Grassroot Academy
About
The Grassroot academy: This unique first-of-its kind model, is a Game Changer. It adopts an immersion approach in a district, making the village/block the focus of the work. Leading this are divyang mitr, youth with disabilities themselves, from the same community. Divyang mitrs are taken through an immersive leadership development program to help them understand and voice issues faced by disabled at the grassroot. They are given digital skills and use tablets to capture and share data and information. These Disability activists are successfully breaking institutional, physical, and societal barriers that prevent people with disabilities from living their lives like other citizens. Â These are our grassroot Change Makers.
This work satisfies 2 UN goals:
Leaving No One Behind
Nothing for us, without us.
Background
Post Covid, WISE launched Online trainings. We realised there were many youth with disabilities in remote rural areas, completely cut off from markets. A different approach was required:Â trainings and sensitisation in local language; local market scan and local employment/enterprise opportunities which included understanding the MSME sector, hence the Grassroot Academy. Simultaneously, when we launched our Y4J alumni network, we found many working alumni expressed a desire to give back to their local community. Grassroot Academy, thus, integrates these alumni back into their communities to be the new Changemakers.
