Youth development

Here's a story about how members of the Changemakers community are promoting youth development in the United States:

Our nation’s brightest high school students shouldn’t be denied a shot at a college education simply because they lack the necessary resources and support. With the proper guidance, a dose of high expectations, and a boost of confidence, one organization is proving that a little push goes a long way.

Read more about this solution, or discuss this topic below.
 

Date Created: 4/7/2009
Art in Public: Expressing Youth Voices in Pittsburgh
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Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Created: 04/06/09 by Debbie Vanden Dungen

Krista Cameron dances to the beat of a local drum. This 20 year-old once thought making a difference meant traveling far away to reach people in need. It took one chance encounter with a member of the Changemakers community for her to see that she could take action right in her own town.

A student at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Krista always knew that she wanted to help people. That is what attracted her to Capilano University’s Global Stewardship Program, a two-year Associate of Arts degree dedicated to creating young social entrepreneurs.

Date Created: 3/27/2009
Champions of Quality Education in Africa
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Hoops for Hope: Peace Breaks Out on the Basketball Court in Kashmir

Created: 03/24/09 by Anonymous

Upon arriving in Srinagar, Kashmir in 2007, J.D. Walsh was keenly aware of two things: how much he -- a tall white man -- stood out, and the tense geopolitical circumstances that necessitated heavy security measures. Kashmir has been wracked by hatred and mayhem for years, caught in a bloody dispute between India and Pakistan. Quite improbably, Walsh felt right at home and was immediately convinced of two things: that this "was a time for peace" and that it could be achieved through a game unknown to the Kashmiris: basketball.

Date Created: 12/15/2008
Gamechangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport
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Employability of the disabled person -people suffering from mental illness

Created on 09/27/2008 by Ishita Sanyal

 

Providing employment & rehabilitation to people suffering from mental illness throughout India with the help of available human resource that is utilizing the hidden potentialities of the sufferers & their family members to run low cost centers through a central teleconferencing center

About You

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Location

Project Street Address

27 Jadavpur East Road

Project City

Kolkata

Project Province/State

West Bengal

Project Postal/Zip Code

700032

Project Country

India

Your idea

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Year initiative/program began:

1997

Field of work

Health

If Field of Work is "Other" please define in 1-2 words below (and explain in detail in the entry form):

Rehabilitation, employability of people suffering from mental illness

Service / Activity focus (If "other" please explain in entry form)

Technology

Year organization founded (yyyy)

1997

YouTube Upload

Project URL

Positioning of your initiative on the Mosaic of Solutions™ diagram:

Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?

Social benefit businesses not deemed investment worthy

Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?

Prove that social return doesn’t preclude financial gain

If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic

Discrimination & Stigma regarding mental illness
ü Abuse & Violation of basic Human rights
ü Differentiation amongst different sectors of disability as a mentally ill person is included in PWD Act but do not get equal facility like other disabilities
ü Lack of initiative to issue disability card & job reservation
ü Lack of facilities like National Trust
ü Lack of professionals compared to the magnitude of the problem
ü Lack of funds available
Lack of employment facilities for people suffering from illness
Lack of community involvement

Name Your Project

Employability of the disabled person -people suffering from mental illness

Describe Your Idea

 Providing employment & rehabilitation to people suffering from mental illness throughout India with the help of available human resource that is utilizing the hidden potentialities of the sufferers & their family members to run low cost centers through a central teleconferencing center

Innovation

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What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?

ü Transforming non performers in to performers & reinitiating life through employment & earning.

Describe what makes your idea unique—different from all others in the field.

Mental Health has so far been grossly neglected in India because of the blind belief that once an illness is always an illness. Compared to the magnitude of the problem the number of professionals available is far less. The person suffering from mental illness lacks the initiative & the mental strength to fight for their own human rights, proper treatment facilities & right to continue their career.. This asocialisation alone is sufficient enough to make them pathologically involved with uncreative & unrealistic thinking.

