protocol’. I talked to a women association near my home about my idea and intention behind this project and they agreed to help me out. The women from the association gathered on the 8th of March 2013, the International Women’s Day. On the very day, with the help of these women and the police authorities, I re-launched a security helpline number for the women in the area of Navanagar. This would not have been possible if the women association, Mr. H.D. Kulkarni (C.P.I. of Navanagar Police Station) and Mr. I.M. Dundasi (P.S.I of Navanagar Police Station) had not supported, encouraged and stood by me. The helpline number is 0836-2233512.
-
 |
| At Talaash 2014 with LEAD Functional Head Mr. Ajay Suman Shukla |
My biggest accomplishment in my LEAD journey has been starting Talaash. Having a dream is not a big deal but achieving it is what matters! I wanted to organize a technical event and came up with the idea ‘TALAASH’. The event was meant for the students pursuing engineering and diploma course. The participants were required to prepare a prototype model and the best innovative and commercial viable projects will get seed capital for its execution. The main motto of the event was to transform the student into an entrepreneur using his or her own idea. It was both my biggest dream as well as challenge. Since it was being organized for the first time, I faced many setbacks at the beginning but with the help of my mentors and my teammates I came through those setbacks and achieved success. I started alone but later a lot of people joined me one by one and we had a great team at the end. The biggest challenge was still to get the sponsorship.
Amidst many negative responses, the first positive response came in form of Mr. Sasishekar Krish (Founder and CEO, nanoPix) who agreed to sponsor the event with Rs. 1.5 Lakhs. It brought a new zeal within me and helped me to move forward. I began working harder. Later on I approached Dr. B.S. Anami, the Principal of my college with our LEAD coordinator Madhumati Madam and my principal agreed to host the event in our college. Thus, my college became hosting partner of our event ‘TALAASH’ and we finally ended up raising a sponsorship of Rs.177,500/-.
Thereafter, our next milestone was to get registrations of 50+ projects. At the beginning, we had only 10 registrations which made us worried. But later on with the help of Dr. B.S Anami, we finally reached 57 registrations from the different parts of the state.
TALAASH '14 gave a good platform to over 225 students, and also venture capital of Rs. 40,000 to two projects, Rs. 25,000 to two more projects and Rs.15, 000 to one more project.
Finishing the event successfully was not the end for me, it was the starting step which made me test my abilities to the extinct. I started working with the winning teams of Talaash’14 and helped them to start their company. Now, that winning team named CAKEBOARD has already started their company. (www.cakeboard.in)
 |
| On stage with the judges at Talaash 2015 |
TALAASH had received 200 applications/ideas from 23 different cities and 37 different colleges’ across Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Greater Noida, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Telangana. Out of 200, top 85 ideas were shortlisted for the second round, and the top 30 teams were further selected to showcase their prototype in the final event on 7th May at KLEIT, Hubballi.
Top 3 Ideas were chosen among all the presented ideas. They were awarded with a seed fund of Rs. 1,00,000/- each from nanoPix Company and incubation support from Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox Startups.
-
 |
| At LEAD Prayana 2015 |
At Yuva Summit 2016, I was a speaker at LEAD Talks and shared my leadership story with the crowd of 500 attendees, including my peers and special guests. It was my first experience doing major public speaking, and it was a tremendous learning opportunity for me.
 |
| Speaking at LEAD Talk, Yuva Summit 2016 |
Village in the Digital Age by LEADer Dharmendra K
LEADer Dharmendra Kumar Patel from BHU wanted to help his village gain their basic needs in the modern age. With new requirements from the government but barriers to the villagers obtaining these requirements, Dharmendra realized that many of the villagers would be unable to receive subsidy or rations.
Dharmendra took on three projects in his village: bank account set-ups, AADHAAR identity card sign-up, and ration card sign-up. Together, he felt these basic needs would help the people in his village have their presence recognized in the modern age. These projects also helped build basic modern skills in the village, including ATM use, making signatures,awareness of financial saving, and interacting with large modern establishments such as banks.
At first, only a few villagers were willing to take part in the process and many were hesitant for change. However, now those initial participants have told their neighbours and people are regularly approaching Dharmendra to take part and get a card and bank account. Women are coming out of their homes to sign up and join the modern age.
