Activities

Experience has shown that training and capacity-building for development workers has a critical impact on the pace and direction of development. Building a holistic perspective and shared commitment to gender justice, diversity, peace, democracy and sustainable development among development workers has been identified as a necessary intervention.

The need for increased cooperation and solidarity at the South Asian level is also felt and expressed by a large number of NGOs/CSOs. 

However, there is a dearth of trainers and resource persons who can provide a holistic perspective on interconnected issues of peace, sustainable development, human rights, women’s rights and justice. Development workers and trainers in NGOs are repeatedly articulating the need for such capacity-building. 

Sangat’s mission, therefore, has been to:

(a) equip men and women in the development sector with a larger and critical perspective on issues of sustainable development, gender and so on and

(b) to develop and build feminist capacities of a cadre of trainers through ‘training-of-trainers’.

This, we feel, will assist NGOs/CSOs analyse their work within the larger frame of the politics of development and thus widen their perspective and skills.

So in 1998, when Sangat was conceptualised, it was proposed that the network would undertake the following activities:

• Prepare an inventory of gender trainers and training materials/resources
• Prepare a calendar of major gender trainings and other gender-related events in the region
• Facilitate sharing of documented research and training materials (books, pamphlets, audio-visuals and so on)
• Update gender trainers on recent developments and debates in the region
• Encourage the participation of experienced resource persons in workshops/trainings in neighbouring countries
• Encourage inclusion of regional perspectives and participation in country-level events such as workshops, trainings and so on.

Sangat’s activities do not just fall within the parametres of the above-mentioned mandate. We try to connect with many other issues that are connected with our work. Since Sangat’s emphasis has always been on collective action, we like to work in collaboration with its partners in the region. Our area of work has been South Asia with most activities and partners in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  We have also included participants from Afghanistan, Burma, and collaborated on some issues and activities with CSOs in other parts of Asia and the world such as Sudan, Turkey and so on.

Given below are the highlights of the main activities organised and/or supported by Sangat:

South Asian courses/workshops

• Month-long capacity building course on gender, sustainable development, peace and human rights

Till date, Sangat has organised 13 annual month-long courses, each one of which has trained about 35 women development workers, lawyers, media persons and university teachers. The participants were from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey. The courses are run by a team of resources persons drawn from different South Asian countries.

These courses help the participants develop a strong gender and human rights perspective on major development issues in South Asia, which they take to their organisations. These courses have strengthened South Asian solidarity and networking. The alumnae of these courses have remained in touch with each other and cooperated in many cross-border activities every year.

CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM SANGAT'S MONTH LONG COURSES

• Two-country, local language training courses on gender, livelihoods, human rights and peace

INDIA AND BANGLADESH
Sangat has organised courses in Bangla language for activists from West Bengal and Bangladesh. These were jointly organized by Sangat Regional, Sangat Bangladesh and Swayam. Action Aid and Oxfam GB in Bangladesh supported the courses. Held in India and in Bangladesh, each of these courses were attended by 25-30 development workers/activists, including men.

The course covered topics such as gender, femininity and masculinity, feminisms, patriarchy, violence and law, reproductive rights, communalism, fundamentalism, globalisation and so on. Exercises, presentations, lectures, and open discussions were the different modes of teaching.


INDIA AND SRI LANKA
Sangat has also organised a feminist capacity-building course in Tamil for Sri Lankan and Indian activists in the southern Indian town of Mahabalipuram, India. This ten-day course was planned by Sangat in collaboration with INFORM, Women and Media Collective and Oxfam GB (from Sri Lanka) and IWID (from India).

15 activists from different organizations in Sri Lanka and 12 from Tamil Nadu attended the
course. The resource persons were experienced feminist activists and scholars from Sri Lanka
and India. Several documents were translated into Tamil, and several new banners and
posters made especially for this course.