My specific programme would be utilizing the human resource of people suffering from mental illness & their family members to run the rehabilitation centers. The rehabilitated people( once suffering from illness) would be the leaders & resource person & would be able to run many such rehabilitation centers at low cost enabling many people suffering from mental illness to opt for this facility. We could run centers throughout India, which would be controlled centrally through Teleconferencing facility.

How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?

In this bleak background a mentally ill person is discriminated & they fail to get adequate support, treatment & training to sustain their livelihood. They remain burden on the society. Involving community, training them the rehabilitation modules, training the suffers to learn appropriate coping strategies as well as skills to earn their livelihood can be made possible through the help of Information & communication Technology (ICT).

Compared to the magnitude of the problem the number of professionals is far less. So maximum utilisation of human resource can be the needed solution
Successful engagement & Individual centric vocational trainings to make them adequate to earn their livelihood is needed to improve their quality of life
The rehabilitation services of the persons suffering from mental illness do not need a special educator like MR, but individuals trained to understand their problems is needed. So community involvement focusing on Prevention, treatment & rehabilitation is needed. Contact for Consultation of Psychiatrist & professionals are to be maintained through teleconferencing facilities.

Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how did you create them?

We do not have partnership but we have networking with a number of NGO’s in mental health field working all over India

In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)

Impact

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Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.

Inclusion & Mainstreaming people suffering from mental illness & making them a productive member of the society enabling their optimum growth, employment & development

Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation.

This initiative would help to reach maximum number of people in minimum time & resource. This programme would not only enable to serve more people but also the mental health care system would be of the people, by the people & for the people. The sufferers after completion of any training would be the trainers of the programme who would help other sufferers in the process of recovery. The recovery story of others would inspire the unfortunate victims of mental illness to believe that once an illness is not always an illness & it would instill hope for development & growth .In this health care system every people can have access to health care, access to professional guidance without any hindrance caused by distance. Community can make participation the inclusion of the disabled in to the society. This would also transform & change the old myths prevalent in the society on mental illness & wipe away the stigma associated with mental illness

Does your innovation address and/or change banking regulations?

Banks also have some initiative now to help the NGO’s or developmental projects like swanirvar Joyona or schemes for entrepreneurship project to help people start their earning opportunities in life.

How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit from your innovation?

There are 40-50 million people in India who are the victims of some form of Mental Illness (ACMI).
My innovation would target to serve this population from a centralized training center & a number of branches all over India

Project Details

No. of mentally challenged people in each batch 25
No.of people selected for the entrepreneurship project from each batch 5 Ratio of 1:5
No.of batches in a span of 2 years @ 3 months for each batch 7
Total number of persons enroled in the project in year 1 35 (both Primary and Secondary enrolement)
Total number of persons enroled in the project by the end of year 2 295 ( Primary, Secondary and tertiary enrolement)
Total number of mentally challenged people enrolled for rehab end 1st year 450 (Primary Phase 100, secondary phase150, tertiary phase 200)
Total number of mentally challenged people enrolled for rehab end 2nd year 1150 (Primary Phase 200, secondary phase350, tertiary phase 600)

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

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Financing source

Fixed Cost/Investment

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount
Rent Advance 6 10000 60000
Machine Computer 5 15000 75000
Printer 2 5000 10000
UPS 1 50000 50000
Furniture Computer Table/Table 5 1500 7500
Chairs 6 1500 9000
Almirah/Cupboard 2 2500 5000
Interiors (sq ft) 1000 0 0
Air conditioners 2 25000 50000
Start up Support 40 10000 400000
Total Fixed Cost 666500

Revenue/Month

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount
Cyber Café DTP 220 10 2200
Net surfing 660 10 6600
Training fees 5 3500 17500
Rehab Fees 25 1000 25000
Franchise fees 2500 0
51300

Total revenue 4051200

2 year calculation
Costs 1926500
Revenue 4051200
Total Profit in 2 years 2124700

Variable Cost

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount/month
Manpower
Trainer 0 15000 0
Counsellor 1 5000 5000
Office Boy 1 1000 1000
Cleaner 1 1000 1000
Manager 1 15000 15000
Electric 1 4000 4000
Broadband Internet 1 2000 2000
Advertisement 1 10000 10000
Misc 1 1000 1000
Maintenance 1 1000 1000
Activity cost music 1 0 0
art and creativity 1 0 0
sports and games 1 0 0
annual functions 1 0 0
Rent 1 10000 10000
Total Variable Cost 50000

