The focus of our work in Ahmedabad is around development communication. Development communication goes beyond the typical products such as brochures or websites; it's a way to engage and foster participation so the community takes control of their own development issues. Rather than top down, it's bottom up.
Each student, before we arrived, self selected into a group to work with a specific NGO. I chose MARAG (which I'll get in to later), but before we set out with them the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) invited everyone to their offices for an overview of their work.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I heard from CEE challenged any lingering preconceptions I had about the sophistication of an Indian NGO. The Indian dichotomy is almost becoming cliché; extreme poverty and the so called "undeveloped" society is very visible, yet here we were at CEE hearing from experts with multiple Masters degrees teaching us about how they use communication for development in everything from policy development at government to water issues. CEE's director summed up their approach: "development is a thought process on solving problems. We need critical thinking and need to travel on an uncharted path." We could learn a thing or two from them.
Our time has not been all work, however. The Navritri festival is nine nights of dancing in the state of Gujerat, honouring the goddess Durga. Somehow we found ourselves at one of the larger events. Quite simply, I've never seen anything like it as hundreds of people performed traditional Garba dances in Navritri costumes until the wee hours. As the only foreigners in attendance, once again we were wonderfully welcomed and the object of some curiosity, particularly from the kids.
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