While Dharmendra has three specific projects, overall he is aiming to increase the wellbeing in his village. A good example of this is his motivation of a disabled woman. She had lost a leg in an accident, and was simply sitting around all day, although he had 3 children to feed. Dharmendra motivated her to learn the basic skill of sleeving to create an income, and after she had a small amount of earnings, got her to take part in his projects. Today, she has 4,500 Rs. in the bank account he helped her create, and she owns her own sleeving machine.
My Story: Arya Roshan
My Story: Arya Roshan, SHEPA Varanasi
My name is Arya Roshan, and I'm a BBA student from SHEPA College Varanasi, My father is a teacher, and since I was a child, I wanted to make the change in the society in a positive way like my father.
However, I needed some support, then my classmate Abhishek told me about LEAD and LEAD provide me that platform.
I joined LEAD in March 2015, and I have participated in many projects as like Ganga cleaning, women appreciation, Nukkad Drama. From these projects I learned that you can make a change in society, even at little-to-no cost. I no longer feel like the only person who wants to make change: i am surrounded by other students who have the same goals and support me, and who have become great friends to me.
 |
| Volunteering for a celebration project in the slum area |
My individual project is "Signature Complain". The idea of this project came from a Adhar Card Camp, where people who work in the camp were misbehaving with the illiterate people because they didn't know how to do a signature and fill forms. I was also inspired by the work of another LEADer, because in his project many of the villagers were having to learn a signature in order to sign up for a bank account for his project. Then I realized that I must teach them to signature. I went to my papa and asked to him about the easy way to teach signature.
 |
| Teaching the signature |
When I went in a village for starting the project, I faced many problems. No one was coming forward to learn signature, but at that time, an old lady came forward and told me that she wanted to go to school but there was some problems she had, so she didn't go to school. She was the first lady who learned to doing signature from me, and now I have taught 94 people how to do signature... this project and each and every project make me happy.
In 2015, I went to Hubballi for LEAD Leadership Program (LLP) and I met so many different kinds of people and made friends of all kinds: different areas, different languages, different interests. I also met many inspiring role models and improved my leadership skills so much in just 10 short days.
LEAD transform me from a shy student to a LEADer and gave me a LEADership qualities. I met many fellow LEADers who I have learned from, and many LEAD staff members who have taught me excellent skills.
"You can change the world if you care enough"
My Story: Aaliza Naseem
My Story: Aaliza Naseem, SHEPA Varanasi
Ever since I was a child, I had been interested in social causes. My mother and I would take old clothing or food to the slum areas to distribute, and I learned how important this was. However, as I grew older, my hesitation and shyness stopped me from going out in the community to do social work. I could barely speak in my own classroom or at a party!
I was intrigued by a LEAD orientation at my college because it spoke about developing your own personality and self-improvement, all while contributing to society. This is exactly what I felt I needed.
The first thing I did when I joined LEAD was take part in a old clothing distribution group project, however, I learned quickly that this was not the same as donating our family's old clothing to the slums with my mother. I had to interact with the public, asking for donations of old clothing and trying to convince them. I also learned to work in a team; we struggled with coordination and timing, but after pushing through, we worked effectively and efficiently as a team and it was a successful project. I learned something very important: you need a team to succeed.
 |
| Volunteering at an old age home |
By volunteering in the projects of others, I have been able to contribute to more causes and build my skills more. two of my favourite projects to help with were providing protective plastic to roadside vendors to increase hygiene, and installing dustbins in the community.
My main project as a part of LEAD has been adopting an orphanage in Ramnager. I have focused almost all my efforts on that one orphanage for over 6 months already, doing many projects with them and benefitting them. Since it is my local orphanage, I saw the terrible conditions of the children there, and noticed how dependent all the children were. I wanted to make their lives better and give them a brighter future. While it was difficult to convince the orphanage owners to trust me and my team, we proved ourselves by working, at first, in front of them so they could see our project and our good intentions. This is also where being part of the LEAD organization helped, because it built our credibility.
 |
| Working with Agastya Foundation at the orphanage |
So far, I have donated hygiene products, done learning and science workshops and creativity sessions, and celebrated several festivals with the orphan children. However, in this project I have, over time, built a team of 9 LEAD students who work in my project. This is my first real leadership role, and while i was initially nervous, I have learned to become a more confident leader and increased my communication skills. I speak personally to each team member, making sure I understand what they want and how they want to help.