Per Annum Cost 1st Year 2nd year
Fixed Exp 666500
Variable Exp 600000 660000

1st year 2nd year
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total revenue
No of new Entr 0 0 0 0 5 5 5 10 10 10 15 15 15 20 20 20 25 25 25 30 30 30 35 35
Royalty fees/entr 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000
Revenue/month 0 0 0 0 15000 15000 15000 30000 30000 30000 45000 45000 45000 60000 60000 60000 75000 75000 75000 90000 90000 90000 105000 105000 1155000
2nd line new entr 10 10 10 20 20 20 30 30 30 40 40 40 50 50 50 60
Royalty fees/entr 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500
Revenue/month 15000 15000 15000 30000 30000 30000 45000 45000 45000 60000 60000 60000 75000 75000 75000 90000 765000
3rd line new entr 20 20 20 40 40 40 60 60 60 80 80 80
Royalty fees/entr 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Revenue/month 20000 20000 20000 40000 40000 40000 60000 60000 60000 80000 80000 80000 600000
4th line new entr 40 40 40 80 80 80 120 120
Royalty fees/entr 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Revenue/month 20000 20000 20000 40000 40000 40000 60000 60000 300000
Total Beneficiaries 35 295 2820000

Total Patients under Rehabilitation Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
No.Mentally challenged people treated Primary Phase 25 25 25 50 50 50 75 75 75 100 100 100 125 125 125 150 150 150 175 175 175 200 200 200
No.Mentally challenged people treated Secondary Phase 50 50 50 100 100 100 150 150 150 200 200 200 250 250 250 300 300 300 350 350
No.Mentally challenged people treatedTertiary Phase 100 100 100 200 200 200 300 300 300 400 400 400 500 500 500 600
450 1150

Fixed Cost/Investment

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount
Rent Advance 6 2000 12000
Machine Computer 2 10000 20000
Printer 1 3500 3500
UPS 2 2500 5000
Furniture Computer Table/Table 2 1500 3000
Chairs 3 1500 4500
Almirah/Cupboard 1 2500 2500
Interiors (sq ft) 0
Air conditioners 0
Start up Support 0
Total Fixed Cost 50500

Revenue

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount
Cyber Café DTP 88 10 880
Net surfing 264 10 2640
Training fees 2 3500 7000
Rehab Fees 10 1000 10000
0
20520

Total revenue 701320

2 year calculation
Costs 290500
Revenue 701320
Total Profit in 2 years 410820

Variable Cost

Items Qty Unit Price Total Amount/month
Manpower
Trainer 0 15000 0
Counsellor 0 8000 0
Office Boy 0 1500 0
Cleaner 1 1000 1000
Manager 0 30000 0
Electric 1 1500 1500
Broadband Internet 1 1000 1000
Advertisement 1 0 0
Misc 1 500 500
Maintenance 1 1000 1000
Activity cost music 1 0 0
art and creativity 1 0 0
sports and games 1 0 0
annual functions 1 0 0
Rent 1 2000 2000
Franchise Royalty 1 3000 3000
Total Variable Cost 10000

Per Annum Cost 1st Year 2nd year $
Fixed Exp 50500
Variable Exp 120000 132000

1st year 2nd year
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total revenue
1st line new entr 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 8 10 10 10 12
Royalty fees/entr 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500
Revenue/month 3000 3000 3000 6000 6000 6000 9000 9000 9000 12000 12000 12000 15000 15000 15000 18000 153000
2nd line new entr 4 4 4 8 8 8 12 12 12 16 16 16
Royalty fees/entr 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Revenue/month 4000 4000 4000 8000 8000 8000 12000 12000 12000 16000 16000 16000 120000
3rd line new entr 8 8 8 16 16 16 24 24
Royalty fees/entr 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Revenue/month 4000 4000 4000 8000 8000 8000 12000 12000 60000
4th line new entr 16 16 16 32
Royalty fees/entr 500 500 500 500
Revenue/month 8000 8000 8000 16000 40000
Total Beneficiaries
373000
Project Details

