Guild of Service Workshop: Strengthening Grass root Democracy
New Delhi, 27-29 August 2003

The Guild of Service has over the last three decades been working for the empowerment of marginalized women. Within this mandate we are organizing a workshop for women Panchayat Sarpanches at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra(VYK), Chanakya Puri, New Delhi between 27th to 29th August 2003 supported by the Public Affairs Section of the American Embassy. 400 Sarpanches from the states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, HP, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, and Chhatisgarh will be trained in the responsibilities and role of their elected position and also in the consolidation of their roles so that from the Gram Sabha they can reach the Lok Sabha.The workshop has been titled "Strengthening Grass root Democracy". The President of India has kindly agreed to inaugurate the workshop.

The Sarpanches alongwith the facilitators will travel to Delhi for this 3 day workshop which will focus on 3 main modules

• Political Citizenship: This training module while giving a brief exposure to relevant laws, will also focus on Governance, Transparency of governance, Accountability of governance and Right to Information.
• Social Citizenship: The focus will be on Gender Discrimination. The interactive session while having a cathartic effect will also bring out the vision that the Sarpanches see for themselves, their communities and the country.
• Crisis Management: The module will deal with specific situations and in a way culminate the impact of the preceding sessions.
• The workshop will also include a short session on water conservation

The training sessions will facilitate the interactive process; encourage public speaking of the participants, with emphasis on clear, concise and cogent expression; and build the process for creation of a federation. At the end of the training a federation of all participating women Sarpanches will be created which will be the basis for networking.

We will be greatly privileged if you could attend the inaugural session of the workshop to be held on the 27th morning at 10:30 AM. It will greatly enhance the morale of the grassroot leaders.

You are cordially invited to observe the any of the training sessions from 27th to 29th of August 2003 which will take place between 8.00 AM and 6.00 PM. In addition to this we are conducting several educational programmes, plays, short films and dinners for the benefit of the sarpanches. The details are listed below:

Date & Time	Venue	Events
26th Aug 7.00-8.00 PM	Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakaya Puri, New Delhi	'Faisla' Play by students of Janki Devi Mahavidyalaya followed by dinner
27th Aug 11.00 AM	Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi	Inaugural Session: Inauguration by the President of India
27th Aug 7.30-8.30 PM	Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi	Swasakthi, a Bharatnatyam Presentation on Women's Empowerment by Rama Vaidya Nathan followed by dinner
28th Aug 6.30 PM	Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi	'Swaraj', a film on Political Empowerment produced by George Mathew followed by dinner.
29th Aug 8.00 PM	Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi	Dinner hosted by Chief Minister, Delhi, for Visiting Sarpanches.

Kindly choose the programs you wish to attend, once we get your confirmation we will send you the formal invitations in due course.

With best regards

Yours sincerely

V. Mohini Giri

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