Many more two-country courses are in the offing. For more information, please write to us at sangat@sangatsouthasia.org
 

• South Asian thematic workshops/conferences

Sangat has organised, supported and participated in a large number of South Asian workshops and conferences aimed at developing a shared perspective on major issues related to sustainable livelihoods, gender equality, democracy, human rights etc. All of them were done in collaboration with one or two partners. Some of the recent ones are mentioned below.

• National workshop on women's land rights with special focus on single women
• ‘Looking afresh at VAW through an exploration of the political economy of VAW and masculinity’ (a South Asian workshop organised by Sangat in collaboration with the Indian Association of Women’s Studies)
• An international course on gender identity, peace and conflict
• South Asian Feminist Meet; organised by Sangat with the support of Women and Media Collective, Sri Lanka, the meet also formulated a South Asian Feminist Declaration
• International workshop on normative and non-normative sexualities, sexual rights and women’s empowerment was organised jointly by Kartini, Jagori Grameen and Sangat.
• South Asian workshop on women’s rights to land and other land-based resources was organised by Sangat with the support of Women and Media Collective and Action Aid International Asia.
• ‘Future of Asian Feminisms: confronting fundamentalisms, conflict and neo-liberalisms’ was organised by Kartini and supported by Sangat.  
• First Asian Rural Women’s Conference for Rights Empowerment and Liberation.
• South Asian Conference on Women and Biodiversity

back to top

National thematic trainings/workshops/lectures

Sangat has supported several national workshops and trainings in different countries by

identifying resources persons and providing teaching materials. To mention just a few, Sangat supported Shtrii Shakti in Nepal to organise a series of training-of-trainers; Aurat Foundation and ROZAN in Pakistan; colleges in Chandigarh, a convention on Gram Swaraj in West Bengal, a Muslim women’s reflection retreat organised by SAHRWARU, Ahmedabad, a large gathering of peasant women by DISHA, Saharanpur in India. Sangat also organised several public lectures in India by several national and international scholars and activists. 

Besides, Sangat organises lectures on various themes that interest women activists such as on Engaged Buddhism and Feminist Activism, the Sacred and the Secular and so on.

back to top

Support to campaigns

Sangat has supported many campaigns/processes in the region over the last several years. Some of those are listed below:

16 days of activism against violence against women’ Campaign (25 November to 10th December)

International Peace Day (21st September)

International Human Rights Day (10th December)

Multi-faith pilgrimage of compassion for the unborn girl child

Asia Social Forum, World Social Forum and Feminist Dialogues

Campaigns against war and nuclear weapons and for peace

Navdanya Farmers’ March (April 2008)

People’s SAARC (Nepal, Sri Lanka and India; in 2006, 2007 and 2008)

Disarmament to Combat Poverty

Drafting a women’s manifesto for political parties in India and Bangladesh

Campaigns for the rights of minorities (In 2007-2008, when Christians were terrorized in Orissa, Sangat joined hands with several Christian groups to protest against these acts of terror and violation of human rights by organising several protest marches and conventions. Similarly, Sangat co-organised several activities to protest against attacks on Muslims and Dalits).

South Asian Women’s Day

The South Asian Women’s Day is a creation of the Sangat network and one of its biggest celebrations to engage women with and mark their role in peace, justice, human rights and democracy.  The day has been celebrated started in 2002.

Like for most of its campaigns, Sangat works with various other civil society organisations in India and the South Asian region for the South Asian Women’s Day. In 2007, the day was celebrated across the region by 30 like-minded organisations. In 2008, as many as 60 organisations actively participated in organising events and programmes for the day. The significance of the day in India could not be emphasized more in the aftermath of the increasing violence in South Asia in the last few years.

Men and women collected in many cities and towns of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka) to light candles at the same time in the evening to express solidarity with the people of the region, and demand democracy and peace.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE 2009 SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS IN DELHI

Facilitating an Indo-Pak peace delegation and organising a ‘no war’ signature campaign

To enhance friendship between the neighbours – India and Pakistan – Sangat regularly conducts, organises or supports a variety of programmes in the form of seminars, lectures, cultural events and so on.

