Projects

DIVERSITY TRAVELOGUE

Diversity Travelogue: A short project of stories that generate curiosity about the people, region and communities who do not find themselves in the central themes of India. Stories that connect people from all directions and make us wonder about what binds us? And separates us? What keeps us together?

The project was undertaken by Ananya Bilmale. for Reachout Foundation "An experiential planner by profession, I have spent around 10 years in the Industry. Although I grew up in New Delhi, I trace my roots to a small hamlet in the Western Ghats(Coastal Karnataka).I have a never-ending love affair with solo travel."

The India Project: Say No To Discrimination

The most critical stake holders in fighting discrimination are young minds who have the potential of being nurtured and honed to reap the desired results in fighting discrimination and doing away with stereotypes effectively. It is our responsibility as adults to help them form perceptions that allow acceptance towards others and reduce the divides and barriers in society. In spite of the progress that India has witnessed over the last couple of decades, the growth dividend has not been equally shared and the divide between have and have-nots has only increased.

The deep rooted prejudices, biases and stereotypes still colour our opinions and interactions. Even our well honed education system has not prepared our younger generation to overcome this.

The Indian Project:Say No to Discrimination is a pilot project started by Reachout Foundation to address the issue of diversity and discrimination . Through this project the Foundation is hoping to create awareness amongst educators, students and parents about the stereotypical notions, regressive belief systems and prejudices that lead to discrimination. This manifests in the form of teasing, bullying and favouritism in the schools. The project hopes to create awareness and acceptance of prejudices carried by all of us which cut through the roots of social justice in the society.

The long distance exchange program amongst children in the four states: Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi is an attempt to create a human connect amongst children through the age old forgotten art of letter writing and sending messages across to each other through cards. This activity not only aims to connect children in different parts of the country, it also intends giving real time education about these places, cultures, people, the urban-rural diversity and so on which is not a part of the curriculum. It is an attempt to open up minds of the children and widening their horizons for them to accept the rich diversity of India, and to realize that it adds to the strength of the country.

Breaking Stereotypes: Understanding Multicultural Diversity in Delhi NCR schools

Reachout monograph on ‘Breaking Stereotypes: Understanding Multicultural Diversity in Delhi NCR schools’, was carried out to assess the acceptance of multicultural diversity and how it manifests in the day to day behavior and environment in the schools amongst the key stakeholders; students, teachers and parents simultaneously.

The main objective of this qualitative research was to explore the level of acceptance of multicultural diversity in Delhi NCR schools not only at the surface level but more importantly as a day to day behavioural manisfestation. It aims to analyze the perspective of the teachers, parents and students regarding the issue in the schools.

It highlights the teachers’, students’ and parent’s understanding of the concept of diversity and how they recognize and overcome the challenges emerging through diversity, both inside and outside the classroom. Schools in Delhi – NCR today encompass an array of races, languages, traditions, belief systems, social strata and religions. There is no homogeneity amongst the learners. With this shift in learner demography teachers face multiple and complex issues that may challenge many of their educational practices and assumptions.

Arteast

Arteast, curated by Kishalay Bhattacharjee, formerly of NDTV and at present Associate Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonepat. ArtEast has been conceptualised as a multi-dimensional festival with talks, discussions, film screenings, performances, exhibitions and installations located in the different venues at the India International Centre.An underlying focus of the festival is to raise pertinent questions through Inter/Sections in art, livelihood, social justice, climate change, communication, history – past and present, issues that have a far reaching impact on every day lives of people and of the nation. ArtEast 2018 is the second edition of the festival

Our Stories - An Initiative by Reachout Foundation

OurStories is an initiative of Reachout Foundation to create a digital channel integrated with social media platforms that will disseminate Multiple Narratives from India and its neighbourhood.

Stories connect us. It helps us understand each other. But over the last two decades our stories were no longer being heard and people and places just kept falling off the map. We want to reconnect again through our stories and join the dots.

It is envisaged that going beyond the ‘single story’ will help in dispelling stereotypes and breaking barriers. Stories punch holes in our mental walls (prejudices) and through those holes we get a glimpse of the other and often like it.

The founder editor of this social experiment is Kishalay Bhattacharjee a journalist and author. Bhattacharjee is also Director, Reachout Foundation, former Resident Editor New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), and former Chair, Internal Security and Senior Fellow Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Reachout Anti-Discrimination Project

Delhi-NCR Discrimination Survey 2014

Reachout Anti-Discrimination Project was launched to address the need to recognize ethnic and racial discrimination that is so prevalent in India.

The main objective of the Delhi-NCR Discrimination 2014 survey is to understand the extent and scope of ethnic/racial discrimination perceived by people from India’s North-east living in Delhi-NCR. The targeted population for the survey were people from all the eight north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura who are currently living in Delhi and the NCR (Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon).

To take effective measures to prevent and combat discrimination needs deepening the understanding of discrimination, its causes and extent - as well as the impact of policies and practices designed to tackle it.