Ulgulan Foundation

Aadiwasi Janjagruti

Location: India (Nandurbar, Maharashtra)

Information flow during COVID 19 is very high. In the initial period of the pandemic, we were flooded with the information and disinformation around COVID 19. However as most of the information was in Hindi, English or regional languages, people from tribal areas or from remote areas were not able to understand it.

To tackle this issue of information poverty, “Aadiwasi Janjagruti” an initiative by Ulgulan Foundation and run by tribal youth of Nandurbar District of Maharashtra came ahead. Started in 2016 Aadiwasi janjagruti is operating from Dhadghaon Block of Nandurbar District, Maharashtra. Considered as one of the most underdeveloped District in India, few villages of Nandurbar lacks even the basic necessities of life like water. Every year crores of rupees are being spent on different development projects in Nandurbar but it is not showing the intended results. Although there are many reasons behind it lack of awareness and low level of people’s participation is a major reason behind it. Many people don’t even know how to take benefits of different government schemes or whom to approach. This also causes corruption. Due to lack of proper communication channel between people and government, many relevant issues get unnoticed by the government.

Aadiwasi Janjagruti is working on creating awareness about the pandemic and also fighting against misinformation around it. The team of 50 volunteers are making short films, awareness videos, funny sketches and informative videos to create awareness about COVID 19. They are shooting, recording and editing these videos entirely on mobile phones in local language (Pawari, Bhilori, Ahironi). Since these videos are local in nature and only source of information with localised approach, it has created a positive impact in Nandurbar.

During the pandemic the team has made more than 100 mobile videos and circulated it through different social media platforms. They have also made videos against disinformation and corruption raised during the pandemic. To keep youth engaged Aadiwasi janjagruti also started few online competitions during the pandemic, one of which was Mobile Photography competition. It received a huge success with more than 300 entries in 20 days. This competition also gave a chance to people, who usually don’t get any opportunity to showcase their talent. In this crisis situation when main stream media does not give space to rural tribal India, Aadiwasi Janjagruti is working as a voice for the people and showing us how important community media is in bridging the gap between the people and the government.

Support

Funding support would be appreciated, but we are doing okay.

Other needs: Volunteers, access to information, space for online meetings

See more:

Website
http://aadiwasijanjagruti.org/

Social Media
https://www.youtube.com/aadiwasijanjagruti
https://www.facebook.com/AJanjagruti
https://www.instagram.com/ajanjagruti
https://www.twitter.com/ajanjagrut

For more information contact covid19@unmgcy.org