Youth workers from PRISM – Promozione Internazionale Sicilia-Mondo (Italy), Educational Institue WTF (Cyprus), NewBeginnings Charitable Trust (India) have been hosted from 20 to 28 June 2015 in Vijayawada, India, in the frame of the job shadowing activity foreseen in the project “The Young side of the Moon”, funded with the support of the ERASMUS+ programme, Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices – Capacity Building in the field of youth.
The job shadowing offered an opportunity for reciprocal learning, intercultural dialogue and exchange of experiences in the field of community development, by gaining insight into day-to-day activities of the hosting organization “NewBeginnings Charitable Trust” and its large network of partner organizations engaged in implementing projects on education, health care and environment related to street children, child trafficking, child laborers, children with disability, youth groups, women groups, socially and economically backward groups.
NewBeginnings Charitable Trust is located in Vijayawada, the biggest city in the the district of Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, India. Activities during the job shadowing included visit to local community projects: a community house for street children coordinated by the Vijayawada Diocese, the microcredit projects coordinated by the Social Service Centre and involving women from Vinchipet area, the Asha Sadan – Open shelter for children in need of care and protection, the self-help groups of women at Kolping Youth Hostel in Vasantha Rayapular area, and the Diocesan Youth Animation Centre running vocational courses for young people who drop out of school.
The programme included cultural tours in the region and specific sessions dedicated to explore reciprocal opportunities for cooperation and networking, involving local NGOs such us Leaf society, Siruthuli, HELP.
A special thanks to Mr Ravi Sebastian for welcoming us as friends and coordinating all the activities within the job shadowing. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Fr Prasad and Fr Bala for sharing with us their professional experience and commitment for human development.
Click below to visit a selection of pictures from the job shadowing in India:
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