No. of mentally challenged people in each batch 25
No.of people selected for the entrepreneurship project from each batch 5 Ratio of 1:5
No.of batches in a span of 2 years @ 3 months for each batch 7
Total number of persons enroled in the project in year 1 35 (both Primary and Secondary enrolement)
Total number of persons enroled in the project by the end of year 2 295 ( Primary, Secondary and tertiary enrolement)
Total number of mentally challenged people enrolled for rehab end 1st year 450 (Primary Phase 100, secondary phase150, tertiary phase 200)
Total number of mentally challenged people enrolled for rehab end 2nd year 1150 (Primary Phase 200, secondary phase350, tertiary phase 600)

How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?

We expect to get some initial funding from Ashoka to start up this enterprenurship project which would later be a self sustaining project & help to give employment & provide rehabilitation to millions of individuals suffering from mental illness.

If known, provide information on your finances and organization:

The finances that are required for this project is given above.

The annual budget of Turning Point is now 2-3 lakhs rupees. But for the financial constraints we have to do the work in a very small group & we fail to provide rehabilitation to the larger population, which is needed..
·
The project that we have described would be a replicated model of what we do at Truning Point but it would help us to reach out thousands of individuals living in far flung areas whom we fail to provide the service now. It would be an enterpreneurship project which would provide rehabilitation & employment opportunities to people suffering from mental illness.

What are the main financial barriers and how do you plan to address them?

We need to open a chain of centers & provide training to large number of individuals. For this we need a bigger infrastructure, few more computers & other gadgets, conveyance to reach the remote part & other needed accessories. We need some initial support to start our chain of centers.

Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow the initiative?

1)There would be a Central Training institute where we would have Social & economic rehabilitation facilities for people suffering from mental illness
2)This center would enable the care givers, the community, the professionals learn about this unique rehabilitation module .After getting this training these individuals would be the future leaders to open such centers in other parts of India
3)After traing the trainees would open such centers with the support & guidance of this central training center.
4)The new centers opened by this trainees would again impart training to other care givers & community people so that apart from providing rehabilitation to people suffering from illness they can train more people in to leaders who would do similar such works

6)The Central training center would earn direct revenue & the chain of centers would also pay a part of their revenue earned for the support & expertise that would be provided to them on their need.

The Story

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What was the motivation or defining moment that led to the creation of this innovation? Tell us the story.

Years back my brother started suffering from Schizophrenia. As a psychologist it was painful to be a mere spectator of the agony. The restlessness, the search for complete recovery, the drive to get proper treatment facilities were not very easy one as at that time. Many of the people suffering from Schizophrenia are highly intelligent person but none of the vocational training centers used to provide training according to the needs of these people & so failed to motivate them to complete such trainings. I took the initiative to start a rehabilitation center & introduced a number of vocational trainings according to the potentialities of the candidates’. Gradually their motivation, concentration level starts increasing & they started coping with their symptoms of illness. I want to start this project, which could enable Social inclusion of mentally ill person in to the mainstream of life along with economic rehabilitation. This project could enable me to serve a large number of people who till now remain a burden to the society. The rehabilitation work started by me has been recognized by World fellowship of Schizophrenia & Associated disorder as the ideal rehabilitation model & was taught in a number of countries worldwide.

Please provide a personal bio of the social innovator behind this initiative.

Ishita Sanyal is consultant Psychologist, Founder Secretary of Turning Point, a rehabilitation centre, Eastern regional Director of NAMI, India. Her rehabilitation module has been accepted by World Fellowship of Schizophrenia & allied disorder as the ideal rehabilitation module for all developing countries (www.turningpoint.org.in)
She has received David Feinsilver Award in 2003 as best research, UGC-CEC Award as subject expert & also Manthan Award in 2007.She has received Barbo Sandin Award from Copenhegen & selected for receiving Rashtriya Gaurav Award.She has completed Social Therapy From New York. She has written few chapters in International books. She is also a regular columnist on mental health in Telegraph
.

a) Please identify the individuals that your innovation benefits (Please check all that apply)

Producers , Consumers .

b) Do you help the people you serve to buy goods or services using financial innovation? If so, how?