As the war-mongering in India and Pakistan raised its pitch (after the brutal attacks in Mumbai, Sangat co-organised many events to counter it, such as a joint signature campaign between the two countries. It also facilitated the visit of a 24-member strong Pakistani peace delegation to India in an effort to defuse tensions between the two nuclear armed Asian rivals.
The delegation comprised human rights activists, former diplomats, politicians, artists and senior journalists.  The peace delegation held meetings with representatives of Indian civil societies, politicians, lawyers and journalists to ease tensions and to seek solutions to all outstanding issues through dialogue.

Collaboration with and support to regional and global networks

1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005
In 2003-2006, Sangat collaborated with the global project 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005. Kamla Bhasin was invited to be the South Asia Coordinator of this fascinating project. Sangat helped in identifying 157 South Asian women. This was by far the largest number for any region. Sangat got detailed profiles of 157 women written and their photographs taken for a 2,200 page book titled 1000 Peacewomen Across the Globe. The book contains profiles of all 1000 women nominated the world over.

Sangat also produced a powerful 60-minute long film entitled Redefining Peace: Women Lead the Way and two other films. Although these 1000 women were not given the Nobel Prize, the Project achieved its objective of making women’s peacework visible and recognised. It popularised a comprehensive definition of peace, initiating research on peacewomen and generally strengthening the global peace movement. Kamla Bhasin is presently the global Co-Chair of Peace Women Across the Globe and Sangat continues to be an active part of this global initiative.


South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR)
Sangat works closely with SAHR in order to hold public meetings and conventions with human rights and peace activists from South Asia.

People’s SAARC is a large South Asian network of CSOs promoting South Asian solidarity for a pro-people agenda. Sangat collaborates closely with this network and Kamla Bhasin is one the Steering Committee.

INSA (Imagine New South Asia) is another important initiative trying to influence official policies affecting people in South Asia. Sangat has supported and partnered in two Policy Dialogues of INSA held in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Cultural solidarity across borders

To reach out to youth, students and larger sections of society with our messages, many cultural events comprising feminist plays, music gatherings, films, demonstrations have been organized during the last decade. Through these cultural events, we were able to reach the general public with our messages of peace, solidarity and cooperation across borders.

Sangat hosted several Pakistani and Bangladeshi activities in India. In association with India’s leading academic institution, the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sangat organised the staging of a Pakistani play based, Bullah, based on the life of a Sufi mystic who preached love, peace and tolerance. The play attracted a big audience (nearly 45 people) and a packed auditorium, besides raving applause.
 
Sangat also pitched in to sponsor the performance of Shafi Faqir, a Manghaniar from Sindh, Pakistan, in New Delhi on 2nd March 2009. This was made possible by a collective effort. Initiated by the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, the event was facilitated by other NGOs such as ANHAD, Kriti Team and People Tree.

Promoting feminist perspectives through culture

Traitors, a play
Sangat sponsored the staging of the play, Traitors, to mark the month of August (infamous for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki days on 4th and 9th of August respectively) with the message of peace, love and women’s rights in Delhi. Buoyed by the success of the response the play received (by the audience and the media), Sangat facilitated the staging of the play in Pakistan as well.

Menakaa, a dance ballet
To honour the life-long contributions of K.G. Kannabiran, noted civil rights activist and Vasanth Kannabiran, writer and well-known women’s activist, Sangat hosted a felicitation ceremony in Delhi. The event attracted nearly 400 people, comprising people who have known and/or admired this activist couple for their selfless work.

The ceremony was followed by the staging of Menakaa, a dance-ballet that teases out a feminist interpretation of age-old myths about women and the violence in their lives. The programme was very well-received by the audience.


Creation of national and South Asian network of young feminists

Sangat plans to initiate a young feminists’ network. This network will comprise women who Have participated and will participate in all Sangat courses/workshops besides other like-minded women and men. These networks will be encouraged to organise meaningful
activities and campaigns in their respective countries and the region.