Next for the orphanage project I hope to build connections between the orphanage and the local shopkeepers, and have the orphans make paper bags to sell to the shops. This would allow the orphans to make a small income, and because I hope to set up bank accounts for each one, this would help them gain more independence over time.
I also got the chance to take part in LEAD Leadership Program (LLP) 2015 in Hubballi, Karnataka. Before LLP I didnt even ask question in my college class, but there I gained the confidence and developed my identity. I lowered my stage fright, and am now able to give presentations in my college classes, be a better and more confident leader, and be more social.
 |
| On stage at LLP! Getting over my stage fright and increasing my confidence |
When I was promoted to Master LEADer, the first in Uttar Pradesh, I was so excited to share. I have seen the changes in myself that LEAD has helped to cause, and my parents are also so proud. I am able to express myself!
My Story: Priyanka Dey
My Story: Priyanka Dey, BHU
I had always wanted to make a difference, but I just didn't know how to take the first steps. This is why, when I saw a LEAD Orientation at my college, I was so inspired to join. I saw the pictures of the LEADers having fun and making a difference, and I thought, if they can do it, why can't I? I also saw how many of the young students were meeting such inspirational and iconic role models, and I wanted that chance as well.
When I first joined LEAD, I knew I wanted to make a difference, but didn't know exactly what to do. So first, I realized I had to establish what the need was. I looked to other LEAD projects for inspiration, and thought about all the possible people in the world who could use help.
Then, one day, I was crossing the street in Varanasi, and a feeling came over me that this area, one particular slum, was the area I wanted to contribute to. I saw the bad conditions of the children, siting around playing cards and chewing paan rather than in school, and saw how dire the living conditions were. But how could I help them?
I decided to conduct a survey of the area to figure out what their needs were. I made a team of friends and fellow LEADers, and went door-to-door in the slum area, gathering information about the people in the slum, including their professions, how many children there were and if they were in school, and what problems they faced in their lives. From this, I realized that many of the children were not regularly attending classes and did not have any interest, and the parents did not encourage them to learn. For this reason, I decided to create an education project for the approx. 80 children in the slum community. While many of the students agreed to attend the program, they did not seem enthusiastic, and this motivated me to help awaken their interest in education, which is where the name of my project came from, "Awakening Education".
At first, I thought to hold my program in the park behind the slum. However, due to personal safety concerns, I realized this was not a good idea. After explaining the issue, one community member agreed to arrange a room for me and my team to teach in, but when he did not follow through, we were left again with no space. But then the family of several of the prospective students offered their roof as a teaching space. I took this as a good sign; someone so poor was being so generous as to let me, a stranger, use their home for my project.
 |
| With some of the students of "Awakening Education" |
My team and I started teaching each weekday evening from 4:30 to 6, plus we would do a fun activity with the children on Sundays, such as chowing a movie on our laptops, games, or a painting competition we once organized. But after a few months, we realized we needed a real formal space to teach in. Several of us went to speak to government schools, and while they all appreciated our work, the firts two schools refused. After much deliberation, the third school agreed to let us run their program in the school, giving us the keys to the government school. This was a huge moment of pride.
After months of doing my "Awakening Education" project, I was accepted into LEAD Prayana and got the chance to travel around Karnataka with 130 other amazing LEADers. I met amazing role models like I had seen in the orientation, and it was even better than I imagined. A quote from organic farmer Narayan Reddy sir, "simple living, high thinking", was incredibly inspiring for me. IAS officer Mannivannan displayed such amazing speaking skills and showed me someone doing amazing work for his country, standing up to corruption, with little recognition. And Malathi Holla mam, the acclaimed para-athlete, was so motivational in sharing how passion and devotion can lead us to reaching all our dreams.
 |
| Selfies with role model Anousheh Ansari at LEAD Prayana |
At the end of Prayana was Yuva Summit, and it was at this award ceremony that I won a Best LEADer Award 2016. I was shocked. My name was the last of the seven winners to be called, and after hearing the caliber of the other projects, I never imagined I would win. When my name was called, the last LEAD award of the night, it was such a great moment and I became overwhelmed with emotion, accepting my award from such great dignitaries on stage.
 |
| Accepting my Best LEADer Award 2016 from the legends at Yuva Summit |
When I returned to Varanasi, I found myself surrounded by support. Not only were my parents and family so proud that I can been recognized so greatly at such an early age, but the principal of my college asked to speak to me. I had never met her before, and I felt very proud. My friends had not known I was on Prayana and thought I was at home, so when I came back and had met the role models and won an award, they were so surprised!
