CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Urban Action School (UAS) 2016
3 Weeks Advanced Course for Urban Policy Practitioners
“Unbundling Habitat”
13th November to 3rd December, 2016
Venue: Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Osmania University Campus, Near Tarnaka, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Closing date for applications: 15th September 2016 (midnight IST)
This is a call for applications for the advanced course panning several fundamental facets of the ‘Urban’. This course is designed essentially as a mid career training for the mid and senior level activists, policy advocates, lawyers, journalists, researchers, and all categories of urban policy practitioners. UAS is intended for the benefit of action researchers and social activists, with the objective of building the knowledge base of the participants and to complement action research and field based activism. This course is meant to be as a space for upgrade knowledge, to reflect upon, share and to equip the participants to acquire new skills to function in a better way in their day to day work. It is meant to make a difference to the person as well as to the organization/movement/company in which she/he works.
Note: Applications are invited from India or anywhere else in the World.
Who can apply
Open to all: Social workers, political activists, people working with community organizations, social movements, trade unions, urban local bodies, media persons, government officials, research students, elected peoples’ representatives working and dealing with the ‘Urban issues’ are eligible to apply for this course. Experienced professionals are preferred for this course as it is essentially designed to skill mid career professionals. A minimum of five years of experience will be preferred.
Course Content
Each year the course curriculum will is redesigned to reflect latest ideas, issues, and concerns. The intention is to make the course a credible and significant contribution to understanding of cities, citizens, and people-oriented sustainable planning with an attempt to deal with and find solutions to growing urban poverty, migration, alienation, exclusion, violence, and lack of regulation and planning.
This year’s course will focus on “Unbundling Habitat” contextualizing itself in the general background of the discourse generated by UN Habiat III to be held in Quito, Equador later this year in October 2016. The course will explore the real meaning of a sustainable, equitable and inclusive development that means a better life for the huge and growing urban poor and working people of the world. The focus will be on the dangers of increasing privatization of urban spaces, services, resources etc. It will discuss municipalisation as an alternative. Another focus will be to look at the global context in which urbanization and privatization are being rapidly and destructively spread. The course will study new alternatives to this kind of development that are coming up from different parts of the world.
The following themes will be discussed in the course.
- Global Politics, multipolar world, imperialism and global finance,
- Habitat III and the New Urban Agenda, the urban rural continuum
- New politics, the welfare state
- Policy framework for a real development paradigm
- Climate resilience/ Climate Justice/ The science of climate change
- Ecology and the development paradigm, Sustainable Agriculture
- Sustainable development
- Public services, municipalization, better services for all
- The Digital Commons, digital monopolies and the hype of smart cities
- Public Finance
- Mainstream media, alternate media, social media
- Urban violence, alienation, stress, Urban Crime
- Uprooting a culture of Patriarchy
- Caste and the city
- Being Muslim in the city
- Sexual minorities
- Tolerance and dissent - the meaning of multi-culturalism
- The concept of decent jobs for all, Informal economy, social protection
- Livelihood, skill development
- The case for public/social housing, rentals and hostels, homeless shelters
- Indian Constitution and the 74th Amendment, operationalising the 74th Amendment
- Systemic solutions and alternatives, international experience
How will it be useful
The Urban Action School will bring together activists/ practitioners working on a range of issues relating to urban poverty, exclusion, livelihood, and urbanization from a wide range of disciplines. The UAS hopes to establish, over time, communities of practice and activist knowledge in various disciplines by creating a forum for cross-sectoral learning. The UAS also facilitate cross-pollination of ideas and experiences between different activists/ practitioners. It will provide an opportunity for a critical take-aways based on this years focus area i.e Unbundling Habitat.
Methodology Adopted
The course will employ multiple methods of teaching over and above the regular classroom pedagogy. Methods such as field visits, group discussions, multimedia, theater, video conferencing etc. will be used. There will be simultaneous translation facility to bridge the language gap. This time English and any two languages based on number of students who prefer a particular alternate language will be made available so that language need not be a barrier for applying to this course.
Research Grants
Participants in the UAS course will have the opportunity of submitting project proposals during the course period incollaboration with other participants or on their own, for 3 sub-grants to carry out dream projects they wish to work on for a year. The amounts will be announced at the beginning of each course.
Resource persons
Professors, subject experts and practioners from across the globe are participating to create an enriched exposure concerning urban issues. Below are some of the key resource persons:
- Vijay Parshad: Trinity College, Connecticut
- Prabhat Patnaik: Retd Prof.Jawaharlal Nehru University (TBC)
- David McDonald, Queen’s University Canada
- M. Laxmaiah: Centre for Dalit Studies
- Anant Maringanti: Hyderabad Urban Labs
- Gautam Bhan: Indian Institute of Human Settlements
- Indu Prakash Singh: CiRiC, ActionAid India
- G.V. Ramanjaneyulu: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
- Nivedita Menon: Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Praveen Jha: Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Prabir Purkhayasta: Delhi Science Forum and NewsClick
- Sandeep Chachra: Action Aid India
- D. Raghunandan: Delhi Science Forum
- Maya Rao, Sivnadar University
- Ajith Singh, Anant Learning and Development
Some resource persons will take the class online via video uplink. Detailed course content will be sent to the selected participants later.
A “Certificate of Participation” will be awarded to all participants upon completion of the course.
Host organizations
Main organizers: Citizens Rights Collective (CiRiC), i.e., ActionAid India’s Urban Poverty Activist Knowledge Hub, and South Institute for Public Policy and Action (SIPPA), in collaboration with Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), an autonomous institution based in the Osmania University campus, Hyderabad.
Selection Process
The host organizations will constitute a group of panelists to go through the applications and choose 25 participants. Selection will be broadly based on representation from different regions and sectors of practice. Care will be taken to see that there is adequate diversity, based on caste, gender and minorities. The decision of the selection committee will be final.
Logistics
Boarding and lodging as well as course materials will be taken care of by the host organizations. Overhead costs pertaining to the course related activities such as field visits, stationery, reading materials etc. will be borne by the hosts. This is made possible with a grant from the European commission. All that the participants have to spend on is their travel from their respective locations to and from the venue.
PLEASE NOTE: The course is strictly residential. Participants are expected to stay at the venue even if they are from Hyderabad or nearby. All participants are expected to stay through the entire course and not leave halfway unless there are compelling reasons like a sudden family emergency. Applicants must remember that leaving midway without sufficiently valid reason is likely to affect the prospects of others from their organization who might apply for other courses at UAS in the future. These restrictions are designed to ensure equity and inclusiveness across all participants.
How to Apply
Fill the application form and email it to the following email id: urbanactionschool@gmail.com such that it reaches us before midnight IST latest by 15th September 2016. You can also print the application form and send it by post or courier to the address below.
To,
Anju Reshma Manikoth
The Course Coordinator
Urban Action School
# 21, Brooke Bond Colony,
Karkhana, Secunderabad,
Telangana,
INDIA - 500015
Ph: +91-40-40149631/ +91-40- 65445410
PLEASE APPLY EARLY!
Closing date for applications is 15th September 2016 (midnight IST) |