ü I shall motivate family members, community people to take training in rehabilitation programme & then serve the community.
ü The people suffering from mental illness would take the training & rehabilitation for their development & growth
ü Exhibitions & outlets would enable us to sell the handicrafts products made by beneficiaries

c) Do you help the people you serve to sell goods or services using financial innovation? If so, how?

ü People in rural areas want some suitable & meaningful job. Training in rehabilitation would enable them to serve the community, earn for themselves & be of help to the society
ü Rehabilitated people who have undergobe rehabilitation programme would be the leaders of new centers & this would also enable them to start earning money I a sheltered atmosphere
ü Selling handicrafts products of different localities made by the sufferers would enable us to promote Indian handicraft as well as culture all over India

Youth Movement

Created on 09/24/2008 by Nadine Salmieri

Innovation

About You

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Location

Project Street Address

Project City

Project Province/State

Project Postal/Zip Code

Project Country

n/a

Your idea

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Field of Work

education

If Field of Work is “other” please define in 1-2 words below

Year project started (or projected start date) (yyyy)

20010

YouTube Upload

Project URL (or link to any media coverage)

What is the primary problem your venture is trying to address and how are you addressing it (or planning to address it)?

Poverty Stricken areas are uneducated not by choice, but by force. No money, no schooling, no tools to learn, no hope for children of the future

Name Your Project

Youth Movement

Describe Your Idea

Innovation

Innovation

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Project Description

Give Children hope for a better educated future

Unique and different

Young adults (college age) will venture out to areas either within thier community or globally if given the opportunity to actually meet with children of school age and interact with them by putting on a puppet show focusing on education and the rewards of achieving one. This innovative approach will help young children to easily understand, encourage them to interact with the characters, ask questions, and more so possibly smile; something children of poverty may not do very often.

Project plan

Volunteer programs will reach out to College students who may be interested in assisting in this program, reach out to businesses for donations needed - transportaion, school supplies for children, create a presentaion including a portable stage, puppets characters, etc.

Partnerships

I do not have any partnerships, however I was inspired to include my idea because the class I am currently taking in college is Socilogy and the focus in on poverty stricken areas. In my opinion, it begins within the home and there must be intervention with young children in order to break the cycle. Children need to be instilled as young as possible to know the importance of an education and need to be influenced the importance of staying in school and earning an education. With that said, the conclusion of the puppet show will be about the benefits of earning an education, good paying job, better home, car, clothes, vacation, ect.

Impact

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Impact

Striving to influence young children the advantage of earning an education for a better life.

Effectiveness

I have not served anyone with my "project". This is just an idea that amy be something for volunteer service(s) to try. Reaching out to children in any possible way to get their attention is worth trying.

How do you engage and impact the community?

Children will be motivated stay in school instead of dropping out. This will prevent less delinquency and possibly less crime from juveniles who cut class just to sell drugs, join gangs, commit crimetyo earn money.

How do you measure this impact?

If volunteers can visit children in poverty stricken neighborhoods, initially to provide a puppet show influenceing children the importance of staying in school and earning an education, and then visit every several months as a follow up - bascailly for the puppets to interact with children to find out how they are doing in school, what they are learning, and still conclude with possitive, motivated words, it may have a very beneficial impact.

Obstacles

Finding the transportation, volunteers who will visit these poverty stricken areas where crime rate is high.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

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Financing source

(or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)

I do not have any financing resources. However, if a volunteer service were interested in this program I would think they have resources. Possibly send an e-mail, or mail to businesses about the new program asking for donations

Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow and sustain your project?

More volunteers from more colleges, would mean being able to visit more poverty stricken communities and possibly influence volunteer services around the world to use this approach.

Finance details

This field has not been completed. (166 words or less)

Creative funding

As mentioned above.

