In Touch l RCPLA Network 219
News from the Asia Region: update
from Praxis
Praxis – the Institute for Participatory
Practices – is a not for profit organisation
committed to mainstreaming the voices
of the poor and marginalised sections of
society in the processes of development.
Based in New Delhi, with branches in
Chennai, Patna, Hyderabad and London,
Praxis works to promote participatory
practices in all spheres of human
development. Praxis carries out research
and consultancies, and also engages in
several self-funded initiatives to further
the cause of development.
TheWorkshop2012
Praxis will be hosting its 16th Annual
Commune on Participatory Development
from 5th–12th September 2012 in
Bengalooru, in the southern state of
Karnataka, India. This year’s theme is
Make Participation Count. The format
offers participants the opportunity to
learn about
participatory
methods during
the first six days
of classroom
and out-of-class
sessions and
fieldwork, and
attend modules
to see how
these tools,
methods and approaches work in
different contexts. The thematic
application modules this year include:
project cycle management; public
accountability; social return on
investment and political economy
analysis; disaster management;
campaign, advocacy and networking; and
a module to be evolved by the
participants. Details are available at
www.theworkshop.in. For more
information email: info@theworkshop.in
Praxis activities
Praxis launched the Read aloud series of
participatory storybooks for children in
the 7–12 age group. Bala the bunny and
other stories tells the stories of characters
whose right to voice their concerns and
opinions about their own lives and
livelihoods is muzzled. The stories have
been adapted from real life case studies
based on research projects undertaken by
Praxis over the past 15 years. The book is
available for purchase at:
www.praxisindia.org/?q=readaloud
The Praxis team has completed a
study on the life and struggles of
sanitation workers in Patna in the eastern
Indian state of Bihar. The study, A legacy
of stench, was released in March this year.
n Online: http://tinyurl.com/legacy-of-stench
Full URL:
www.socialequitywatch.org/images/Files/the
%20legacy%20of%20stench.pdf
Praxis organised the first consultation
in the series Whose Reality Counts?, a
platform for dialogue facilitated by Praxis
to explore challenges faced by various
organisations in weaving human rights
and social justice into the core of
evaluations and ways in which they been
overcome. Gender, Sexuality and
Development: Whose Reality Counts?
focused on different programmes that
measure interventions on gender
empowerment with an emphasis on
sexuality. Read more about the event at:
www.praxisindia.org/?q=node/239
Work with sexual minorities and injecting
drug users
Praxis is associated with a five-year
programme measuring community
mobilisation among female sex workers,
men having sex with men, transgender
people and injecting drug users in six
Indian states (Nagaland, Manipur,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,