In March 2016, I got the chance to be a part of the "Recognizing the Unrecognized Women" on International Women's Day. I organized an event for the mothers of the students in my project, and appreciated all the work they do to support their children. I was so glad to be able to appreciate these women who had allowed their children to become educated.
 |
| Recognizing an unrecognized mother on IWD |
I am now motivated to share my story with others, and inspire others to join LEAD. LEAD has helped me to develop my personality, and I hope others take this opportunity as well.
Hygiene for Slum Children by LEADer Amrita Raj
LEADer Amrita Raj from ABR PG College Anpara was concerned about the wellbeing of the slum children in her area. Instead of doing doing, she took action with a LEAD project in order to make a small positive change to give these children closer to the standard of living she had during her upbringing through hygiene kits.
First, Amrita gathered a team and went door-to-door collecting donations from the wealthier areas of her community. While it was difficult to convince people to give them their hard earned money, Amrita focused on explaining why their project mattered to the lives of the slum children and built trust and credibility by explaining about the LEAD program. Eventually, Amrita and her team collected 3500 Rs.
Using old newspapers to create the bags, which lowered the cost and reduced waste, Amrita and her team filled these packages with basic hygiene products for babies and young children, including shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.
The team distributed over 150 hygiene packages to young children and mothers with babies in the slum area. For Amrita, the best part was seeing how excited the young children were to receive anything new and just for them, even simple hygiene products.
 |
| Collecting funds door-to-door |
 |
| Amrita and the team making the bags |
The team distributed over 150 hygiene packages to young children and mothers with babies in the slum area. For Amrita, the best part was seeing how excited the young children were to receive anything new and just for them, even simple hygiene products.
Cheap LED Lights with LEADer Uttam D
Thanks to an long-term interest in electronics, LEADer Uttam D from BHU has designed a very inexpensive LED light to be used in villages.
Uttam loves to take electronics apart, and realized he could make his own small light from old electronics parts for very cheap. At first, the light only lasted for 2-3 minutes, but with the addition of a diode, the simple light is rechargeable and lasts over 6 hours per charge. Rather than using all new parts, the light uses parts from waste phones, including the chargers and batteries. This means that the product can be made cheaper, but it also better for the environment.
So far, Uttam has sold over 50 of the LED lights to individuals in his village and nearby villages for 25 rupees each, earning a small profit of 5 rupees for future supplies. In Varanasi there is a proven market for Jugaad innovations, and therefore Uttam is capitalizing on this openness to small, inexpensive, “homemade” products. He is now trying to commercialize his LED lights.
Changing Children's Mindsets with LEADer Priyanka S
LEADer Priyanka S from Rajkiye Mahila Mahavidalaya College, Varanasi, always considered herself a simple girl, but through her projects in LEAD, is now proud to be a leader. This transformation started from her very first project in LEAD, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
 |
| Priyanka with some of the children at a session |
Priyanka noticed that many of the children in her community lacked the basic knowledge, common sense, and morals that were expected of children when she grew up. Instead of sitting idley by, Priyanka took the LEAD slogan to heart: “Complaints start with they… solutions start with I”.
Priyanka contacted all the families in her community, and ended up gathering over 80 students for several educational sessions over the period of one month. At these sessions, Priyanka focused on teaching the basic knowledge and morality through games, and also incorporated her love and gift for dance, singing, and painting to the sessions. It was a rousing success, with the students truly enjoying their time and Priyanka noticing a changing mindset in the young children in her community after the sessions.
While it was a major challenge to convince the parents to bring their children to the sessions, Priyanka’s drive to change the local children helped her push through. In the end, her passion to change the children for the better is something she had in common with the parents, and this why she thinks she succeeded is getting so many children to be a part of her project.
 |
| Some of the children dancing |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