Other non finance needs

Cooperation with the schools. This field has not been completed. (83 words or less)

The Story

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Motivation

As mentioned above, Taking a sociology class was a wake up call as to how many people who oare living below poverty levels. It is sad that children are being born in this environment and basically growing up only to know one way, the poor way. This effected me as a new mom, knowing how helpless and child is and totally dependent on their parents to teach, give, motivate, encourage, etc. Unfortunatley, living in a poor environment there is not much hope.

Awards

This field has not been completed. (83 words or less)

Broader context

Children living in poor social environments will know of another way of living through learning from earning an education. This in turn will lessen the poverty level in society starting from the roots - children. Children can make/break this cycle, given the education, the opportunity to learn a different way. Someone must intercept to break this cycle.

Ongoing

Poverty is something that is not going away tomorrow or the next day. With that said, my idea will continue generations after. It will become part of an ongoing program in schools each year.

What is your age?

Please select one

How did you hear about this competition?

This field has not been completed. (166 words or less)

Hidden Himalayas - Community Based Ecotourism Enterprise through Microcredits

Created on 08/23/2008 by sunhimalaya

The ecotourism program continues developing a paradigm wherein local villagers actually benefit from having their ancestral lands turned into a wilderness preserve by training local youths in eco-tourism and trekking so that more resources become available to them while wild nature is preserved for posterity.

About You

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Location

Project Street Address

SHA- Arya Samaj Street , A B Kullu-HP (INDIA)

Project City

Sainj, Tirthan , Parvati and Jiwanal Valley - GHNP

Project Province/State

Himachal Pradesh

Project Postal/Zip Code

175101

Project Country

India

Your idea

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Year initiative/program began:

2005

Field of work

Other

If Field of Work is "Other" please define in 1-2 words below (and explain in detail in the entry form):

Ecotourism

Service / Activity focus (If "other" please explain in entry form)

Equity Financing

Year organization founded (yyyy)

2001

YouTube Upload

Project URL

Positioning of your initiative on the Mosaic of Solutions™ diagram:

Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?

Lack of skills and incentives to join formal economy

Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?

Prove that social return doesn’t preclude financial gain

If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic

Lack of Marketing Skills
Lack of Government Support
Lack of involving the 100% of community in the ecotourism process due to low demands and less inflow of tourists.

Name Your Project

Hidden Himalayas - Community Based Ecotourism Enterprise through Microcredits

Describe Your Idea

The ecotourism program continues developing a paradigm wherein local villagers actually benefit from having their ancestral lands turned into a wilderness preserve by training local youths in eco-tourism and trekking so that more resources become available to them while wild nature is preserved for posterity.

Innovation

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What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?

Finding Alternative Income Generation Methods for the Youth belonging to the ecozone of the Great Himalayan National Park through community based ecotourism Initiatives financed through microcredits.

Describe what makes your idea unique—different from all others in the field.

Public ( Great Himalayan National Park Managment ) - Private ( Sunshine Himalayan Adventures - A private ecotourism enterprise) Community Particpation ( BTCA -NGO) on a shared basis for conservation efforts of a fragile protected area. A complete WIN-WIN for all . This unique example of public-private-community participation can be a role model for implimenting ecotourism as a solution for key problems like unemployment, poverty, illetracy, health and environmental protection.

How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?

By training local youth belonging to ecozone in tourism related activities and developing entreprenueral skills through shared resources of the entire club or equity amongst the whole team members.

Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how did you create them?

The Ecotourism Model in the GHNP represents a good partnership with spelt out objectives. A private tour operation business giving access to the market training the local youths of a community based organization called BTCA who are the service providers with the active support of the Great Himalayan national Park Admnistration. Thus the model shares a public-private-community model.

In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)

Citizen sector (nonprofits, NGOs) , Private sector , Public sector (government).

Impact

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Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.

Sustainable Employment Generation leading to Conservation of the Great Himalayan National Park and steady income for people involved in the tourism trade.

Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation.

The impact of this innovation can be measured from increased wages through ecotourism for the local community ( 20 members) , increased fauna conservation ( in the Great Himalayan national park) and development of small scale entreprenuer initiatives like the Tirthan Trekking Club , Homestays and small ecotourism enterprises.

Does your innovation address and/or change banking regulations?

No banking regulations are changed as banks just act as a means for regulating and accounting the cash flows. The people of the community has started their own saving groups along with basic contributions towards the assests involved in ecotourism. They have devided their savings into consumption loans and production loans which are given for income generation activities in which ecotourism is the most benefecial.

How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit from your innovation?

We are directly serving around 120 people who are actively involved in ecotourism directly. But we intend to serve more than 12000 people directly or indirectly once the ecotourism in the area becomes more famous.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

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Financing source

Self Financed through micro credit amongst WSCG and Ecotourism Group Savings. Sunshine Himalayan Adventures contributes 15% to the fund from the turnover.

How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?

Self Financed through a) Savings and contributions of the Ecotourism Members b) Earnings from Ecotourism Activities like trekking , nature camps etc c) Through contribution of Sunshine Himalayan Adventures who is a partner in the whole process.

If known, provide information on your finances and organization:

Annual Budget of Ecotourism : Rs 20,00,000
Annual Ravenue generated : Rs 6,00,000
Number of staff : Active ( 20) Indirectly ( porters , hire and fire staff) 100

What are the main financial barriers and how do you plan to address them?

The main financial barrier is cost of investments in the ecotourism activities. We would like to set up one of the first community based campsites of Himachal Pradesh which would provide an authentic community driven experience to the tourists. However the campsite requires a huge investment which would be done through contributions from SAHARA members as well as 1/2 the investment coming through Sunshine ADventures in form of a loan.

Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow the initiative?

The initiative in the Tirthan Valley is just a role model for several hidden valleys of Himachal Pradesh. Already Sainj, Lug , Banjar and various other valleys of Himachal have started copying the GHNP model and come out with various community driven initiatives in tourism. We plan to grow the initiave by activating all the products we have identified for ecdotourism and by providing direct and indirect employment to the whole community through ecotourism.

The Story

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What was the motivation or defining moment that led to the creation of this innovation? Tell us the story.

After the formation of GHNP in 2001 , the then Director of GHNP Mr. Sanjeeva Pandey involved my company and myself in training the local people from the Tirthan Valley in ecotourism. This was done through the Govt. PG College at Kullu where i was deputed as lecturer of tours and travels. After doing the training courses we started product development in tghe Tirthan Valley and trained our staff accordingly. My company also signed a memorandum with the NGO "BTCA" which was a community based organization. THus my company and BTCA began to promote tours in the GHNP with objective of creating employment for local people with a broader objective of protecting the environment of the GHNP.

Please provide a personal bio of the social innovator behind this initiative.

For the last 12 years, i have guided and operated Sunshine Himlayan Adventures to be at the forefront of Eco-friendly tours to the Western Himalayas. (www.sunshineadventure.com ) Being a naturalist and guide after receiving a Bachelors Degree in Commerce and a Masters Degree in Tourism from Himachal University. i also holds a Certificate in Environmental Tourism from IGNOU and will soon begin working towards my PhD in eco-tourism. i have worked as an interpretive naturalist for the Great Himalayan National Park and has been involved in community and environmental activism in the Western Himalayas from 1996 to the present. My community based work include using my computer programming expertise to help create the website for the Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute www.himalayanadventure.org and working with SAHARA (NGO) in creating a staff-training manual for tourism guides as well as increasing the marketing of traditional crafts and tourism products to help improve the livelihoods of the local Kullu Valley people.

a) Please identify the individuals that your innovation benefits (Please check all that apply)

Producers , Consumers , Holders of assets.

b) Do you help the people you serve to buy goods or services using financial innovation? If so, how?

Yes the ecotourists buy various handicrafts , organic food products and various soveneigrs which starts off an indirect market of villagers asociated with tourists.

c) Do you help the people you serve to sell goods or services using financial innovation? If so, how?

Yes by developing various women saving credit group we are having a whole supply line of products which includes ecotourism as well. Kindly refer to the movie for the same.

Date Created: 12/25/2007
Sport for a Better World
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Date Created: 11/7/2006
That Was Easy
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